Ex-Mötley Crüe Guitarist Mick Mars Announces Album The Other Side of Mars, Streams Single “Loyal To The Lie”
Nearly one year to the day since he dropped off of Mötley Crüe‘s live commitments and he was summarily replaced by John 5, guitarist Mick Mars is back in the public’s spotlight with a new track and the announcement of a full-fledged solo record.
The album, titled The Other Side of Mars, will be available on February 23, 2024 via his own 1313 LLC label. It’s the first new recording featuring Mars since recording “The Dirt (Est. 1981)” for the Mötley Crüe biopic on Netflix. To mark the album’s announcement and to give fans a taste of what’s to come, Mars released his first solo single, “Loyal to the Lie.”
As you can hear below, the song’s got a bit of a weird spooky butt rock vibe to it, which is appropriate given it was dropped on Halloween and all. Mars said the single was indicative of what he wanted to do at 72 years of age.
“I wanted to do something that was just big and mean… People are going to hear my tone – my sound. I am what I am. Nobody else can do it. And like everyone, I’ve got a limited number of years. So, I’m gonna do all I can to do a lot of stuff.”
When it comes to The Other Side of Mars, the guitarist said this was his first chance to showcase an unadulterated Mick Mars, as he was no longer playing through the prism of Mötley Crüe’s overarching sound.
According to Mars, the solo album will be jam packed full of riffs (which is to be expected, really), as he tries his hand at “caustic, modern metal, conjuring gothic-tinged soundscapes, and digging into anguished, slow-burning power balladry alongside unspooling bluesy, cinematic instrumental workouts.”
“There’s a lot of ideas that I have that, I don’t want to call them ‘left,’ but they are, you know what I mean? My feeling has always been, I might gain some fans, I might lose some fans. But what they’re hearing, it’s all me.”
In addition to his playing, Mars has recruited Winger and former Alice Cooper keyboardist Paul Taylor, vocalist Jacob Bunton, Korn drummer Ray Luzier, bassist Chris Collier and singer Brion Gamboa, who sang on two of the album’s songs that “required a little bit more of an angsty, desperation kind of thing.”
The Other Side Of Mars was produced by Michael Wagener, who both engineered and mixed Mötley Crüe’s 1981 debut Too Fast For Love. As mentioned before, the album will be available on February 23, 2024, but you can preorder your copy today.
