In a lawsuit filed by original Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars, the 71-year-old guitarist said he made it clear he could still record with the band and do limited performances despite his health struggles.
His lawsuit alleges that Mötley Crüe cut his percentage of profits from 25% to 5% after he announced he was retiring from regular touring. He also said that the band’s lawyers made him feel that he should be grateful for that 5%, because the band felt they didn’t owe him anything.
Mars also said there was a band meeting where the rest of the group decided to “unilaterally” remove him from Mötley Crüe.
Mars also accused Sixx of “gaslighting” him about his guitar skills diminishing, and he countered that Sixx didn’t “play a single note on bass” during last year’s Stadium Tour.
Mötley Crüe has since responded in a statement to the media: “Mick’s lawsuit is unfortunate and completely off-base. In 2008, Mick voted for and signed an agreement in which he and every other band member agreed that ‘in no event shall any resigning shareholder be entitled to receive any monies attributable to live performances (i.e., tours).’ After the last tour, Mick publicly resigned from Mötley Crüe.”
“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. 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.”
“The band did everything to protect him, tried to keep these matters private to honor Mick’s legacy and take the high road. Unfortunately, Mick chose to file this lawsuit to badmouth the band. The band feels empathy for Mick, wishes him well and hopes that he can get better guidance from his advisors who are driven by greed.”
Signed declarations from Mötley Crüe show that seven road crew members complained about Mars during the 2022 tour, including production manager, Robert Long.
“When he is off, the band’s entire performance suffers,” read a statement provided to Variety.
“Mick’s performance during ‘The Stadium Tour’ was unworkable and very difficult to manage. It began with the band’s rehearsals in April 2022. Mick would consistently forget chords and songs so the band would have to stop and re-teach those parts to Mick to remind him of the arrangements. … Mick’s performance issues continued throughout the tour. He would consistently miss notes; play out of tune; play the wrong chords during a song; stay within a chorus of a song and never come out of it; forget the song that he was playing and start a different one; and would get lost in songs. This happened at every show. … Our playback engineer put in cues for Mick so that he would stay on course but he would miss the cues.”
The band’s tour manager Thomas Reitz said: “Mick was struggling, forgetting chords and songs. He was not up to speed with the songs and could not play his solos. The other band members spent hours trying to help Mick. Mick would often get frustrated and confused. I also witnessed the band and crew’s frustration with Mick’s mistakes first hand during the rehearsals. Mick’s issues continued and got worse during the tour.”
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