MÖTLEY CRÜE's MICK MARS: 'My AS Has Never Kept Me From Touring'

MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars has once again dismissed reports that his poor health is partly to blame for the band's decision to retire from touring.

In a recent interview with the Oakland Press, CRÜE singer Vince Neil said that Mars' ongoing battle with Ankylosing spondylitis, a painful form of chronic arthritis that causes vertebrae in the spine to fuse together, as well as the band's desire to "go out on top" were the primary reasons for CRÜE's revelation that they will call it quits after 2015. "It's just time," Neil said. "Mick's health is not that good, and touring is tough on him. I'm sure in five, 10 years' time, we'll probably do something together again, but it's not gonna be like a KISS farewell to the farewell to the farewell tour. We're not gonna be like that."

He added: "We want to go out on top. We don't want to be one of those bands that people are like, 'Oh, they're playing a little club now.' We still sell out arenas and do stadium shows and stuff like that, and that's how we want to be remembered."

MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee echoed Vince's comments, telling Canadian progressive-house music producer and performer Deadmau5 in a recent video: "Our guitar player, Mick, he has a spinal disease that's slowly fusing his vertebrae together. It's one of those things that's treatable, but not curable. So it's just progressively getting really worse and it's painful for him, so he doesn't wanna tour much longer. I can't say I blame him… The last thing we ever wanna do is go out running on two cylinders with some hired guy playing guitar; that's just wack. So we wanna go out with one big hurrah with the original guys and be done with it."

He added: "That's such a bad look when bands are still playing the fucking fairgrounds — those county-fair shows — and it's just like two of the original guys, or one original guy, and the rest, no one knows who they are. We don't wanna do that."

However, in a posting earlier today (Saturday, October 26) on his Twitter account, Mars painted a different picture, claiming that his medical condition had never affected his playing. "Once again, any rumors regarding a farewell tour due to 'my poor health is BS," he wrote. "I am doing fine, my AS has never kept me from touring." He added: "Thank all of you for knowing the truth… When I'm done touring, you'll hear it from me."

Lee responded to Mars' Twitter posting, writing: "@mrmickmars it's probably not so much about your physical health it's more about our mental health as a band! Haha!"

MÖTLEY CRÜE recently returned to Las Vegas for an exclusive twelve-show engagement September 18 through October 6 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.