Mick Mars has opened up to Guitar World about the current situation surrounding his relationship with his former Mötley Crüe bandmates, seemingly suggesting that there is no hope for a future reconciliation.
The fallout from the Mick Mars/Mötley Crüe split is still being felt today. The saga, which was first set in motion back in 2022 when Mars announced his retirement from touring, soon took an ugly turn when Mars filed a lawsuit against his former band.
In his suit, the electric guitar player alleged his former bandmates had conspired to fire him and remove him as a significant stakeholder in Crüe’s business holdings. He also accused Cruë bass guitar player Nikki Sixx of gaslighting him, and claimed Sixx and some of his other bandmates had mimed their parts during Mötley Crüe’s 2022 North American tour.
These claims were denied by Mötley Crüe and their reps, who went on to say Mars’ move to retire from touring was equal to “resigning from the band”.
Now, in the new issue of Guitar World, Mars has discussed the situation surrounding his relationship with Mötley Crüe, and while he understandably remains coy on the specifics, he did imply that a future reunion – or a mere reconciliation, for that matter – was off the table.
When asked whether it would be possible for him to sit down with his former bandmates and “hash things out”, Mars flatly responds: “I would say it’s past… impossible”.
“I don’t have a gag order, but it’s like anything you say can and will be used against you,” Mars goes on when asked about the details of the case. “I have to be pretty cautious about what I say because it could be relevant to what’s going on.”
It’s not the first time Mars has suggested that his relationship with Mötley Crüe was broken beyond repair. Last summer, the guitarist revealed he hadn’t properly spoken to his bandmates since 2019, and stated that he never wanted to speak to them again.
In his new Guitar World interview, Mars did reflect on some aspects of the saga, and addressed one of the most contentious issues that sits at the center of the dispute: whether his retirement was tantamount to a resignation.
“Two different words, two different meanings. It was just retiring from the touring part,” he explains. “I’d actively be involved in every entity of Mötley Crüe. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them. I don’t regret anything we’ve ever done – good, bad or ugly, whatever. My body just couldn’t do it anymore.”
And, in his new interview, Mars was also asked whether he harbored any second thoughts over filing the lawsuit that started the back and forth, to which he replies: “I couldn’t do it anymore – the traveling part.
“I mean, I’m 72 and I have this crap [inflammatory disease Ankylosing Spondylitis]. It gets a little bit strenuous for me to travel around the world and keep doing that for months at a time with a two-week break,” he continues. “It’s just gotten to be too much for me. So yeah, that’s about it.”
Head over to Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitar World, which features the full cover story with Mick Mars.
