One thing I love about “The Heroin Diaries” is that it features comments from several different people, usually fitting into the book at a certain time where something affects them or they’re included in the story. How hard was it tracking those people down?

I originally talked to Motley Crue. I wanted them to be brutally honest and tell me how it was for them. I just felt this “because we’re a band, because we’re a gang, because we’re friends,” they didn’t want to go to my face and say “You were this or you were that. Ian, who did a lot of the heavy lifting and organization of the book, came in and did hours and hours of extensive interviews with the band members and really they all just got into a very comfortable zone. He was able to get from them that brutal honesty that I think is so important. The diaries are so honest that we needed that kind of honest commentary from people who were there at the time. Once we had that I was feeling that we needed extended family. In comes ex-girlfriends, ex-managers, record companies executives, other musicians that I was friends with and associated with. That really opened the story up even more. Finally getting my mother, sister and grandfather to come in and really get their interpretation reflected back on my chidhood – finding out that noone can really tell me what happened when I was a kid. It’s sort of like I was an orphan of fate. I was living in this void of non-information. I took that into my teenage years and with hormones and angst and fueling it with all the things we do as teenagers, becoming a runaway. I took it on a path that was heading towards where this book takes us. It was in me being able to write the overview of the entire thing that I really got clarity in my own life. I actually got to close the chapter.

Was anybody hesitant about being involved with the book?

None of the people that are in the book were really hesitant. There are people that aren’t in the book that said they would be in the book and then they’d disappear. There are people that told me they can’t be in the book, even though that there’s a charity piece to all of this, because it wouldn’t be good for their image. Even though they did equal things or at least were around for the ride, they didn’t want people to know. That’s a little disheartening when people want to live with this masquerade of what their life really is. Each to their own. I’ve always preferred complete honesty in telling it as it is. Vanity, considering where she’s at in her life, really put herself out there in a way that was unexpected. She really did share with the reader where she’s at today and what it was like for her then. I think it was really brave.

I think the end result from her point of view, and surely from yours, is a positive experience from the people that read the book. Our readers have posted comments, as have fans all over the internet, of similar stories and very personal accounts of their drug use or how somebody else’s drug use has affected their life. That’s just from a small preview from your book! What do you want people to take with them as they read and finish the book?

There’s a lot of different layers to this book. I will tell you that I’ve been told by some very respectable, high-level entertainers and businessmen that have read the book early on that they really related to the book or they’ve had a similar situation or with someone in their family that it’s a very powerful read for them. I’ve said and I stick to this: Whatever it takes for you to buy the book and read it, I endorse that. If you wanna buy it because you want to see the car crash, that’s OK. If you wanna buy it because you can relate to the experience because of someone that you know, that’s OK, too. The end result for me is to give money to a charity to help like-minded kids where I was at as a teenager. In the end, not only are we going to give enough money to help with a charity, we’ve also been inspired as three songwriters and producers to create a very exciting body of work.

Did DJ Ashba and James Michael have the book before they started working with you on the soundtrack? How important was it to have their emotion involved in the songwriting process?

They both had the book and had read it and was really living with it as we were writing. There are songs that would be inspired by something that happened in James’ life. As artists, it wasn’t like it was Nikki’s thing. Me, James and DJ were constantly massaging the feelings that we were getting off the pages of the book and how they related to each of us individually. Whether it was coming from me, DJ, or James – all three of us or individually. It was always the same vision even though it was coming from three guys.

Going back through the Motley catalog, are there any songs that would make just a much sense in the storyline as the new songs?

A song like “Primal Scream” lyrically would fit. I don’t know. This is a very unique project. I think you could hear the Sixx:A.M. project and see my influence. At the same time you can hear stuff that DJ and James have done on their own and see their influence as well. Something magical happened with the three of us. It was something that I haven’t ever experienced outside of Motley Crue.

But, are there songs like “Dancing On Glass” that would maybe fit the “Heroin Diaries” storyline?

I guess there could be. I’d have to do some diggin!