Mick Mars would be willing to write new music for Mötley Crüe – despite his expulsion and legal dispute with his former bandmates.
The 72-year-old guitarist was shocked when Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil announced in a statement that he was leaving the group “Girls Girls Girls,” while Mars had in reality retired from touring.
He can’t say much about his exit after filing a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court in April 2023 claiming his bandmates “manipulated” him and belittled his musicianship.
In his original lawsuit, he accused the glam metal band of trying to pressure him into quitting after he was forced to withdraw from tours due to long-standing health problems that had since worsened.
Mars, who just released his debut solo album, The Other Side of Mars, claimed he would have remained a member of the band even after his impending touring retirement.
And in a new interview, he admitted that he would write new tunes for the group if they wanted him to.
When asked why it took him four decades to go solo, he told Audacy Check In: ”Well, it took me 40 years because Mötley took priority… and now that I’m retired, I’m just being myself.”
“I mean, if Mötley had wanted me to write songs with them again, of course I would… But right now I’m just being myself, so I write, and it’s not Mötley, and it’s how I feel – my ideas and my kind of things and I’m trying to reinvent myself or bring myself up to date.”
In a recent interview with Guitar World, he said of his retirement: “I couldn’t do it anymore – the traveling. I mean, I’m 72 and I have this asshole. It gets a little exhausting for me to travel around the world and do that for months on end with a two-week break. It just got too much for me. So yeah, that’s it.”
Regarding their statement about using “resigned” instead of “resigned,” he said: “Two different words, two different meanings. It was just about retiring from touring. I was actively involved in all of Mötley Crüe’s activities. Without them, I wouldn’t be here today. I don’t regret anything we ever did – good, bad, ugly, whatever. My body just couldn’t do it anymore.”
Mars insists he was good friends with his bandmates, despite the drug and alcohol-fueled antics they got up to – including allegedly setting fire to his doors.
When asked if they were more than just colleagues, he said: “Yeah, at some point. The thing is, I don’t hate anyone. A lot of things happened in the band over the years that I didn’t particularly like. Wiping your butt on my door handle wasn’t exactly fun. Things like that – setting my doors on fire. And like I said, when I look back on it now, it’s kind of funny.”
But it happened and it wasn’t funny at the time.”
Mars was replaced by John 5.
