According to iconic drummer Carmine Appice, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars “wasn’t happy” with “The Stadium Tour”
In a recent talk with Ultimate Guitar, drummer Carmine Appice (VANILLA FUDGE, CACTUS), was asked about Mick Mars‘ departure from MÖTLEY CRÜE as the two have been solid friends for years. He said: “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.”
When asked to clarify if in fact “Mick wasn’t getting along with the rest of” MÖTLEY CRÜE, Carmine replied: No, he wasn’t. He had his own means of travel and would travel alone on a bus while the other guys flew everywhere. He said, ‘Man, these guys are pissing their money away, flying to every gig.’
He continued: “They were all busy still trying to be rock stars, and Mick just wanted to play the music. Mick wasn’t interested in wasting time and money flying everywhere, so he traveled by bus. Their lifestyles are different than his, and so there were a lot of disagreements. I think he was just done. They were supposed to have done their last tour, and then they came back. Then they did ‘The Stadium Tour‘, and that was apparently supposed to be the last. So, when they came back again, he said, ‘You can do it. I’m not going out with you for this.'”
This isn’t the first time Appice has commented on Mars’s exit from MÖTLEY CRÜE. Just last November Carmine spoke with Michael’s Record Collection, saying: “[Mick] just gave up his seat in touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE. And John 5 is gonna tour with them. He said, ‘Man, we did our final tour [seven years ago]. Now we’re out again doing this major tour with DEF LEPPARD.‘ And he said, ‘I don’t wanna do it no more. I’m sick of being in a bus.'”
The 71-year old Mick Mars announced that he was retiring from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE last October due to his ongoing struggle with the arthritic condition Ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that affects the spine and sacroiliac joint.
A statement from Mick’s representative read: “Mick Mars, co-founder and lead guitarist of the heavy metal band MÖTLEY CRÜE for the past 41 years, has announced today that due to his ongoing painful struggle with Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.), he will no longer be able to tour with the band.
“Mick will continue as a member of the band, but can no longer handle the rigors of the road. A.S. is an extremely painful and crippling degenerative disease, which affects the spine.”
