Last month, co-founding Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars announced he was retiring from touring but would still remain with the group in a recording capacity. The 71-year-old has long battled ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic, inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis.
Shortly after, Mötley Crüe announced that longtime Rob Zombie guitarist, John 5, who has also worked with David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson and others, would be taking Mars’ place on the road.
“While change is never easy, we accept Mick’s decision to retire from the band due to the challenges with his health,” the band said. “We have watched Mick manage his Ankylosing Spondylitis for decades and he has always managed it with utmost courage and grace.”
“We will carry out Mick’s wish and continue to tour the world as planned in 2023. No doubt will it take an absolutely outstanding musician to fill Mick’s shoes so we are grateful that our good friend, John 5 has agreed to come on board and join us moving forward. We’ll see all you Crüeheads out on the road!”
Recently, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroegen spoke with WRIF Detroit and talked about celebrating Crüe drummer Tommy Lee’s 60th birthday at a party in Mexico. He also shared an experience he witnessed with John 5 and talked about the guitar virtuoso’s new gig.
“We all got to go down to this spot that Tommy’s got this love for,” Kroeger said. “It’s about an hour north of Puerto Vallarta. It’s called Punta Mita. And there were tons of us there. It’s really strange, though, being friends with Tommy, and Nikki shows up. So there’s Tommy and Nikki there. And, like, the 13-year-old fanboy in me, I’m trying to suppress that, push it down [laughs] — push it down. [Laughs] ‘Don’t fan out, dude. Don’t.'”
Kroeger revealed that John 5 also brought his guitar to the nearly week-long celebration.
“John’s incredible,” Kroeger said. “He brought his guitar [with him to Mexico]. ‘Cause we were there for — I think we were there for, like, five days. So on one of the nights, John brought a guitar out. And a lot of people were heading to bed. And it was just, like, John and Tommy and myself. I think Deadmau5 [Canadian electronic music producer and DJ] might have stayed up with us that night as well. John just played… ‘Cause now I’m allowed to say that he’s gonna be filling in for Mick for the rest of the tour. And so he just sat there and played every single ötley Crüe riff that’s ever been written and recorded — flawlessly. Flawlessly. You don’t need to put on music when you’ve got that kind of talent just sitting right there. I mean, he was just running the gamut, and it was fantastic.”
Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard will co-headline “The World Tour” beginning in February of 2023.
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