The rift between Mötley Crüe and (possibly former) guitarist Mick Mars only seems to be deepening.
It all started earlier this month when Mars filed a lawsuit against Mötley Crüe over financials, which also accused the band of faking live performances and gaslighting him about his abilities on guitar. Mötley Crüe called bullshit on Mars' claims, Mars fired back that Mötley Crüe has been trying to fire him for over three decades, and then the band's manager Allen Kovac chimed in saying that Mars' representatives are pitting him against Mötley Crüe. Amidst all this, Mötley Crüe entered the studio with producer Bob Rock to record new material with guitarist John 5.
In an interview with Planet Rock, bassist Nikki Sixx chalked the whole dispute up to Mars being "misled" by his representatives (the same line issued by Kovac) and that Mötley Crüe is actually at their peak right now.
"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."
Sixx also opened up about playing with John 5, saying everyone's having a great time and they're all inspired to write good music. So basically everything is just smiles and sunshine in the world of Mötley Crüe.
"It's nothing against any other musician that you play with, just that when you play with new musicians you play differently. We're still playing the same songs that people wanna hear but it kind of like re-inspires you. And I'm sure the same thing would happen if they got a new bass player. They're like 'oh wow, he's attacking it differently.' So it's never about how bad anybody was.
"It's a nice time [in Mötley Crüe] and it's kind of inspired us to write a little bit. We love our history, we're very proud of everything we've done. We've always been really supportive of Mick no matter what Mick was going through. We're just happy with where we're at right now."
Perhaps the most insane part of this ordeal is that neither Mars nor Mötley Crüe have ever issued an official statement saying Mötley Crüe has parted ways with Mars completely. Last we heard was the announcement of Mars' retirement from the road, which only stated that Mars is off touring duties with Mötley Crüe – not officially out of the band.
