MICK MARS On Legal Battle With MÖTLEY CRÜE: 'I Can't Say It's The End Of My Association Or Even Being In The Band'

In a new interview with Riff X's "Metal XS", MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars touched upon the fact that he is waging a legal battle with the iconic hard rockers, alleging that the group is pushing him out after he announced his retirement from touring. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm not upset or any kind of thing like that. It's normal. It just happens. It just happens."

Regarding his current status with MÖTLEY CRÜE, Mars said: "I can't say it's the end of my association or even being in the band. When I retired, I still made myself available for new songs, short tours, one-offs or residencies and stuff like that. But I had this ankylosing spondylitis, and that intense touring, at my age, just got to be pretty rough. And that's about it. It's gonna be what it is, and I have to leave it at that. But you'll follow it and know what's going on."

On the topic of what he wants his legacy to be, Mick said: "Being a musician was the most important thing for me. There's a lot of bands that do that all jumping, theatrical stuff all over the stage. But I wasn't that guy. I was the guy that goes, like, 'I wanna play music. I really wanna play music. I really wanna write some serious stuff. I wanna do this. I wanna hear myself.' This is when I'm a teenager, right? 'I wanna hear myself on the radio. I wanna see my music in commercials,' or whatever. And that's what I wanted to do forever and ever and ever, and still do. And if I get a little bit upstaged or overlooked, because MÖTLEY was very theatrical, that's okay, that's okay. I'm about the music."

Mick's debut solo album, "The Other Side Of Mars", has just been released via his own label 1313, LLC, in partnership with MRI.

Birmingham, Alabama rocker Jacob Bunton collaborated extensively with Mars on "The Other Side Of Mars".

Bunton had previously worked with former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Steven Adler and CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer, and has songwriting credits with Mariah Carey, Steven Tyler and Smokey Robinson, among others.

Bunton sings lead on all but two of the 12 songs on "The Other Side Of Mars".

Other guests on the LP include WINGER/ALICE COOPER keyboardist Paul Taylor, KORN drummer Ray Luzier, and Brion Gamboa, who handled lead vocals on the songs "Undone" and "Killing Breed".

Bunton previously fronted the Alabama bands MARS ELECTRIC and LYNAM.

When Mars announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE in October 2022 as a result of worsening health issues, he maintained that he would remain a member of the band, with John 5 taking his place on the road. However, he has since filed a lawsuit against MÖTLEY CRÜE in Los Angeles County's Superior Court, claiming that, after his announcement, the rest of CRÜE tried to remove him as a significant stakeholder in the group's corporation and business holdings via a shareholders' meeting.

Mars — whose real name is Robert Alan Deal — served as MÖTLEY CRÜE's lead guitarist since the band's inception in 1981.

Last month, Mars told Audacy Check In that it took him more than four decades since MÖTLEY CRÜE's inception to release his debut solo album because "MÖTLEY was priority… and now that I'm retired, I'm just me. I mean, if MÖTLEY wanted me to write songs with them again, of course I would… But right now, I'm just me, so I'm writing, and it's not MÖTLEY, and it's how I feel — my ideas and my kind of thing and kind of trying to reinvent myself or bring myself up to date."

Although CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx is responsible for penning the lion's share of the band's material, Mars did have a hand in co-writing some of the group's most famous tracks, including "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)", "Girls, Girls, Girls" and "Dr. Feelgood".

The only credit Mars has on the first two MÖTLEY CRÜE albums is the instrumental "God Bless The Children Of The Beast" on 1983's "Shout At The Devil".