MÖTLEY CRÜE Guitarist: 'The Music Business Is Really Tweaking Out And Getting Weird'

Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Classic Rock Revisited: Do you think MÖTLEY CRÜE will continue to do these kinds of residencies [like the upcoming Las Vegas run in February]?

Mick: I know it is a cool thing we are doing, and that we are probably going to make this possible for other bands to do the same thing. I don't know if we are planning on doing more of this type of thing or not. We are going to have to check it out and see. For me, personally, I like to jump on the bus every night and go around and see the whole world but we will have to see how this works out.

Classic Rock Revisited: There has been a lot of talk that MÖTLEY CRÜE is working on a new record.

Mick: We have a lot of things in the works. We want to do things like Crüe Fest. The music business is really tweaking out and getting weird. I think it is ridiculous what is happening. I think the future will have to see bands put together really cool packages that will be worth it for people to go see. As far as new music goes, I can tell you that I am writing a bunch of new material. Nikki [Sixx, bass] is writing a lot as well. I am hoping that we will have a new record out by 2013.

Classic Rock Revisited: A lot of fans worry about you because of your health issues. Are you able to survive a tour?

Mick: The thing is, as always, that I am able to keep touring. It is one of those things that I call an inconvenience. Of course, I have days that are worse than others and there is always some amount of pain with my hips. There are good days and bad days, but it is more of an inconvenience than anything else. I don't feel sick. There are a lot of people that go around that suffer from this type of thing and they go to their doctor and he tells them that they will be in a wheelchair. My advice to them is to go to another doctor because he is wrong. There are some things about this thing that I've got that are not so cool, but there is one thing that is cool — I ended up bent. I can always see my guitar. If I'd been straight then I would not be able to see myself play [laughter].

Classic Rock Revisited: Have you always been the quiet leader of MÖTLEY CRÜE?

Mick: In a way, but it is more like being a silent partner. Look, I love music but I do stay on top of the business end because it is a business. I love writing music, traveling and getting paid to see the world but you have to keep your eye on what is going on around you.

Classic Rock Revisited: As stated earlier, you are the quiet leader of the band. How did you deal with things like Vince's [Neil, vocals] car wreck and Nikki's overdose?

Mick: When you first hear about these things, it is a really numbing feeling. All you can really do is say what's on your mind. When Nikki overdosed, I really didn't know what to say to him. I just said, "Well, Sixx, that was a really good move." I will tell you something that sucked about that was that our tour manager told us, "You get to call up the people in Europe and tell them that you have to cancel all of the tour dates because Nikki overdosed." I was like, "Oh my God, what am I going to say to them?” I was already upset because here is my bass player who OD'd and all I could do was tell him, "Dude, don't do this shit. You're going to get really hooked on this shit and it's going to get bad."

Classic Rock Revisited: I heard you're doing a solo album.

Mick: I am thinking about it. There is word out about it and everybody is saying that I'm doing a blues record. It will be a blues record per se but it will be more like how Edgar Winter interprets the blues. It will have a '70s kind of feeling but I will be writing a more current style of music. I want to mix those two styles together. I'm an old-school guy and everything that I write for me I always ask, "Will MÖTLEY CRÜE be able to play this onstage?" If the answer is "no," then I scrap it for CRÜE but I put it away. I have to feel really good about what I'm doing or I go back and start from scratch.

Read the entire interview from Classic Rock Revisited.