MÖTLEY CRÜE's NIKKI SIXX On Replacing MICK MARS With JOHN 5: 'Doing The Right Thing Isn't Always Fun'

In a new interview with Classic Rock magazine, MÖTLEY CRÜE's Nikki Sixx discussed the band's decision to hire guitarist John 5 as Mick Mars's replacement following the latter's decision to no longer tour with the legendary rock act. Nikki said (as per Guitar.com): "It was becoming harder and harder and harder to get anything done with Mick because of his memory problems and just his physical ailments. And we have a lot of empathy for that."

The bassist continued: "When Mick left the band, we had to make a choice. And we made the right choice with John. We wish Mick nothing but the best."

Addressing the fact that MÖTLEY CRÜE opted to carry on without the band's founding guitarist, much to the dismay of some fans, Sixx said: "I run this band with an iron fist and nobody can get in and fuck with our band, legally, marketing-wise." He went on to say that MÖTLEY CRÜE had to make "a self-sufficient decision" regarding how to continue without Mars, which he insisted was "the right thing to do". "But doing the right thing isn't always fucking fun," Sixx added, "[with] fans believing we did something we didn't do."

Mars suffers from Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS),a chronic and inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis. After years of performing through the pain, he informed the other members of MÖTLEY CRÜE in the summer of 2022 that he could no longer tour with them but would still be open to recording new music or performing at residencies that did not require much travel.

When Mars announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE, he maintained that he would remain a member of the band, with John 5 taking his place on the road. However, in early April 2023 the now-73-year-old musician filed a lawsuit against 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 said that when he refused to sign the papers reducing his share of touring royalties to only 5%, the band commenced an arbitration. His original filing said the group took it to arbitration "rather than a public lawsuit so that the public would not be aware of the deplorable manner in which they treated their 'brother' of 41 years."

This past April, Sixx told Angi Taylor of Chicago's Rock 95.5 radio station about Mars's departure from MÖTLEY CRÜE: "We didn't see this coming. We were out doing our stadium tour, and Mick had decided to leave. And we really had to sit down and go, 'Well, what do we do? Do we fold? Do we fold on the fans and [concert promoter] Live Nation [and 2022 and 203 tourmates] DEF LEPPARD?' John, we've all known John. I've worked with John. We kind of talked about it. And if we had to move on, it's moved on in a such a beautiful way. It's been great."

In August 2023, Nikki told Guitar World magazine about CRÜE's decision to hire John 5: "We never saw it coming that Mick wasn't going to be able to tour and was going to have to quit the band. In the middle — not even the middle — of a huge tour, we had to ask ourselves, 'Do we want to let the fans down? Do we want to let [concert promoters] Live Nation down? Do we want to let [tourmates] DEF LEPPARD down? Do we want to let ourselves down because an original member of our band can't tour anymore?' We had to have a deep, deep look into what we were going to do."

Sixx went on to say that John 5 was the obvious choice to step in for Mars in MÖTLEY CRÜE. He added: "[With John] knowing all the members of the band, and me having this relationship with him writing and as friends, and even being in the studio with him writing stuff with the band for [the soundtrack to] 'The Dirt', it felt like a no-brainer in a horrible situation something we did not ask for or want. And then it was just kind of obvious. If there was 'the guy', John was the guy. Like I said, we didn't choose this, but since we had to be put in this position, we're very happy with where we're at right now."

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

Although 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".