How Motley Crue Made ‘Dogs of War’

Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil has a simple declaration for the critics who have tried to write them off for decades: “You can’t kill us!”

Neil and bassist Nikki Sixx recently spoke to UCR’s Matt Wardlaw about Motley Crue’s new single, “Dogs of War,” out today. You can listen to part of the conversation below.

The defiant track marks the first Motley Crue song since 2019 and their first with guitarist John 5, who replaced founding guitarist Mick Mars in 2022. The song switches between grinding alt-metal riffs and eerie, melodic verses, and in the chorus Neil sings, “Don’t let them take the crown / Don’t lеt those bastards get you down.”

“It was purposeful to leave that verse wide open for Vince,” Sixx says. “I like it because when people hear it the first time, it’s really heavy and then it opens up. It’s a part of like, for the band, it’s always just [fun to] find something new to do.”

The animated “Dogs of War” video, which is littered with Motley Crue Easter eggs, shows the band dying in a plane crash and coming back as zombies to fight off various creatures, including the titular dogs of war. “You can saw John in half and he’s still gonna play the guitar,” Neil quips.

READ MORE: What Easter Eggs We Found in Motley Crue’s ‘Dogs of War’ Video

“The whole fun thing is that in our life, in general, it seems like everyone’s always been trying to kill us, kill our career, and so it’s fun in the video that you can’t kill us” Sixx muses. “Even when we die, we end up snorting our own ashes and coming back.”