The world of Mötley Crüe has been filled with plenty of back-and-forth in recent weeks between the band’s now-former guitarist Mick Mars and the rest of the group.
Former Rob Zombie/Marilyn Manson guitar virtuoso John 5 was hired earlier this year to replace Mars on tour, and now also apparently in the studio.
Def Leppard has been on tour with Mötley Crüe first for The Stadium Tour and now on the current trek, The World Tour.
Guitarist Phil Collen weighed in on John 5 joining the group and on the struggles he saw Mars having during his last shows with Mötley Crüe
“The thing with Mötley Crüe Mick Mars was really in pain,” Collen said. “We’d done the American tour with him, and he has physical issues. So it was great that John 5 had come out. John 5 is just a wonderful human being and plays great and everything, so he fits in. And he really helped the band out, because Mick couldn’t really do that. Traveling is the problem; he was having trouble [with all the travel]. It just was painful. It worked out great.”
When Mars announced his retirement from Mötley Crüe, he said that he would remain a member of the band in a studio capacity. But following his lawsuit against the band alleging that he was forced to take a smaller profit and also strong-armed out of the band, that’s not going to happen.
Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx told Planet Rock of Mars’ lawsuit: “If a member of a band tells you that they can’t tour because of health reasons, you have two choices. You can quit as a band [after] 42 years of work. Or we could look at each other and go ‘are we done yet?!’ We’re really peaking and we understand [Mick ‘s] health issues.”
“We wish him the best and we know that he’s a little bit confused and being misled by representatives right now. But we still have to stay focused on why we’re here.”
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