L.A. GUNS frontman Phil Lewis has given his 2 cents on Mick Mars’s recent lawsuit against MÖTLEY CRÜE
Speaking with Rock Interview Series, Lewis commented on Mick’s claim that he was the only bandmember of MÖTLEY CRÜE to play 100 percent live during the band’s 2022 “The Stadium Tour“.
Phil said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s incorrigible, isn’t it? It really is. It’s such a swindle. But it’s probably a lot better. I mean, they’d probably sound like utter shit if they were live, with the big stadium and the big lights and Vince [Neil] singing in the way that we’ve come to know and love.
“They really are a fucking atrocious band; they always have been,” Phil continued. “And the only good player, the only good one in the band, has been very unceremoniously dismissed.
“I never liked them. I never did. I never bought one of their records. I loathed ‘Girls, Girls, Girls‘; I hated all of it. Occasionally I caught the attention of Nikki, and he doesn’t like me. I’m a sad little pumpkin as to what he thinks about me. I just find him to be a big fraud.
“It’s a punishment of luxury — somebody that became a millionaire at such an early age that they never really developed social skills,” Lewis added. “It’s like taking a bird out of a nest when it’s not ready to fly; it won’t develop. And I don’t think, really, that any of them… The three of them aren’t very well socially developed. They’re not very good. And Mick’s a different category entirely because he was so much older before success.
“Success can be a punishment quite often. And in their case it must just be so painful right now having been idolized for so long and now to called out as frauds, essentially as instrument-holding MILLI VANILLI, as a disgrace. They’ve gotta be hurting real bad.”
Further discussing whether he feels MÖTLEY CRÜE deserves all the criticism they have gotten in the wake of Mick’s lawsuit, Phil said: “I don’t know. They make a lot of people happy. A lot of people couldn’t care less. They just wanna go there, have a good time, drink beer and be with their buddies. We’re just not that kind of a band.”
When Phil was asked if he would join MÖTLEY CRÜE if he was offered $50 million to step in for Vince Neil, Lewis said: “I would never get that offer. But they really fucked up when they went with John 5 [as Mick’s replacement] and not [L.A. GUNS guitarist] Tracii Guns. And I’m glad they did, obviously. [John 5] is not the right fucking fit at all.
“And Tracii would just be so perfect. He’s, like, Hollywood; he’s a brat like them. He’s just like the next generation down, and it would have been such an incredibly good fit. But Tracii’s not trendy. It’s gotta be fucking Rob Zombie‘s guy or it’s gotta be Lenny Kravitz‘s wife or ex-girlfriend. It’s gotta be trendy. It’s gotta be somebody incredibly important. It gives them a sense of importance. And, as I said, I’m glad they fucked up and they didn’t [hire Tracii]. They should have got Tracii.
“And would I take it? Hell yeah. I’d take it,” Phil admitted. “I’d do it in a heartbeat. [Laughs] All I’ve gotta do is get on stage and mime and wiggle my ass and wear whatever I want. Yeah. 50 mil? C’mon. Let’s go.”
You can watch the full interview below.
