Tommy Lee: a tilting kit, a drum roller coaster and Kickstart My Heart | Highway to Hell

Why fans still care

TOMMY LEE hits hard and makes sure you can see it. Kickstart My Heart, with his drums driving it, passed a billion plays on Spotify in October 2026. His kits have tilted, somersaulted, flown over crowds and run round a loop. And he co-wrote Home Sweet Home.

Early life

He was born in Athens, Greece, on 3 October 1962, and his family moved to California the next year. In his own telling, the drummer who set the bar was John Bonham, Who’s Who number 6: “The hands-down guy is John Bonham.” He has also named Phil Rudd, Who’s Who number 15, whom he called “a human drum machine”, and fusion players Chad Wackerman and Steve Smith.

Career chapters

1. 1981Mötley Crüe break out with Too Fast for Love
2. 1985the kit tilts 90 degrees on the Theatre of Pain tour
3. 1987the kit somersaults in a steel cage
4. 1989Dr. Feelgood, with Bob Rock
5. 1990the kit flies over the crowd
6. 2011rejoins Pearl, and the 360 drum roller coaster tours
7. 2014plays on the Smashing Pumpkins’ Monuments to an Elegy, and the Final Tour brings the Crüecifly
8. 2020solo album Andro, and back to DW
9. 2026Return of the Carnival of Sins tour

Sunset Strip to Dr. Feelgood 1981 to 1990

Mötley Crüe broke out of the Sunset Strip scene in 1981 with Too Fast for Love. Shout at the Devil, Theatre of Pain and Girls, Girls, Girls followed, all now 4x Platinum in the US. He has co-writing credits on Home Sweet Home and on Girls, Girls, Girls. Then Bob Rock produced Dr. Feelgood in 1989, now 9x Platinum. Rock says Metallica hired him for their next album because of the drum sound he got for Lee.

Rigs, sessions and solo records 2002 to 2015

For his 2002 solo album Never a Dull Moment he tracked drums in co-producer Scott Humphrey’s garage. In April 2011 he rejoined Pearl and took a custom E-Pro Live hybrid kit on the road. That summer the 360 drum roller coaster went out on tour with Poison and the New York Dolls. In 2014 he drummed on the Smashing Pumpkins’ Monuments to an Elegy, and Billy Corgan sang his praises. The Final Tour took the Crüecifly rig across arenas until the last show in 2015.

Andro and the return 2020 to 2026

Andro, his 2020 solo album, took about two years in his basement studio. It’s split into male and female halves and draws on hip hop, funk, industrial, electro and dream pop. On 1 May 2020 DW announced he was back with them. “Welcome back? I never left,” he said. In 2023 John 5 took over guitar from Mick Mars. The 33-date Return of the Carnival of Sins tour in 2026, with Tesla and Extreme, put a dollar from every ticket towards an after-school arts program. A 45th-anniversary edition of Too Fast for Love is due on 30 October 2026.

Craft, sound and style

Hitting hard

Bob Rock says Lee hit so hard he had to back off the microphones on Dr. Feelgood. To add weight and size, Rock blended samples with the acoustic kit. Lee chose the Dr. Feelgood groove to demonstrate on Modern Drummer’s webcast in June 2020.

Drums last

“Everything I do has rhythm,” he told Modern Drummer in 2005. He likes to record drums last, so he knows what each song needs and doesn’t overplay.

The garage room

On Never a Dull Moment the drums sat on a riser inside a curtain ring in Humphrey’s treated garage. Opening or closing the curtain made the room sound open or dry.

Gear

He started with DW as a pedal endorser in the late 1980s, moved to Pearl in 2011 and went back to DW in 2020. He played a DW kit on that 2020 webcast.

Stories people still tell

1. The seats that emptied.

   He remembers fans walking out during a Tommy Aldridge drum solo because they couldn’t see what he was doing. “I need to change the perspective on how the audience sees the drummer,” Lee said. That’s where the risers, the cage and the roller coaster came from.

2. Tilt, cage, flight, loop.

   In 1985 the kit tilted 90 degrees, and in 1987 it somersaulted in a steel cage. In 1990 it flew over the crowd. By 2011 it was running round a 360-degree track.

3. Rock royalty.

   In 2010 DRUM! magazine featured him, alongside John Bonham, in its Rock Royalty issue.

Legacy

Shout at the Devil has been played at more than 1,500 Mötley Crüe shows, and Kickstart My Heart at more than 1,200, according to setlist.fm. Every arena show that puts the drummer up where the crowd can see him owes something to Lee’s kits.