Although some people have voiced their suspicions surrounding Mick Mars’ departure from Mötley Crüe’s live lineup, things eventually spiraled out of control and escalated into a full-blown legal war. It all started with drummer Carmine Appice, who’s also Mick’s close friend, revealing what the guitarist told him about the departure from the band, also adding that “everything was on tape” during the band’s live shows.
After seemingly endless back and forth, Mötley Crüe manager of almost 30 years, Allen Kovac, now spoke up through an interview for Variety. Reflecting on the whole thing, he said:
“(Mick is trying) to gain leverage in a smear campaign on Mötley. He’s attacked the band, and he’s done it in a slanderous way, with false accusations and misrepresenting the facts to the fans. Mick is not the victim. The victims are Mötley Crüe and the brand, which Mick is so prideful of.”
“What’s upsetting to me is not Mick, but his representatives, who have guided Mick to say and do harmful things to the brand he cares about so much, Mötley Crüe. He has a degenerative disease and people are taking advantage of him. It’s called elder abuse.”
“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.”
“But I am going to make sure that people understand that Mick hasn’t been treated badly. In fact, he was treated better than anyone else in the band, and they carried him and they saved his life.”
Of course, since the backing track and miming accusations were pretty severe, it was only expected that Kovac would be asked about it. Needless to say, he denied all the allegations by explaining:
“Everything is live with Nikki’s [Sixx] bass playing and Tommy’s [Lee] drum playing. When they’ve used loops, they’re still playing. There are augmented vocals, which were (recorded) in the studio and are backgrounds behind the two ladies who are singing and (other background vocals by) John 5 and Nikki Sixx, and before that Mick and Nikki.”
“But Nikki played his bass and always has. Vince [Neil] 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.”
On the other hand, Kovac didn’t have good things to say about Mick and pretty much confirmed the band’s accusations that he was not exactly in the best shape. Allen continued:
“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.”
“When he played the wrong song, it wasn’t Nikki Sixx that had a tape; it was the soundman bringing it into the mix so the audience could hear a song, even though the guitar player was playing a different song. (Audiences) would hear it at first, but (sound engineers) would fix it so that we could keep the song going. I heard it. I’d go to the sound board.”
This statement comes not long after a leaked audio mix from Mick Mars’ in ear monitor from what seems to be a last year’s live show. You can check that out below.
Sections of Mars’ lawsuit, which was filed recently, was shared through Variety. It reads:
“How did Mars’s brothers of 41 years respond to Mars’s tragic announcement [about quitting the road]? They noticed an emergency shareholders’ meeting for the band’s main corporate entity in order to throw Mars out of the band, to fire him as a director of the corporation, to fire him as an officer of the corporation, and to take away his shares of the corporation. When he did not go away quietly, they purported to fire him from six additional band corporations and LLCs.”
“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.“
“Mars, at times on the tour, did play the wrong chords, but not due to any cognitive dysfunction.He was playing live, and his in-ear monitors were constantly malfunctioning, causing Mars to be unable to hear his own instrument.“
“The fact is that Mars is rarely mocked or criticized online. He is a quiet member of the group, who shows up to play, and puts his heart and soul into each performance. Conversely, other band members are often criticized online, particularly Neil, who is routinely torn to shreds for, among other things, not remembering the songs.”
Photo: Shadowgate (Motley Crue 19 (3689109499))
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