The Casanovas and that Motley Crue and Motorhead Tour

When The Casanovas were once chosen to open for Motley Crue and Motorhead in Australia it was an instant education for Tommy Boyce and Damo Campbell.

“2005, I believe,” remembers The Casanovas lead signer Tommy Boyce.

“That was a real eye opener of a tour, says bass player Damo Campbell. “To be on that as a first on. We played literally as the doors opened. You could imagine the stage setup of those bands. Motley Crue, on that tour, Carnival of Sins, they had a circus tent going on, all this stuff on stage. We had this tiny little section right at the front of the stage. We had to start playing right as the doors opened on a strict stopwatch”.

“The lights were still on,” Tommy says. “Probably about 1/10th of the sound. It was one of those gigs that looks a lot better on the resume in reality.”

Damo says, “And you probably get more out of the experience being on the shows with what’s happening and seeing backstage with the entourage than actually playing the show. Motley Crue had an endless entourage of tour managers and assistants and all this stuff happening everywhere. All the guys from Motley Crue had their own space backstage. Then you had Motorhead all contained in just a couple of dressing rooms. It was old school. They’d hang out together with ¼ the amount of entourage. It was interesting seeing that”.

Tommy agrees. Motley Crue were the rock stars. “Motley Crue were untouchable,” he says. “I had previously struck-up a friendship with Tommy Lee six months before at the Jack Daniels Awards. We went out and hit the town. Then I bumped into him a week later in Byron Bay purely by chance. Once again we were hanging out and stuff. Then six months later we are doing a tour with Motley Crue and I go backstage and say ‘hey Tommy’ and he is like ‘hey dude’ and walks off into the dressing room. He didn’t know who I was. I was thinking, ‘this is so cool, I’m going to be hanging with the Motley Crue guys’ and he just totally forgot”.

Watch the Noise11 interview with The Casanovas Tommy Boyce and Damo Campbell: