MÖTLEY CRÜE's TOMMY LEE Says MICK MARS 'Doesn't Wanna Tour Much Longer'

MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee has revealed that guitarist Mick Mars's poor health is partly to blame for the band's decision to retire from touring.

Lee videotaped a "Coffe Run" ride with the Canadian progressive-house music producer and performer Deadmau5 (see video below) and answered a variety of questions, including why he gave away his very first gold record (he was "really fucked up") to why the two of them were banned from Coachella festival.

Speaking about MÖTLEY CRÜE's touring plans, Tommy said: "The farewell tour is next. This will be it. 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."

In an August 2013 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."

However, in a posting on his Twitter account, Mars painted a different picture, claiming that his medical condition had never affected his playing. "Any rumors regarding a farewell tour due to 'my poor health' are BS," he said. "I am doing fine, my AS has never kept me from touring and never will."

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.