Former Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars speaks on the ongoing lawsuit against his former band in a new interview with Rolling Stone.
“They’re trying to take my legacy away, my part of Mötley Crüe, my ownership of the name, the brand,” Mars says. “Frank Sinatra‘s or Jimi Hendrix‘s legacy goes on forever, and their heirs continue to profit from it. They’re trying to take that away from me. I’m not going to let them.”
As previously reported, Mars is suing Mötley Crüe over a financial dispute related to his retirement from touring in October 2022. Mars alleged that his ex-bandmates played to pre-recorded tracks during Mötley’s 2022 reunion tour, specifically claiming that bassist Nikki Sixx “did not play a single note on bass” during the shows. Mötley’s team, though, contends that it was actually Mars who was struggling to play live.
“I was sabotaged musically so they’d have an excuse to get rid of me and bring in another person,” Mars says. “The feed of guitar into my in-ear monitor was horrible. It would break up, and nobody else’s seemed to break up but mine. And then they’d switch to prerecorded crap from rehearsals, when I was just relearning the songs. They did it to make me look bad.”
Sixx, meanwhile, calls Mars’ claims “insanity.”
“When Mick came into rehearsals, he couldn’t play guitar properly,” Sixx says. “He just couldn’t pull it off, so we have to use tapes and cover it up. He was the only person in the band on tape.”
In between the legal dispute, Mars is working on a new solo album, Another Side of Mars. In describing one song, Mars shares, “It’s about narcissists that keep you pinned down and make you feel crazy.”
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