Music

Mick Mars sues Mötley Crüe, claims he was only member to play completely live on recent tour

The guitarist, who suffers from Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), alleges that Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, and Vince Neil tried to completely oust him from the band following his retirement from touring.

By

Christian Holub

Published on April 6, 2023 04:11PM EDT

Mick Mars is spilling the dirt on his Mötley Crüe bandmates in a new lawsuit.

Mars (real name Robert Alan Deal) filed the legal papers in Los Angeles County's Superior Court on Thursday, demanding to review the various accounts for Mötley Crüe. In the lawsuit, the band's founding guitarist alleges that the rest of the legendary rock outfit attempted to fire him and cut him off from their various businesses and profit percentages after he announced his retirement from touring last October.

It also, however, accuses bandmate Nikki Sixx of "gaslighting" Mars by taunting him on the most recent tour with accusations him of poor musicianship. Mars counters by claiming he was the only Mötley Crüe member playing completely live on the tour, and that Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, and vocalist Vince Neil all used recordings for some or all of their performances.

Sixx, the suit alleges, "did not play a single note on bass during the entire U.S. tour." It continues, "Ironically, 100% of Sixx's bass parts were nothing but recordings. Sixx was seen fist pumping in the air with his strumming hand,while the bass part was playing."

The suit goes on to claim that a significant portion of Neil's vocals were also pre-recorded" and that "even some of Lee's drum parts were recordings."

Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, and Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe performing in Washington, D.C. on their 2022 stadium tour. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Mars admits that he did occasionally play the wrong chords, but blames his errors on in-ear monitors that were "constantly malfunctioning." His performance issues, he claims, had nothing to do with his Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), a chronic and inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis. Mars has suffered from AS since the age of 27, but the condition has worsened in recent years. As a result, Mars informed his fellow band members that Mötley Crüe's 2022 tour would be his last. According to Mars, he was still willing to record music and participate in potential residencies in Las Vegas or elsewhere, but he could no longer handle the rigors of the road.

"How did Mars's brothers of 41 years respond to Mars's tragic announcement?" the lawsuit reads. "They noticed an emergency shareholders' meeting for the band's main corporate entity in order to throw Mars out of the band, to fire him as a director of the corporation, to fire him as an officer of the corporation, and to take away his shares of the corporation. When he did not go away quietly, they purported to fire him from six additional band corporations and LLCs."

Due to a longstanding agreement, the four main members of Motley Crue are meant to equally split their various businesses and touring profits. But, following Mars' announcement that he could no longer tour, the other members moved to oust him and reduce his share of profits from the international tour and existing merchandise from 25 percent to 5 percent. Furthermore, Mars would receive no percentage for ventures featuring his replacement guitarist.

Negotiations over Mars' departure broke down in January, and the other band members initiated arbitration to remove him — including from certain businesses that he did not even recognize. The lawsuit alleges that "they clearly commenced an arbitration, rather than a public lawsuit, so that the public would not be aware of the deplorable manner in which they treated their 'brother' of 41 years."

Mars is suing for access to all of the band's corporate documents and records, as well as attorney fees.

Representatives for the other members of Mötley Crüe did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

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