Carmine Appice was shocked when Nikki Sixx called him “a washed-up drummer” after he commented on Mick Mars‘s departure from MÖTLEY CRÜE.
Last year, Appice made the news when he disclosed information shared by his friend and guitarist Mick Mars regarding alleged events that took place during 2022’s The Stadium Tour, which featured MÖTLEY CRÜE, DEF LEPPARD, POISON, JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS, and CLASSLESS ACT. Among the claims was that Nikki Sixx‘s bass parts were pre-recorded.
This led to a tense verbal exchange with Sixx, who responded via a tweet stating, “A washed up drummer speaking for our band without any of the facts is as ridiculous as bottom feeder media running with stories without fact checking. When you hear the truth it will be from us.”
Fascinatingly, Mars later gained attention as he filed a lawsuit against the band, alleging widespread use of backing tracks during live performances and accusing bassist Nikki Sixx of manipulating him into thinking he had lost cognitive abilities and guitar skills.
In the lawsuit, Mick alleges that MÖTLEY CRÜE reduced his share of earnings from 25 percent to a mere 5 percent after revealing his decision to withdraw from touring. Additionally, he states that the group’s attorneys made him feel as if he should appreciate this minimal portion, as they believed they had no obligation to provide him with anything. Mick also asserts that a complete band gathering took place where they chose to “unilaterally” exclude him from MÖTLEY CRÜE.
Mick consistently alleged that bassist Nikki Sixx was “gaslighting” him by suggesting his guitar abilities were declining, even though Sixx didn’t “play a single note on bass” throughout a recent tour, as stated by the guitarist. Mick asserts that all of Nikki‘s segments were pre-recorded.
In a recent interview on The Logan Show, Carmine was asked whether Nikki had ever responded to his “jam-off” challenge.
“No. And that whole thing was so messed up, because I didn’t mean to do anything,” Carmine responded. “When I was doing an interview about the BBA [BECK, BOGERT & APPICE] record that was coming out, the guy said, ‘What do you think about this? And why do you you think Mick left?’ So I just told him what Mick told me. Mick didn’t say, ‘Don’t say anything.’ I just told him what started that whole war that’s still going on. It was unbelievable. I was reaching markets I never was in before, and I was seeing myself in this one that one.”
“I knew Nikki for a long time,” he continued. “They opened up for Ozzy when I was with Ozzy, and Nikki lived around the corner from me. We used to go out for breakfast, and I got his phone number and his real name in my phone. And I haven’t talked to him in a while, but ever since they got big, they got a little stuffy. Now that’ll come out now: ‘Carmine says Nikki Sixx is stuffy.’ But that’s the truth.
“So when he started that stuff, and he called me a has-been drummer, I said, ‘You f**k. What did you start? Give me something that you started in this industry. I can tell you a bunch of stuff I started that’s still going on. What did you start?’ That’s why I challenged him. I never heard anything back. Because I was a has-been drummer, he said.”
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.
