Mick Mars Was Allegedly Unhappy With Pre-Recorded Tracks on Mötley Crüe’s Stadium Tour
Guitarist Mick Mars stepped away as the touring guitarist for Mötley Crüe last year, citing his ongoing issues with Ankylosing spondylitis, a degenerative condition he’s struggled with for decades. Mars was replaced by John 5, who fits the band like a glove, but apparently Mars’ issues went deeper than just physical discomfort.
In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart), who is good friends with Mars, discussed the guitarist’s departure from the Crüe. According to him, Mars was having a bad time on the stadium tour, due in large part to the fact that everything was pre-recorded.
“Well, I’ll tell you what. I’ve been talking to Mick, and he told me, ‘When I was on The Stadium Tour, I was not happy.’ Basically, everything was on tape; it was all planned out and ultimately a lot of crap. And Mick is a pretty good player, and so to now let him loose and play the way he wants, that was never going to work for him. The truth is that everything has been weird for a while with Mötley Crüe, and Mick didn’t like that everything was on tape. Mick told me that people that came to see it could tell that it was all pre-recorded and that everything was on tape.
“When you play in a stadium like that, you can hear a lot of things come to the monitors or what doesn’t. And with Vince’s [Neil] vocals, bass, drums, guitars, and all the other stuff, it was obvious that it was all on tape. And Mick was pissed off and said, ‘I can play these things. I want to play them. I don’t want to make believe I’m playing them.’ So, I think that’s one of the reasons why he said, ‘I’m done.’ Sure, the disease that he has doesn’t help, and it doesn’t make life easy on tour, but Mick can play all the licks, and he was allowed to.”
Appice continued to go on to say that the other members of Mötley Crüe were “all busy still trying to be rock stars” and that Mars just wanted to play music. Mars tends to be pretty quiet in the media, so it’s unlikely we’ll get a response.
