Athena (author, drummer of Krunk, and TV star) talks about her show, her childhood and her family

Athena Lee is a bundle of amazing energy.  A rock and roll survivor, a mother, daughter and sister.  Of course her brother is Tommy Lee who is kind of well known as the drummer for a band called Motley Crue.  Her father was a loving but disciplined Army Sergeant, her mom  a gorgeous former Miss Athens.  Her children are amazing, daughter Tobi is gorgeous and modeling, son Miles is drumming  in a great band called Bad Suns and youngest Matthew is probably getting set to take over the world.  Then there’s Athena.  Talking to her you get the feeling she is just now starting to enjoy her own life on her own terms and is using her moxie to talk about it all.  She has a new book coming out called “Coming in Second”, a new TV show called “Ex Wives Rock” and is enjoying life after a messy marriage and bout with cancer.  Not to sound like a friggin infomercial but she is honestly inspiring, read on…..

 

Legendary Rock Interviews:  Thanks for taking the time out to talk to us Athena.  I’ve been following your career for a while and of course your brother’s, we’ve met Tommy but havent had the privilege to talk to you!!  This is great for us….so many questions.  I’ve heard you guys grew up in an artistic home where you were exposed to a lot of creative things but also had a pretty disciplined upbringing…is that accurate?

Athena Lee:  Yeah, my dad was actually a Sergeant in the Army so there was some of that just in his personality.  I mean, he never brought it home exactly and it’s not like me and Tommy were standing at attention or any shit like that (laughs).  He was just extemely motivated and disciplined so we kind of had to be that way as well but for the most part the way we were brought up was just extremely NORMAL.  We grew up in friggin Covina and had our little family and all that, mom was just AWESOME.  You couldn’t ask for a better mom, she was perfect and my dad was strict but as we got older and they got used to being shocked by us so many times they just kinda wore down and got over it (laughs hard).  I’m trying to explain it in the nicest way possible but I mean it was like, the first tattoo, the first ear piercing, the first of everything we did was kind of a shock but after that it was kind of like “Whatever!”.

LRI:  Your mom was a former Miss Athens and was used to being onstage do you think some of that influenced you guys?

AL:  No, not really.  I mean, I started out as a dancer, I was a tap dancer, jazz dance, took lessons, whatever we were into we had to take lessons and take seriously so I took dance.

LRI: (whispering) I read his book….So did Tommy!!!  (laughs)

AL:  Yeah, yeah (laughs).  Absolutely.  He stopped doing it two years before I did but yeah, you’re right, that’s how we started.  Also, believe it or not, there was a door to door salesman who came to the door and was selling accordions and I was like huh but my brother just wanted those accordions really, really bad.  I didn’t really care either way, I wasn’t that into it but my parents bought us those damn accordions and there you go!  We started from there and I can’t really speak for Tommy but I HATED them, i really did.

LRI:  Did that kind of sour you on music for a while then?

AL:  For me, yeah, definitely John.   We would, of course, have to practice the damn things a few hours a day, EVERY day.  When you asked about discipline, that is what I’m talking about, that’s just how my parents were to us.  My dad would be like “I bought these damn things, you guys are gonna play em”, so once we got into them it was like “Oops!”, there was no way of getting out of it.

LRI:  You guys have both sort of tapped into a few different areas of creativity over the years, Tommy with T.V and books and art and things and you’ve now got a TV show and a book on the way also.  Did any of that acting, writing, drawing stuff bite you earlier on like in high school?

AL:  No, not at all art or that sort of thing but I was in like every play I could possibly be in.  I did enjoy playing “Pippi Longstalking”, that was awesome.  Also, remember M.A.S.H.????  I played “Hot Lips” which was pretty fun because I was so young and I really didn’t know the show or what I was doing at all but I just remember the beginning of it with the helicopter and all that shit being a lot of fun.  As far as like drawing or things like that, I STILL to this day draw stick people.

LRI:  I’ve spent just a limited amount of time talking with both of you but the amateur psychologist in me would definitely categorize you and Tommy as ADHD or high energy before there was such a diagnosis.  Is that pretty accurate?

AL:  Uhhhhhh….yeah!!  (laughs).  Yeah, that’s a fair assessment.  Just speaking for myself of course, I was actually a pretty good kid, like I actually paid attention in school and did pretty good.  You’ll have to interview Tommy to get his side of that though (laughs).   Having said that, I will also say that I never really ENJOYED school.  The reason I went was because my friends were there but I didn’t suck at it.  My line of thinking was….hurry up and do good and get it over with.

LRI:  You found ways to occupy yourself and make it tolerable.

AL:  Exactly.  Of course, like everyone else I started getting into trouble and stuff in high school, i wasn’t an angel but mostly I wanted to get out and start working on things instead of school.

LRI:  I am surprised whenever I meet people like you two who have such a positive vibe about themselves and have so much energy, in this day and age and considering the egos in the music industry that is pretty refreshing.  Was that honest and straightforward way of dealing with people something you got from your parents?

AL:  Probably.  We didn’t grow up thinking we were better than anyone else for sure, we were taught to work for everything and accept nothing for free.  Treat people the way you want them to treat you.

LRI:  One story that has been told before about you basically reads like a word for word re-enactment of the movie “Stepbrothers” where your dad had built a studio of sorts for Tommy to practice in and you would wait for him to go away and rub your balls all over his drumset.

AL:  Oh hell no!!! (laughs hard again)….Yeah, that is pretty much it and he really didn’t know for the LONGEST time, he really didn’t because I had that shit down to a science, I really did.  I knew EXACTLY where everything went so if I switched it around for me, I knew exactly how to switch it back before he got home and I always tried to know what time he’d be back.  It all worked out so perfectly for the longest time and then finally he figured it out.  I don’t even remember what year exactly but one year when he was in Motley I had asked him for some drums.  I knew that they had a warehouse that was pretty close to our house and they had these kits, he had already left of course because they started touring when he was still in high school.  He was well out of the house when I asked him for a kit.  I know for a fact that when I asked him he was thinking for sure that  I was just asking for fun to play with and something to do.  By that time, he had already been onto me messing with his drums and just thought “ok, whatever”, and just let me mess around with them, he really just thought I was having fun and he didn’t care anymore.  Then when he started leaving it really sucked because he would take his drumkit of course and I totally remember it because the first time he hooked me up with a kit it was the “THEATRE OF PAIN” kit, he gave me those Sonors and  was so stoked and joined a band not even knowing what I was doing (laughs).

LRI:  That “don’t have a clue” punk rock vibe was what led you to joining “Hardly Dangerous”?

AL:  Yeah!! I had some girlfriends that lived down the street and we went to high school together but didn’t really hang out that much but I would see them like around town and shit.  One time I ran into our guitar player and asked her “So, what are you doing?” and she was all “I’m in a band, I play guitar, what are you doing?”  and I said “Well, I play drums you know” (laughs).  But the thing was that I DIDN’T really!!  I was more or less just jerking off at this point and she goes “Well, we’re looking for a drummer” and I just said “Cool, I’m in” and that was it.  I had a lot of help though because I needed it.  People like Jaime Harris who at one point played in a band here called FUNHOUSE, he helped me a lot when I was just getting started.  Now, he works for AQUARIAN Drum Heads.  Jaime actually came to our rehearsals and sat with me and physically listened to our songs and showed me like what would be cool to play and in what part.  He basically taught me how to play drums.

LRI:  Your youtube clips and shit are PHENOMENAL,  the long legs and arms remind me of your brother’s body language but you have such a similar look yet different talent on drums.  A lot of people have the misconception though that Tommy helped you learn how to play.  People will say, “Well, of course she’s an awesome drummer, her brother taught her all his shit” but the reality is he was always GONE!!!

AL:  Right.  I really understand why people would THINK that, that would make perfect sense but he honest to god didn’t.  He wasn’t there for starters like you said John and number two he just WOULD NOT help me.  Even later on when he knew I was in bands and playing out and stuff and I would ASK him to help me he would always without a doubt tell me “NO, no way”.  I was seriously pissed at him for a long, long time because I was like “Really?……Really dude….you’re great, why wouldn’t you show me or teach me something, anything” and he just said to me “No, because you have your own ways and your own thing going on and if I teach you, I’m gonna teach you how to play like me”.  I understand now but at the time I was just pissed.

LRI:  Your mom was a beauty queen but have you ever been surprised at the level of attention you or your brother have gotten over the years as far as being “SEX SYMBOLS”?  You’ve both been the subject of lavish photo shoots and sexy imagery so clearly the DNA appeals to the public.  Does that freak you out?

AL:  Good question.  YES!!!!  I think it’s practically impossible for me to think that way about myself.  I’ve just always ridden the fence between girly girl and total and complete tomboy.  As far as my brother goes….EWWWWWWW!!!!!   I always was just like “Gross!” when people or girlfriends would say something to me about my weirdo brother being hot.  That’s just icky (laughs).

LRI:  What did the family think when they finally saw you up onstage pounding away?  Were they like “Oh, no, here we go again”?

AL:  My brother, my Mom and Dad, they all really had no clue.  I just invited them down to Gazzarri’s and they were like “Well, what for?” and I said, “Please, just come down there”.   The night of our first gig my parents showed up and my brother walks in with his friends and I’m up there playing drums and they were all like “WHAT THE FUCK, HOW DID THIS HAPPEN RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES???!!!!”   My mother to this day thinks that it’s crazy, a girl playing drums, she’s a cool lady but she’s pretty old school Greek on that one.  When she found out she was like “Girls don’t play drums, you do something else Athena, that’s not for girls, drums are for boys”.  I grew up hearing that, that was just what I always heard and I was afraid to tell her.   Then it became like, “Ok, screw it then, I’ll just SHOW them if I can’t tell them”.   I was afraid that if I told them they just wouldn’t come or I would hear shit about it nonstop.  So I just set up for them to show up and actually see me.  My mom still continued to tell me it was not cool though (laughs).

LRI:  So, you have all that family drama and then your brother walks in with all these rockstar guys….no pressure.

AL:  Actually it was cool, I thought it was really cool that it was my very first show and Jon Bon Jovi and Sebastian Bach were there, the girls from Heart.  I think Steven Tyler was there.  It was after a “Monsters of Rock” show and all these guys were in town but I was scared to DEATH not of any of those guys but because my parents were there.  Once I started playing though I was immediately over that nervousness.  I was like “THIS is fun, this is the coolest thing on earth” and in my head I was thinking “Man if I can get through this night and playing with these people than I’m good, this can work”.

LRI:  You’ve been in other bands since but I can sort of hear in your voice that you hold a special place in your heart for HARDLY DANGEROUS.

AL:  Yeah, just because we were so tight musically and personally and as a result, it was so much fun.  That’s how a band should be.  There were other girl bands around at the time but we were sort of the “fun band”.  Some of it is also of course the time and the era, we got along great with all the other bands and all the people in the scene.  It’s not at all uncommon to hear of bands hating each other back in those days because we were all fighting for attention and gigs and label interest it’s just not like that now.  There were all these “haters”but we weren’t a part of that.  People would ask us what it’s like to play with all of these guy bands as a bunch of young girls and I was like “Are you serious?? ”  It was so much fun because it was like having a thousand big brothers!  That was just a really great time in my life and we just played a reunion gig a few weeks ago.

LRI:  Yeah, I saw some of that on your Facebook page and I also saw you had the honor of jamming with Steel Panther.

AL:  (laughs).  Yeah, let me tell you, that was NOT supposed to happen man, I just ended up showing up.  I had been at the Key Club and was doing something there.  I had a friend visiting from Nashville and I was like, “Let’s go across the street and see Steel Panther” and Ralph of course started messing with me so I was like “Ahh, alright I’ll just do it” and I did.  Those guys were a BLAST, I wish I had done it sooner.  I really didn’t know how much fun it would be to play with them but it was.

LRI:  I would have to imagine that playing in KRUNK with your ex James Kottak had to be about the toughest thing a musician can do.  We’ve all seen the Fleetwood Mac story.  I always liked the name KRUNK but thought it was sort of stupid when the band name changed and all the changes and drama ensued.  Was that experience really as difficult as it seems from the outside?

AL:  You know what man?  It started out fun and just went downhill really, really quickly.  I wanna make it clear that I don’t intend to attack James or just blindside him with accusations BUT………. I wanna make sure people understand the truth.  A big reason the band became difficult was just working with James.  He is a very, very aggressive and controlling person and it is one thing to be in a relationship with him or know him and a whole  other mess to actually work with him in THAT band which started out as our band and became HIS band.  I just couldnt be myself at all and it was a really new and bizarre thing for me to be constantly told who to be ALL the time.  I mean I was allowed to play and everything but it extended FAR beyond that.

LRI:  Well, there’s a helluva lot more involved in being in a band than JUST playing though.

AL:  Exactly.  Simple things like photo shoots or interviews become an embarrassing situation.  I’m the kind of person who participates in something like a photo shoot or whatever and actually listen to the person who’s taking the shots.  They’re the professional.  I’m not the writer or photographer and you are so I’m going to trust you and listen to you.  Not James.  He had EVERYONE in the band under his complete and total control about the stupidest things, even during these photo shoots.  “Hold this, don’t hold that, smile, no wait, don’t smile that looks stupid, you look too happy”.  It got to be ridiculous to everyone not named James Kottak.

LRI:  Why on earth would you change the name of the band?  That just seemed insane at the time.

AL:  I know, I totally agree and I will admit right now that I was AGAINST all the change to begin with.  To be totally upfront and tell the truth the thing was that we had gotten picked up by a European label who felt that the name Krunk was totally wrong and was all about energy drinks and Lil Jon.  They AND  James felt we needed to capitalize, sales wise on the James being in the Scorpions and name it Kottak after him, since the Scorpions are so big there.  I thought it was just stupid and that Lil Jon had nothing to do with us so why change the name, it was working.

LRI:  I love the Scorpions so no offense but as an American rock fan your family holds a little more name recognition than KOTTAK, I would have never even heard of the band were it not for you and Tommy.

AL:  (laughs).  Yeah, thank you.  I thought it was just stupid to have to attach that name to the band solely because James was a part of it, we started out as a band, all of us.  To me that just smacked of total arrogance.  I was like okay how much KOTTAK does the world need?  I’m trying to find a way of expressing myself without sounding like a bitchy ex but it’s hard!!  It was like “Ok, dude, enough is enough with the Kottak, the band is called KOTTAK now, the drum solo is called Kottak Attack, the album is called Kottak Attack, you’ve fuckin got KOTTAK tattooed across your chest, we ALL get it dude!!!” (laughs).  To me, I am not the kind of person at ALL who likes to shove something down somebody’s throat or push something on someone.  I’m not gonna hype my name or my deal or something every moment I get.   If someone likes it they like it, if they don’t that’s fine too.  There comes a point where you just come off way too obvious and not cool. It’s kinda fucked up that I’m so embarrassed of my last name because my kids are obviously all Kottaks….But I personally just want to BARF everytime I hear or see it…..so……Not good!  Please just call me Athena!  HA!

LRI:  Damn, if you look back at the evolution of the albums what you’re saying sort of makes sense.  In the beginning, Krunk had this loosey goosey silly fun vibe to it that seemed to be clearly you and then slow but sure it was lost.

AL:  I really am not just saying this to be mean but more to express myself, I was literally MISERABLE dude.  Those last few years of the band when I was in it were just wayyy not cool.  Also, there were just ridiculous and INSANE amounts of alcohol involved in that band on the part of all of us and I think a lot of stemmed from how miserable we were.  It wasn’t like social or cool drinking either it was a trainwreck and it was proof that there was no way around how NOT FUN the whole thing had become.  Also, for some odd reason if myself or someone else in the band chose NOT to be shitfaced drunk we were the target of criticism like “Oh, you’re boring, you’re normal and lame”.   I’m looking around at all this drama and saying “So, I’m the idiot if I wanna not drink?”.  It was just stupid to not respect someone’s wishes like that especially considering at that point I was so miserable that I just wanted to open my own vein by the time of our last European tour.  The crazy thing was that I wasnt the only one struggling there at that point, you’ve got one person who’s got gout and can’t piss for two days let alone walk on their own or show up to soundcheck, everyone was at least in a bad mood because we were always hung over and hadn’t slept for two days it just WAS NOT FUN!!!!   It may have looked one way to the casual observer at the time but we did a good job of picture painting.

LRI:  Geez, Fleetwood Mac has nothing on you guys.

AL:  (laughs).  Try maintaining a normal life and family on top of it.  That’s the other thing.  James did not actually want a WIFE or family to begin with.  He had no business entering that world of being a husband or a father because that’s just not what he’s about.  He just wants people who are fascinated with him and the whole life that goes along with that.  That’s all he does is gravitate towards people who are fascinated with him or his stardom and become entrenched with them.  That’s it.  He just finds people who wanna be around him and do shit for him.  We went through sooo many band members because people would sign on because they were so fascinated by the concept and the idea that they’d get to know all these people and all that.  The problem was eventually they would get the same treatment I got from James which was that you were just a hired hand and that was it and once that fascination ended it was on to the next band member.   He replaced me with another girl in the band and none of the members stay the same except James.  When I started the band with him he had us doing songs about killing his first wife and now he’s got this chick doing songs about killing me.  When does it end?  Really, dude?  You’re wanting to kill all these people but did it ever occur to you that maybe some of them wanna  fuckin kill you too?  It got so ugly BECAUSE he didn’t want a wife or any of that, he just wanted a business partner.  That’s all I was to him.  There was no other way he would deal with me.  It wasn’t like after the show or whatever I became his girl or his wife, I was strictly a business partner 100% all the way and I got to the point where I was like “Damn, this is not what I got into this relationship for but we’re too far into this now.”

LRI:  How much of a toll did the band officially have on ruining your marriage?

AL:  A lot, because I just started to see him in a different way.  I told him, “Dude, you’re not my father, you’re not my manager, you’re my HUSBAND either act like it or let’s just call it”.  That’s just it though, it’s like sometimes, for that brief time that we’d actually be onstage and be band members it would be fun.  It was after the shows that the differences became glaringly obvious.  It’s like “Okay, the show is done now dude  there’s some stuff to deal with at home.  Maybe it’s not “rock and roll” or “fun” but it’s stuff we gotta do” and he wanted nothing to do with any of that shit.  It was just NORMAL PEOPLE stuff that I had to do so why was he above it?  I also started to find out things that I wasn’t supposed to find out.   I would get these receipts for things I didn’t buy on the credit card and I eventually found out the guy had a whole other life and existence and a whole other place to stay.  Then it all made sense as to why he couldn’t be troubled to deal with his actual family.  I go into a bit of all that in my book and about my cancer struggle and man, it just trips me out to think about it.  Like I really kept all that stuff inside because I knew that he wasn’t going to be there for me and i had to be strong and be there for my kids but sometimes I could hardly move.  I just felt abandoned which in terms of my husband I was.

LRI:  The one cool thing at the end of the day is that you have these awesome kids.  I see Miles band is making some noise in L.A. and your daughter is doing fashion work.

AL:  TOTALLY!!!  We do have some really awesome kids to show for that  20 years that we spent together.  Tobi is gorgeous and so much fun and so smart and the boys are just a blast.  my youngest Matthew is still a little too young to be doing the rock and roll thing but he’s amazing and sweet and Miles’ band Bad Suns is awesome.  I try to be supportive but not get in the way whatsoever, he doesn’t need it because he is just kick ass!  It’s a trip the way the family line has gone with drumming, Tommy, me and Miles.  He is doing some recording at Tommy’s studio and his band is out gigging they have a Facebook and all that social media stuff under the name Bad Suns.

LRI:  You are putting together an autobiography with an awesome title, “COMING IN SECOND” .  Having heard some of the details of your life that title could allude to a number of things.
AL:  Yeah, I guess it could! It will make sense to everyone when they read it.   I didn’t do this because I think people would really give-a-shit about MY life,or things I’ve been through….The honest to god reason I did it because of my Kids & other family members who don’t REALLY know me or things I’ve seen, done & been through…or why I now do some of the things I do now.  I did it to really tell them who I am.  Having cancer sparked the idea because I didn’t ever want my kids to wonder what I was really about…or what I was like as a kid or WHO I WAS!  I never really knew much about my Father growing up…He was a solid man who was always there for me & took care of me, but I didn’t really KNOW him until before he died….He started to tell me stories about himself when he was a kid & when he was in the army & when he went to war, and it’s like all those years he was my Father, but all of the sudden he became a real person to me with thoughts & feelings & life experiences that just blew me away!!!!   This ROCK SOLID man was actually A “real person”…..A BIG SOFTIE in fact & When he died I was able to love a completely different person…..THAT’S why I decided to write this.
I never had any intention on publishing anything until a friend talked to me about it & I realized that it might be a good idea & there are a lot more people out there than I thought who could relate & maybe walk away with something that touched them or made them think about things differently.  I don’t claim to know-it all….All I know is that I’m proud of my children &  the job I did raising them.  Of course maybe not all of it….I screw up sometimes.   But they are AMAZING people, so I did something right!  After the shit storms I’ve plowed through…I clearly do make mistakes.  Sometimes over the years really BIG ones but at my core I’m a good person with a lot of love & a lot to share.

LRI: Tell us how you got involved with your new TV show “EX WIVES ROCK”  besides having a helluva ex-wife story.
AL:  AHAHAHA!!!   Helluva story doesn’t even come close to the real story!  The show happened by accident….I have a great friend (musician, singer of Femme Fetale/L.A. Nookie) who created this show along with her friend Lisa Brucker. They were already in the midst of it & I was married but miserable at the time.  We’ll just say that after almost 20 yrs.together & 14 yrs. of marriage, I realized I didn’t have a clue WHO or WHAT I was married to.  I will spare you the gory details beyond what I’ve told you as they are worse than any bad Lifetime movie you’ve probably seen.  I’m sure people will hear them soon enough,if they haven’t already!   Needless to say  after finding out a bit more about who James really is I filed for divorce immediately.  Like I said,  Lorraine & I are friends,  so I talk to her a lot about things because she “gets” me.  Eventually she told me about the show & asked if I would be interested.
I had a very bad attitude towards music at the time because it had been “NOT FUN” for me for a long time & decided why not!!!

I was ready for change & saw it almost as therapy! HA!  She set up a meeting for me to meet with Lisa…It’s funny NOW but wasn’t at the time.   I had a few drinks before Lorraine came to pick me up & a few more at the meeting….DOH!..This was all very fresh & I was still SUPER confused about everything that I had been finding out in regards to my marriage or lack thereof!   Put it this way….I was pretty fucking pissed off & didn’t make the best impression.   Lisa wasn’t sure about being able to work with me, I wasn’t mean or anything AT ALL…in fact I was the opposite & wanting to “make out” with our hot waiter!!  I just wasn’t all there & didn’t really take it seriously because I had been asked to do similar shows in the past & ended up disappointed.   I just figured this was just another disappointment & waste of time……boo hoo…..”BITTER PARTY OF ONE…YOUR TABLE IS READY !!!!!”   (laughs).

LRI:  So at that point the sexy and smarty pants Ms. Lorraine Lewis got ahold of you again??

AL:  After the meeting Lorraine explained to Lisa that she didn’t get a chance to meet the “real” me & set up another meeting with Lisa and Peter Mervis (one of the producers).   This time I had a clear head & got to explain “where I was at”….We started filming shortly after & it’s the most fun I’ve had in YEARS & got me back in touch with people & friends that I spent so much time avoiding because before that…Things were bad.   This show & everyone on it has been a blessing & I am SO GRATEFUL to Lorraine for not giving up on me & to  Lisa giving me a second chance to be “myself”!  So that’s how I got the show! phew!  “EX-WIVES ROCK” is just a working title as of now & may not be the name of the show.  it will be total craziness,  How can it NOT be???  Look at your subjects! Those are the people that people will see on TV.  Going to be a GREAT SHOW!!!! I would totally watch it, even if I wasn’t on it!   People will be surprised to see us like this & how we “REALLY” live as opposed to how they THINK we live. I CAN’T WAIT! You want REALITY??? YOU’RE GONNA GET IT. What a ride! We will know soon and i will keep you in the loop John.  The show is already set to premiere in Canada this coming April on the SLICE network.

LRI:  Cool!!  We were always holding out hope that you would end up on the SPICE network but that’s just as cool I guess.

AL:  Oh aren’t you a funny boy.  There will be no shortage of skin with these girls involved.  Blue is naked CONSTANTLY!  You will not be disappointed, you perv!! (laughs).

LRI:  Will you be too busy filming to be bringing us any more music?  Everyone that goes through a divorce has at least an album’s worth of material in them, that is a known fact!

AL:  I am always writing and I totally am always playing but as far as releasing something that is something that is going to have to be down the road.  I totally wanna have guest artists and write and play other instruments and really do something that is completely me but I am really hard on myself and it will have to be PERFECT.  I still love music and love playing whenever I get a chance with all kinds of people.  I have a new drum stick endorsement with Regal Tip sticks that I am soooo stoked about and I have a new endorsement deal with Rikki Rockett of Rockett Drum Works.  I was with DDrum for a long time and I still have a lot of people I consider friends there but with everything changing in my life it was just time to move on.   I have been friends with Rikki FOREVER and he is just the most talented and amazing guy to work with.  He builds the most incredible custom made drums on the planet.  There is really no way to describe or do justice to how friggin awesome they are but if you are a drummer you just really have to check him and his company out and see for yourself.

LRI:  Thanks for talking to us, this was awesome!!   Last question!!!  What’s it like to work with this galleria of blondness you’ve assembled on your show.  Were  you guys all close friends before shooting the show?

AL:  Thank YOU so much for taking the time and asking good questions.  To answer that….YES! We all knew each other & were friends long before the show!  BOOBY, whoops, I mean BOBBIE BROWN, SHARISE NEIL & BLUE BRITT are all amazing  and  beautiful women inside & out!  I really am very proud to call them friends, that’s not ass kissing for show sake it’s  the TRUTH!  Without them & this show, who knows where my head would be right now!  You will see how real and long standing our bond is when you watch it.  We weren’t just thrown together in a reality tv meeting.  It’s also very different from pretty much anything I’ve been seeing  on TV because we’re NOT the Kardashians…We’re NOT millionaires…We DON’T hang out decked out & look fully “made up” straight out of bed & we DON’T make shit up just to freak out over for cameras or drama’s sake…What you see is what you get 100%..That’s the only way I would do it!  It’s just LIFE and it fucking rocks!!

https://twitter.com/AthenaMintPatty

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Athena, Athena Kottak, Athena Lee, Krunk, motley crue, Tommy Lee

Category: Interviews