KEY POINTS:
Tommy Lee has been sitting on the hotel wall for all of 10 minutes when the female fan approaches. So far, so expected. He's the wild Motley Crue drummer and tabloid miscreant we like to associate with wild women. But something doesn't quite fit the mould today.
The
fan is eight months' pregnant. She explains she loves Lee and his bandmate Lukas Rossi from the TV show she and her husband watch, the same show that has brought Lee and Rossi to Auckland for a brief promo tour before their band Supernova plays the Vector Arena next Saturday.
There's no denying Rockstar: Supernova has introduced Lee to an audience who don't necessarily beam at the prospect of cranking Dr Feelgood. Does he get the same thrill playing with Supernova?
"It's a different animal," he says. "With Motley Crue there were a lot of firsts. This doesn't really have that. But it's something new. I've been playing the same Motley Crue songs for about 24 years. I have to tell you after two years of being on the road last year [on a reunion tour] I don't want to hear one of those songs for a while."
We're now sitting pool-side, Lee like an overgrown rocker in his mismatched Chucks, baseball cap and eyeliner. But that cheeky, childlike energy he emits on screen is not there. He speaks quietly, wringing his hands, refusing to make eye contact until the next question. He is polite and sweet but a little nervous, almost reticent.
We talk bungy jumps, his thrill of choice these days. "I wonder if I'd actually do it," he says, after mentioning the world's tallest in the South Island. And while we're on the topic of insecurities, he sometimes thinks he's "too skinny".
"Sometimes I wish I was a little bigger and fuller. I have actually tried weight-gain training. I put on 10 pounds but I was so uncomfortable, I was so full and the extra weight felt like cement. I was like, 'This isn't who I am, it's not natural.' So I stopped at that."
No matter his weight, or how long he continues to dye his hair (it's purple today), it seems he will always be a sex symbol. Just ask the women in the Herald office.
"I don't see myself as that," he says. "But that's a nice compliment."
He got a bit miffed apparently when asked "Groupie or girlfriend?" on a morning radio show. He would rather talk music, which might come as a surprise to those who know him more for his personality. He'd prefer people to know he wrote several of the songs on Supernova's debut album. He also has two solo albums behind him, on which he plays guitar and sings. His fitness routine is a daily dose on the drums.
"It's such a tribal thing to me. When you look out in the audience and they're doing this to the beat," - he pumps his fist in the air - "that's a really empowering feeling. I live for that."
The world, however, continues to live for bad-boy Tommy Lee, who was married to Heather Locklear in the 80s and Pamela Anderson in the 90s.
"A lot of times there are things that overshadow and distract from the talent I was blessed with and it is a little upsetting. People say, 'My God, man, that's an awesome song'. I'm like, 'I told ya'. It's a little frustrating. I used to get really upset about it but I don't let that bother me any more. I continue to write songs that make me happy."
It would be easy to scoff that he has orchestrated the distractions himself. The leaked sex tape might have been beyond his control but starring on two reality TV shows wasn't. First it was Tommy Goes to College, where cameras followed him as he tried to blend in at a American university, his height, fame and incongruous presence in a place of academia being the entertainment factor.
This of course was followed by Rockstar: Supernova, the show that plucked Rossi from obscurity and reminded rock fans that Lee was the cheeky, cool one on the panel. How can he complain that fame overshadows his art when he obviously craves attention?
"Because one little thing can be true," he says, "and the rest is bullshit. That's the kind of information you're going to get, and then that's the kind of person you are. It can be totally wrong."
Lee insists that a promo photo of his new band, in which he appears in the foreground, was manipulated and that he'd rather Rossi got most of the attention.
Rather than walking through the hotel like he owns the place - a la the frontman - Lee seems resigned to the powerlessness of celebrity. At 44, he's tired with his image as a rock'n'roll hellraiser. That's why he wrote his tell-all autobiography Tommyland in 2004. He says he did the TV shows because he hadn't done them before, and it's why he wants to act in movies now.
There's just one constant in his life, apart from his two sons. "Playing the drums is very therapeutic. I was reading a kids' book and one of the things they suggest if your kids are real hyper and have a lot of energy they need to get out it's a great instrument and tool to release frustration. If there has been some craziness in my life I just close my eyes and wail on the drums. It makes you feel good, you go into your own space and no one can really mess with you."