Carmine Appice Fires Back at Nikki Sixx: ‘At Least This Washed-Up Drummer Can Play His Instrument’
The ongoing war of words between Nikki Sixx and Carmine Appice got a bit more spicy yesterday, as the 76-year-old drummer hit back at the 64-year-old bassist by saying at least he “can play his instrument well.”
The barb came after Sixx called Appice a “washed up drummer” last week after the drummer suggested that ex-Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars wasn’t too thrilled that the band was using pre-recorded tracks during their previous stadium tour. He also suggested that while the band was “busy still trying to be rock stars,” Mars was more focused on playing music.
After Sixx’s outburst, Appice countered with his own Twitter-based haymaker by pointing to his lengthy career, his status as a mentor, and possibly most important of all — his musical talent.
Daaaaaamn. I’d almost want to call that a low blow, but anyone who’s watched recent footage of Mötley Crüe’s shows know they’re a shell of their former selves. Especially when you look at Vince Neil’s vocal attempts.
It’s important to mention that this all kicked off when an interview with Appice ran on Ultimate Guitar ran earlier this month. Not only that, but the offending part is more of a my friend told me this in confidence but I’m going to say it in public anyway kind of situation.
“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.”
We’ll have to see if Nikki Sixx responds even further, or if these two older dudes can move on from the drama.
