LATEST UPDATE:
- After a years-long legal battle, a judge ruled in favor of Motley Crue, saying the band was within its rights to fire Mick.
PREVIOUS UPDATES:
- A Rolling Stone article (“Mötley Crüe Lose Battle in Ongoing War With Mick Mars“) discusses the lawsuit’s latest court ruling:
“Mick Mars scored a victory in his ongoing legal battle with Mötley Crüe Tuesday when a Los Angeles judge agreed that the rock veterans had unjustly “refused” to cough up the dirt on its wide-ranging business dealings as it simultaneously sought to oust its founding guitarist early last year.”
- Motley Crue’s manager, Allen Kovac, went on the record regarding Mick Mars’ lawsuit against the band in a new Variety article. (“Unpacking Motley Crue’s Mess: Manager Slams Mick Mars’ ‘Smear Campaign’”)
Some notable quotes from the lengthy article:
“Mick’s representatives have no idea what they’ve created, but I’ve stopped the band from speaking about this, so they’re not gonna turn the fans against Mick…”
“Vince was singing better than he was before (on the latest tour). That was in reviews. Now, John 5 is playing like who John 5 is. I’ve heard John 5 perform and I heard Mick perform. Both are great guitar players. Unfortunately, Mick is not the same. He hasn’t been the same for a long time. Which was in reviews! You see that the professionals knew. Def Leppard (which alternated headlining spots on tour) knew. And (Mars) caused a train wreck up there, because he would play the wrong songs and the wrong parts, even with the guide tracks…”
- An alleged recording of Mick Mars’ in-ear monitor mix from a Stadium Tour show has leaked online. Listen to it here:
- TMZ reports that Mick Mars is claiming that Motley Crue continues to bully him, as the band wants to move his case to arbitration.
- RollingStone.com posted highlights from an interview they conducted with Mick Mars. The article is titled “Mick Mars Never Wants to Speak to Mötley Crüe Again — and 14 Other Things We Learned.”
Here is an excerpt:
#11. He stands by his assertion that Nikki Sixx didn’t play live bass on the 2022 tour.
“I’ve been with him a long time, and I got fan-based film of him thrusting his arms in the air and stuff when there’s a bass line playing,” says Mars. “I’m absolutely positive [he wasn’t playing live bass]. I think he did that because he felt too much competition from the other bands on the tour, like Def Leppard. I think they made him feel inadequate about his bass playing.”
Original Post:
While the circumstances surrounding Mick Mars’ departure from the Def Leppard/Motley Crue World Tour had often been questioned ever since it was first announced in October 2022, a clearer understanding of the situation has now come courtesy of a lawsuit Mick has filed against Motley Crue.
First, to quickly catch up on how things led up to this point:
In late October 2022, Mick Mars announced that he would no longer be touring with Motley Crue. He put out an official statement (a portion has been bolded for emphasis):
“Mick Mars, co-founder and lead guitarist of the heavy metal band MÖTLEY CRÜE for the past 41 years, has announced today that due to his ongoing painful struggle with Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.), he will no longer be able to tour with the band. Mick will continue as a member of the band, but can no longer handle the rigors of the road. A.S. is an extremely painful and crippling degenerative disease, which affects the spine.”
The same week of the announcement, Motley Crue released a statement, which began with the following sentence (again, a portion has been bolded for emphasis):
“While change is never easy, we accept Mick’s decision to retire from the band due to the challenges with his health…”
There was a disconnect between the message each statement was conveying. (No longer touring…or retired from the band altogether?)
There had since been other comments made publicly about Mick’s departure, including from Rick Allen, as well as a back and forth between Nikki Sixx and Mick’s good friend, drummer Carmine Appice.
A lot more information surrounding the situation has now been revealed in a lawsuit Mick Mars filed against Motley Crue, where Mick alleges that the band is trying to ‘gaslight’ and fire him. The lawsuit also calls out that other Motley Crue members mimed some, if not all, their parts on the Def Leppard/Motley Crue 2022 Stadium Tour, while Mick played completely live.
Some highlights from the lawsuit’s allegations from Variety:
- “Mars is making clear now that the band’s [October 2022] statement was part of a campaign to oust him entirely against his will, and he does not intend to go quietly.”
- “Mars claims he can still execute his parts perfectly, and is ready and able to participate in anything that does not subject him to the rigors of the road. He intended to stay in the band for recordings, one-off shows and possible residences, as well as maintain his financial interests, giving up only the touring aspect of the job.”
- “In response to the band’s apparent position in their demand letters that he was being let go for cause, Mars’ attorney recounts a history of felony convictions on the part of the other members — such as Vince Neil’s manslaughter conviction — and alleged drug and alcohol use, saying that the guitarist has the least reasons of anyone in the group to be let go on…”
More allegations from the lawsuit that was filed:
“During much of the band’s recent tenure, Sixx continually ‘gaslighted’ Mars by telling him that he (Mars) had some sort of cognitive dysfunction, and that his guitar playing was sub-par, claiming that Mars forgot chords, and sometimes started playing the wrong songs.
“Astonishingly, Sixx made these claims about Mars’s playing while he (Sixx) did not play a single note on bass during the entire U.S. tour. Ironically, 100% of Sixx’s bass parts were nothing but recordings. Sixx was seen fist pumping in the air with his strumming hand, while the bass part was playing. In fact, a significant portion of (Vince) Neil’s vocals were also pre-recorded. Even some of (Tommy) Lee’s drum parts were recordings. Some fans actually noticed that Lee was walking toward his drum set as they heard his drum part begin.”
Variety‘s article also makes mention of touring profits shared between band members, and what Mick was being offered only if he signed a severance agreement:
“In return for signing, his share of the band’s touring profits for the 2023 tour would be cut from 25% to 5%, and then 0% for future tours. (Although Motley Crue did a “farewell tour” in the 2010s, Sixx said recently that they now want to tour into the early 2030s.) The same decreasing-to-zero percentages would apply to merch profits, except for any shirts that portrayed his touring replacement, John 5, for which Mars would get nothing.”
Nikki Sixx/Motley Crue’s Lawyer Respond To Lawsuit
Nikki Sixx posted a response on social media (along with a link to a new Variety article with responses from Motley Crue’s lawyer to Mick’s lawsuit):
Sad day for us and we don’t deserve this considering how many years we’ve been propping him up-We still wish him the best and hope he find’s lawyers and managers who aren’t damaging him. We love you Mick –https://t.co/dhpu7ejxSi
— 📷 (@NikkiSixx) April 7, 2023
Some highlights from the Variety article Nikki Sixx linked to, which included quotes from Motley Crue’s lawyer:
“After the last tour, Mick publicly resigned from Mötley Crüe,” said Sasha Frid, the band’s litigation attorney. “Despite the fact that the band did not owe Mick anything — and with Mick owing the band millions in advances that he did not pay back — the band offered Mick a generous compensation package to honor his career with the band. Manipulated by his manager and lawyer, Mick refused and chose to file this ugly public lawsuit.”
“Retiring from touring is resigning from the band.”
“Equally unfortunate are his claims about the band’s live performances. Mötley Crüe always performs its songs live, but during the last tour, Mick struggled to remember chords, played the wrong songs and made constant mistakes which led to his departure from the band. There are multiple declarations from the band’s crew attesting to his decline…”
Mick Mars Speaks Out (Variety Interview)
The article also mentioned that Variety had a yet-to-be-published exclusive interview with Mick Mars further discussing the lawsuit — it is now available (“Mick Mars Speaks Out on Motley Crue Lawsuits”).
Some of Mick’s quotes from his exclusive interview with Variety:
“I’m pretty upset that they’re even pulling this crap, when I carried these bastards for years.”
“I think that those guys are hoping that I’ll just fold and lay down. Because I’ve done that many times. But this thing that I helped build for 41 years, I’m sorry, you’re not gonna take that from me.”
“You would have to have a good reason to be fired. I don’t. I could come back with this and go like, “Hey, you know what? I’m gonna counter because you assholes are felons. You (Lee) for spousal abuse; you (Neil) for manslaughter.” [Sixx has only been convicted of misdemeanors, not felonies.] I’m not doing that. It just makes me really upset that they want to try and bully me more or less out of the band, so it’s the last man standing that collects everything.”
“When I walked into this rehearsal for the stadium tour and I said, ‘Pick a song, I know them all,’ (the response was) ‘Uh, we aren’t gonna do it that way,’ to quote Nikki Sixx. And yes, on this particular tour, Nikki’s bass was 100% recorded. Tommy’s drums, to the best of my knowledge, there was a lot.”
Mick Mars also posted a message on his Twitter page after the lawsuit became public:
Thank you everyone for the support. It’s greatly appreciated.
Peace.— Mick Mars (@mrmickmars) April 7, 2023
The Def Leppard/Motley Crue World Tour is scheduled to resume on May 22.
- Read more details about Mick Mars’ lawsuit against Motley Crue on Variety.com.
- Read the actual filing here. (Deadline.com)
- Read all the latest updates on the Def Leppard and Motley Crue World Tour here.
