INTERVIEW BY MACKENZIE WILSON / FILMED AND EDITED BY ERIC NOWELS

As chief songwriter and bass slayer for one of rock's most surly and hedonistic acts, Mötley Crüe, you could say that Nikki Sixx has seen and done it all. The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, a dark and in depth look into Sixx's ravenous two-decade long battle with drugs and alcohol, is a haunting tale of someone who had the guts to beat the rock'n'roll cliché. And he's proud to talk about it, having taken the book to the American road for cross-country book signings this fall. Sixx also created a few rumblings on Capitol Hill in September when he was invited to speak at the 18th Annual National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month luncheon. Nikki Sixx? Rubbing elbows with government officials? You better believe it.

Totally sober for six years now, a very candid Sixx sat down with SPIN.com to discuss the exploration and impact of The Heroin Diaries ("It is brutally honest, it's gruesome, but it ends in a really great place"), his new band, Sixx A.M. ("It was important to write what it felt like then…"), which composed the book's accompanying soundtrack, his stint on Capitol Hill ("Politicians really worry about being politically correct"), and his priorities as a rocker Dad ("You just gotta do what you know is right … I'm just honest with them").