Last year, the inaugural Crüe Fest hit Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre for a long day of rock capped off by tour creators Mötley Crüe. Well, the band is ready to do it all over again with a different lineup of supporting acts and a new plan for its own set, as well.

This year, Crüe Fest 2 will be made up of Godsmack, Theory of a Deadman, Drowning Pool and Charm City Devils, and the Crüe plans to highlight its own set by performing the Dr. Feelgood album in its entirety each night. Bassist Nikki Sixx recently spoke via conference call about the tour.

Press Question: Last year, you had stated that the bands that you guys had recruited were kind of like, you know, Mötley Crüe's like-mindedness. Was that kind of the same criteria for this year?

Nikki Sixx: I mean, to be honest with you, we always pick bands, No. 1, based on songs, whether they're metal, more radio-friendly, you know, more alternative, more classic. It just doesn't really matter to me. It's like, when I can hear a band and I go, "OK, those are all really good songs," that's a first criteria. And then we want bands that have exciting live performances. And then, you know, it gets into, like, how does the package feel? You know, how do the bands all feel together and what can we all do to help each other, which in the end ... is keeping rock 'n' roll alive.

Can you talk a little bit about what you're going to be doing with Dr. Feelgood this year as the 20th anniversary?

Well, I mean, it's the first time we've ever, you know, bitten off something like this. So obviously we're designing the show around performing the album from top to bottom. With that being said, you know, albums are, you know, 50 minutes, 60 minutes long so then we'd have another hour of hits that we got to figure out how to play those as well somehow and make it work time-wise.

Why of all the albums it feels like Dr. Feelgood is the one you'd want to do front to back?

You know what? Initially, I had thought of Shout At The Devil because I thought it would be more kind of gutsy and ballsy. And then I kind of went, "Well, maybe Girls, Girls, Girls." We thought, like, let's do more of a kind of a weird, hokey club thing and do Too Fast For Love, and everyone just kind of kept going back to which album it was going to be. And Feelgood just sort of won out. And then we found out afterwards that it was the 20-year anniversary and it kind of makes us looks like we're smart; like we had a plan. We had no plan.

Can I get you to talk a little bit about what the set's going to look like or the stage show?

We can't say that. That would, like, just blow -- it's bad enough it's on the Internet the first night of the tour. I got to tell you, it's like -- when I was a kid, a band would go on tour, and I'd be dying to get my hands on Circus Magazine so I could just get a glimpse of what it was going to be like, you know, whatever it was. And now, you know, the first night everybody knows your set list; everybody knows, like, everything. And it kind of takes the surprise out of it. It's, like, if I told you the ending of a movie.

Any plans for the Crüe's next studio album or if and when there's going to be a next Sixx A.M.?

We're working on a Sixx A.M. record now. I'm actually leaving here in a few minutes to go in the studio. And, you know, a Crüe record, obviously down the road here. We've got a little bit of touring to do. And, you know, I mean, it's hard. For me it's a balance because personally it's family comes first, career comes second. So, it's always trying to find that balance where I'm not working too much but at the same time, you know, you got to work and want to make music. So, it's a balance that we've been doing a lot here in the last couple years. And might be getting to a place where it might be time to take a little break here. And taking a break means writing songs of course.

Crüe Fest will be held on Aug. 30 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.