In a brand new interview with Artists On Report Starring ADIKA Stay!, DOKKEN frontman Don Dokken weighed in on MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars’s resolution to now not tour with the legendary rock act due to his lengthy struggles with degenerative illness ankylosing spondylitis. Ankylosing spondylitis is a sort of arthritis that causes irritation within the backbone joints and ligaments and might result in stiffness over time, in keeping with the Nationwide Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Pores and skin Ailments.
“I actually love him and I really feel horrible, as a result of my brother, who’s 18 months youthful than me, has ankylosing spondylitis,” Don mentioned (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “So your backbone fuses collectively. It is very painful. And I do not know the way he obtained by way of that farewell MÖTLEY tour. I noticed him 4 instances. He had his personal bus, however they obtained morphine luggage. He had a non-public nurse. It was like a hospital room in his bus. And I actually needed to… Even after I give it some thought now, I began getting teary eyed. It choked me up, ‘trigger I cherished Mick, and I used to be, like, ‘Man, this sucks. This simply sucks.’ He would go on stage and he’d say, ‘Properly, the advantage of my ankylosing spondylitis is usually your neck’s like this frozen [looks up], or [to the left], or [to the right], or down. And he goes, ‘Fortunately, my head turns down, so I can see the [guitar] neck.’ And that is how he obtained by way of the tour, ‘trigger he may see his neck. And that is the reality. He mentioned, ‘My neck was frozen down, so I may nonetheless play guitar.'”
Dokken, who says that he has identified Mars for greater than 4 a long time, since he was within the pre-MÖTLEY CRÜE band VENDETTA, went on to name Mick the “most underrated guitar participant. Overlook about chops. Overlook about fucking hammer-ons and Eddie Van Halen copies. His rhythm enjoying, man, it is the shit,” Don defined. “Mick Mars wrote a ton of MÖTLEY CRÜE songs. He’s an incredible rhythm guitar participant, and he wrote all these nice rhythms in MÖTLEY CRÜE.
“No one talks about Mick as a result of he is a really non-public individual,” Dokken added. “Anyone ever says [MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist] Nikki Sixx wrote all of the songs, and [MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer] Tommy Lee… Fuck you. Mick Mars was an enormous think about MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s cool, groovin’ cool riff uptempo songs. It was Mick.”
When Mars introduced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE in October 2022 on account of worsening well being points, he maintained that he would stay a member of the band, with John 5 taking his place on the highway. Nonetheless, the 72-year-old guitarist has since filed a lawsuit towards MÖTLEY CRÜE in Los Angeles County’s Superior Courtroom, claiming that, after his announcement, the remainder of CRÜE tried to take away him as a major stakeholder within the group’s company and enterprise holdings by way of a shareholders’ assembly. In his lawsuit, Mars additionally alleged that he was the one bandmember to play one hundred pc dwell on their most up-to-date tour, claiming bassist Nikki Sixx “didn’t play a single observe on bass throughout the complete U.S. tour.”
Mars mentioned that when he refused to signal the papers lowering his share of touring royalties to solely 5%, the band commenced an arbitration. His unique submitting mentioned the group took it to arbitration “fairly than a public lawsuit in order that the general public wouldn’t concentrate on the deplorable method through which they handled their ‘brother’ of 41 years.”
After years of performing by way of the ache, he knowledgeable the opposite members of MÖTLEY CRÜE in the summertime of 2022 that he may now not tour with them however would nonetheless be open to recording new music or acting at residencies that didn’t require a lot journey.
Mars — whose actual title is Robert Alan Deal — served as MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s lead guitarist because the band’s inception in 1981.
In an April 2023 interview with Selection, CRÜE‘s supervisor of 29 years, Allen Kovac blasted Mars‘s current dwell performances, saying: “Mick isn’t the identical. He hasn’t been the identical for a very long time… [Mars] brought on a practice wreck up there, as a result of he would play the incorrect songs and the incorrect elements, even with the information tracks. When he performed the incorrect track, it wasn’t Nikki Sixx that had a tape; it was the soundman bringing it into the combo so the viewers may hear a track, though the guitar participant was enjoying a distinct track.” He says audiences “would hear it at first, however (sound engineers) would repair it in order that we may maintain the track going. I heard it. I would go to the soundboard.”
In accordance with Selection, Mars‘s lawyer mentioned he was warned by the band’s attorneys that “in case your consumer rejects the severance bundle that was graciously provided to him by the band, he’ll get subsequent to nothing. I counsel you concentrate on the repercussions of this resolution… There may be undisputed authorized trigger right here for Mick‘s removing. Mick is unable to carry out as a full-fledged band member. Amongst different issues, as demonstrated over the last tour, he repeatedly forgets his chords, doesn’t play the best track, performs chords of a distinct track whereas on stage, and so forth.”
Mick‘s submitting claimed that MÖTLEY CRÜE filed an arbitration case towards him in February, “basically suing him” to show that it had the best to fireside him from the band.
“They clearly commenced an arbitration, fairly than a public lawsuit, in order that the general public wouldn’t concentrate on the deplorable method through which they handled their ‘brother’ of 41 years,” attorneys for Mars wrote within the petition.
