Andro

For his third solo album, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee assembled a collection of rappers and singers—some known, some unknown—to bring his creations to life. The first part of Andro features male guests like rapper Mickey Avalon, Rock Star: Supernova winner Lukas Rossi, and newcomer Killvein, while the second part boasts pansexual polymath Brooke Candy, King Elle Noir, and South African rapper Push Push. “One side is male energy and one side is female energy,” Lee tells Apple Music. “That's why I titled it Andro—it’s short for androgyny.” All of the songs are true collaborations as well: The guest vocalists wrote their own lyrics. “I would never, ever force my or somebody else's lyrics on an artist that's about to sing on my track,” Lee explains. “It’s not authentic. I wanted the artists to do what the songs made them feel.” Below, Lee shows us both sides of Andro.
Knock Me Down (feat. Killvein) “When I play this, I kind of want to break shit. It's one of those tracks that gets you super rowdy. I hit Killvein up on Instagram because I’d been following him and I really liked his stuff. He said when he first saw my message, he was like, ‘Oh, this is some bullshit. This isn't even Tommy.’ About two days later, he was down here in my studio and away we went. He smashed it.”
You Dancy (feat. Lukas Rossi) “I had this track kicking around and I felt like it had a Prince vibe, and Lukas was the first guy that came to mind. You know when people say, ‘Oh man, look at you—you fancy.’ I just called it ‘You Dancy’ as a little play on words, but basically the track is about being all fancy and shit.”
Ain't Tellin Me Nothing (feat. PAV4N) “PAV4N is from an insane hip-hop duo from the UK called the Foreign Beggars, and those guys are just fucking beasts. I’ve been a big fan of theirs for a long time. He’s got this really cool Eminem vibe, but with a UK swagger like Dizzee Rascal. He recorded it over there, and I love the matter-of-fact of this track. ‘Oh, you got beats? Yeah, whatever. You got girls in the back? Yeah, whatever.’ It’s just like, you ain’t telling me nothing I haven’t heard yet. I love his sarcastic British style on this.”
Soma Coma (feat. Shotty Horroh) “I’m a massive fan of Shotty Horroh. His battle skills are just insane. I don't think anybody's ever beat the guy. He's just super witty and fast and the guy that just spits crazy knowledge. His style is unmatched. The first time I actually heard him was through my buddy deadmau5. They did a track together and it was fucking unbelievable. So I reached out to Shotty and he's a big Crüe fan. I had no idea. He'd come to see us play in the UK. He's got Conor McGregor in there, and he's just basically fucking with everybody.”
When You Were Mine (feat. Lukas Rossi) “If you’re going to cover a Prince song, man, you better fucking do it right. Lukas actually came up with the idea of doing this one. The original is a quick, happy, uptempo pop song, but we slowed it down and made it dark. And when you listen to the words now, at the speed and vibe I created, it gives me goosebumps, man. It’s almost creepy.”
Hot Fudge Sundae (feat. Josh Todd) “This is an ongoing thing that Josh and I do. We leave each other voice notes on our phones, and it's always something totally fucking random and stupid. This one in particular, it just segued perfectly into ‘Caviar on a Paper Plate,’ which is the super ghetto-fabulous track that’s coming up next. So I asked him if I could use this on the record. It’s done with all good intentions—it’s just him being silly.”
Caviar on a Paper Plate (feat. Mickey Avalon) “Who doesn't love Mickey, bro? That song ‘My Dick’ is still one of my favorite songs to crank. I just think it's hilarious, and nobody else sounds like Mickey. It’s basically a big play on all these stupid hip-hop videos where everybody’s just flossing way too hard.”
Leave Me Alone (feat. Killvein) “Killvein had this track that he wanted me to hear, and I was like, ‘Dude, this track is so fucking rad.’ The beats were cool, the 808s were bumping, it was shaking the studio in here. And I was like, ‘I'd love to put it on my record. Let's finish it.’ So it was one of those last-minute tracks that came through that was undeniable for me. It just bumps. And I love the lyrical content about being left alone, man. So he was living up to his name, Killvein: He killed it.”
Demon Bitches (feat. Brooke Candy & Moon Bounce) “We had a couple jam sessions here in the studio—me and Brooke and Danny Lohner, the guitar player for Nine Inch Nails. We were doing some stuff for another project—she was rehearsing for LA Pride. During that rehearsal time, we recorded some rough ideas that were super cool, and ‘Demon Bitches’ ended up being one of the tracks I started messing with. I’m going to say that it’s probably some of the best programming and beatmaking I’ve ever done, because it’s complicated but still super funky and cool. Moon Bounce did a great job on this with his falsetto, and Brooke just melts the microphone.”
P.R.E.T.T.Y. (feat. King Elle Noir) “King Elle Noir is an incredibly talented girl with a beautiful voice, and she’s super hot. She’s been on my list of people that I’ve been wanting to collaborate with, and you’ll hear her again a couple of tracks later. I’ve actually had this song kicking around for a couple of years, and she came in and nailed it. The way she says ‘pretty’ on the chorus, it’s spelled out without actually saying the word, which I think is a really clever way of doing it. And the song is basically about a guy who keeps telling this girl she’s pretty, but he doesn’t really treat her like he’s supposed to.”
Tops (feat. Push Push) “For what seems like forever now, I’ve been wanting to make a track with no instruments—I wanted the drums to play the melody. So if you listen to this track, the bass drum is playing the melody. I’d been following Push Push for a while—she’s super talented, and there’s something really unique about her voice. This one is kind of a slow to midtempo banger that’s got her South African firecracker swagger all over it. There’s something special about the South African accent—it’s just kind of sexy and fiery.”
Make This Storm (feat. King Elle Noir) “We did this one after ‘P.R.E.T.T.Y.’ because I knew what she would do with it. I sent her the song and she sent me an idea of what she was hearing, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, dude. Stop it.’ She’s amazing, man. So she ended up back over here a few days later, and she did an exceptional job on this track.”
Make It Back (feat. PLYA) “This one has a goosebumps story that will freak you out. I’d been following PLYA for a while—Julie’s voice is incredible, and this song’s got her flavor all over it. But before we started to record, I made a demo of the track that had vocals on it. I took an a cappella from another girl and just sort of Frankensteined it in and tuned the vocal to how I heard it in my head. When Julie came over, I wanted to play it for her, but she’s like, ‘No, don’t play it, because I don’t want anything to sway the ideas I have in my head.’ So she goes into the studio and starts to sing, and she’s singing fucking 98.9% exactly what I had in the demo version with somebody else’s a cappella! Nothing like this has ever happened to me in my entire life, dude. She was on an almost identical plane. It was phenomenal.”
Tommy Lee (feat. Post Malone) [Tommy Lee Remix] “I played on Post Malone's beerbongs & bentleys record a couple of years ago. I get this call that him and Tyla [Yaweh] did a song called ‘Tommy Lee’ and they want me to do a remix. First, I can’t believe the fucking song is called ‘Tommy Lee’—and it’s dope. So I remixed it, smashed some drums on it, and my buddy John 5 who plays guitar for Rob Zombie did guitars on it. And my son Dylan co-produced it with me, so that was super fun. And then I got a call from Tyla on my birthday saying he’s got a gold record coming for me because of the track. So I hope everyone digs this version.”