Earlier this month it was revealed that Mötley Crüe guitarist and co-founder, Mick Mars, is suing the band, claiming they kicked him out and ripped him off, financially.
Mötley Crüe bassist, Nikki Sixx, recently joined Wyatt on Planet Rock for a chat. During the interview, Sixx spoke about new Mötley Crüe touring guitarist John 5, why they recruited him and what he brings to the band’s dynamic.
“I’ve been friends with John forever and I would make jokes ‘as long as you’re a 5, I feel good being a Sixx.’ Y’know, stupid best buddy jokes,” Nikki enthused to Wyatt. “Me and that guy have been either hanging out at each other’s houses, writing songs… he plays (guitar) all day long. So, he comes over here and he grabs one of my guitars or brings his own and we just sit around and play and talk about the 70s and how great Lynyrd Skynyrd and Scooby Doo was.”
He continued: “My wife just said that when Mick (Mars) told us he was leaving the band and I told her I’d talked to Tommy and Vince, and everybody feels that John would be a great fit, and I hadn’t called John yet because you had to be sure we were doing everything correctly. My wife said ‘well, that’s great.’ I said ‘what do you mean by that?’ She goes ‘well, you’ll be going on stage and you’ll be on the phone to John.’ And they’re like ‘you gotta go on stage!’, and he’ll be like ‘ok, call me back in an hour and a half.’ “So we’re always chatting and jamming and the friendship is so wonderful. Him and Tommy are really close, Vince loves him. He’s just a great guy and a great musician and he gives us a great opportunity as a three-piece so to speak to really lock in. He’s just such a great guitar player.”
Referencing Mick Mars, Nikki added: “It’s nothing against any other musician that you play with, just that when you play with new musicians you play differently. We’re still playing the same songs that people wanna hear but it kind of like re-inspires you. And I’m sure the same thing would happen if they got a new bass player. They’re like ‘oh wow, he’s attacking it differently.’ So it’s never about how bad anybody was.
“It’s a nice time (for Mötley Crüe) and it’s kind of inspired us to write a little bit. We love our history, we’re very proud of everything we’ve done. We’ve always been really supportive of Mick no matter what Mick was going through. We’re just happy with where we’re at right now."
Referencing Mick Mars’ lawsuit against the band, Nikki finished: “If a member of a band tells you that they can’t tour because of health reasons, you have two choices. You can quit as a band (after) 42 years of work. Or we could look at each other and go ‘are we done yet?!’ We’re really peaking and we understand (Mick’s) health issues. We wish him the best and we know that he’s a little bit confused and being misled by representatives right now. But we still have to stay focused on why we’re here.”
Mötley Crüe will headline the 2023 NFL Draft Concert Series, on April 28 at the Draft Theater in Kansas City, Missouri. The performance will be will be streamed in full on NFL.com and live on the NFL's Facebook and YouTube channels.
