Mötley Crüe Guitarist Mick Mars Speaks on Lawsuit

Mick Mars is taking aim at his bandmates in Mötley Crüe.after news broke that he is suing the band for attempting to “fire” him.

“Those guys have been hammering on me since ’87, trying to replace me,” he told Variety. “I carried these bastards for years.”

Mars-a member of the Crue for 41 years- filed a lawsuit on April 7 alleging the band reduced his share of the profits from 25% to 5% after he announced he was retiring from touring. Mars said that he was still a member of the band and planned on recording future records, appearing at one-offs and residencies. The Crue fired back, stating that Mars–who suffers from the inflammatory disease ankylosing spondylitis–“struggled to remember chords, played the wrong songs and made constant mistakes” while on the stadium tour. Mars said those statements were an attempt at “gaslighting,” and alleged that he was the only one playing live and not to pre-recorded tracks, unlike bassist Nikki Sixx, singer Vince Neil and drummer Tommy Lee.

 “I want to retire from touring because of my AS [Ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory, arthritic disease that causes vertebrae to fuse]. I don’t have a problem remembering the songs. I don’t have a problem with any of that stuff. But I do have a problem with them, constantly, the whole time, telling me that I lost my memory. No. Wrong. That’s wrong. Absolutely wrong,” he said. “I promise that I can go to any place and play any of those songs right now, and I haven’t played them since October.”

Crue bassist Nikki Sixx took it to Twitter to respond, writing, “Sad day for us and we don’t deserve this considering how many years we’ve been propping him up-We still wish him the best and hope he find’s lawyers and managers who aren’t damaging him. We love you Mick -“