Rocker Vince Neil Mr. Sin City

His face is synonymous with a lot of things: hormonal heavy metal subtle as an alley cat with an anvil on its tail, the kind of rock star debauchery that keeps livers up at night and, of course, girls, girls, girls.

And now, might as well add Las Vegas to the list.

These days, Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil has become one of the dudes most associated with Sin City.

Combine his recently opened Tres Rios Cantina at the Las Vegas Hilton with his Feelgoods Rock Bar and Grill, his two tattoo shops in O'Sheas and the Rio respectively and his rock 'n' roll airline service at McCarran, and the guy has pretty much kicked Wayne Newton to the curb.

"You can do things in Vegas that you can't do anywhere else," Neil says of the city's appeal to him. "That's the beauty of the businesses there, like with my first thing of putting the tattoo shop on the Strip. That's like someone saying, 'Hey, you want to put a place on Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue?' Those opportunities don't happen. But they do in Vegas."

"The casino owners are really kind of opening their eyes to people like me, some rock 'n' roll guy, who can actually do some good at their hotel," he adds, noting that he got a deal done for his cantina just two days after he pitched the idea to a Hilton executive. "It's not like the door is being slammed in peoples' faces anymore."

Neil has been in Vegas awhile, first buying a home at the Desert Inn Country Club in '95, living here during the weekdays and in Beverly Hills on the weekends. Then about a decade ago, he started staying in town permanently.

On his latest solo disc, the cover-heavy "Tattoos & Tequila," which came out on Tuesday, Neil even belts out Sin City standard "Viva Las Vegas."

The album is a collection of some of Neil's favorite tunes since he was a teen.

"All these albums were on my iPhone," he says. "These songs all represent times in my life. In listening to these songs, it's like a window into my life. With every single song, I reminisce a bit."

When Neil hears The Scorpions' "Another Piece of Meat," he thinks of riding around in Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee's van when he was 17, cruising for chicks. When it comes to the Sex Pistols' "No Feelings," it makes him think of the times he worked as an electrician before the Crue took off.

Now, decades later, Neil is a bona fide businessman in addition to a heavy metal icon.

For the opening of his cantina, Neil even got a proclamation from the mayor, receiving the honor from one ham to another.

"That really made me feel good," Neil says. "Now, I really feel like I'm a Las Vegas person."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.