AceShowbiz - Motley Crue rocker Nikki Sixx nixed a book-signing tour for his new memoir, "The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx", because he couldn't hug fans.

The candid tell-all drops next week (November 19) via Hachette Books, and Nikki was hoping to tour and promote the book properly, but ongoing COVID restrictions prevent him from getting up close and personal with devotees.

"We're not doing a book tour because I don't wanna give the fans anything less than a full experience," Nikki told HardDrive Radio. "I really enjoy book tours. Some of the cities we go to, we get over a thousand people... The store's, like, 'Look, we legally have to close...,' and I try to sign as quickly as possible."

"Things have changed over the years. On early book tours, even with (Motley Crue biography) 'The Dirt', people line up and you get the hug and you get the high five and they get the picture. Now it's gotten to the place where they're trying to keep it a little bit more organized. And I remember when they were, like, 'We can't really do the picture thing.' And then we tried to figure out a way around that. So I would be sitting there signing and they would turn and their friend would take a picture."

Nikki reveals his publishers had 15 cities lined up. "I was really excited about it but it came down to, 'I wanna take photos, I wanna high-five the fan that is so connected to me they just want a hug, and I like that - I'm a hugger,' " he added.

"So we decided, in talking to all the retailers and management and myself and my family, that it just wasn't the right thing to do for the fans - to stick five hundred, a thousand fans in a sardine can at this time, whether you're vaccinated or unvaccinated. And then it was, like, 'What about my safety?' I have a two year old. So, what are we gonna do? Put a plexi glass wall up? That's kind of impersonal. What about the employees? So we opted out."