During a recent interview on Chicago’s Rock 95.5 radio station with Angi Taylor, MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx delved into their choice to enlist guitarist John 5 to fill Mick Mars‘s role after Mars opted out of touring with the iconic rock band.
Reflecting on their experiences touring with John 5 over the past year, Vince remarked on what it’s been like, saying: “He’s a good fit for the band. He’s a wonderful human being. He’s a great guy and he’s so talented, it’s scary. On stage, when he’s doing the solos, I usually go sit in the back and have some water and stuff and kind of kick it, but when he does the solo, I’ve gotta be out there watching him because he’s mesmerizing. He’s got that thing about him.”
Discussing Mick‘s departure from MÖTLEY CRÜE, Nikki said: “We didn’t see this coming. We were out doing our stadium tour, and Mick had decided to leave. And we really had to sit down and go, ‘Well, what do we do? Do we fold? Do we fold on the fans and Live Nation [and 2022 and 203 tourmates] DEF LEPPARD?’ John, we’ve all known John. I’ve worked with John. We kind of talked about it. And if we had to move on, it’s moved on in a such a beautiful way. It’s been great.”
Regarding MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s upcoming plans, Sixx commented: “We’re having a great time. We’re getting ready to leave on tour pretty soon. We’re not doing a lot of shows this year. We’re doing, like, what? 17 or 20 shows. We’ve got some surprises coming up, which we can’t tell you about… But we’ve got some really fun stuff coming up at the end of the year we’re really excited about that we’re keeping just between us. And it’s gonna be a great year, and new music. And then next year we’ve got a lot of fun stuff planned. So it’s just a great time in the band.”
John 5 stepped in as Mars‘s replacement in fall of 2022. Mick officially retired from touring with the band in October 2022 due to deteriorating health conditions.
In April 2023, Mars initiated legal action against his MÖTLEY CRÜE bandmates, alleging that he was unjustly terminated by his “brothers of 41 years.”
In his lawsuit, Mars asserted that the other CRÜE members sought to unlawfully strip him of his 25% ownership stake in the band after he disclosed his inability to tour due to an arthritic condition known as ankylosing spondylitis, which he described as a “tragic announcement.” Mars also claimed that Nikki Sixx “did not play a single note on bass” during the entire 2022 tour, that “100% of Sixx‘s bass parts were nothing but recordings” and asserted that a “significant portion” of Neil‘s vocals and “some of” Tommy Lee‘s drumming were pre-recorded.
