Motley Crue’s Mick Mars Files Lawsuit Against Bandmates
Written by Logan Phillips on April 10, 2023
Mick Mars, the guitarist for the veteran hair-metal band Motley Crue, filed a lawsuit last week accusing his bandmates of kicking him out of the band and cutting him out of its future profits
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Filed on Thursday, April 6, in Superior Court in Los Angeles County, the lawsuit details a falling out that the band had with Mars after he announced in October that he was retiring from touring, citing chronic pain from his lifelong struggle with ankylosing spondylitis (an inflammatory disease that can cause the vertebrae in the spine to fuse over time.)
Motley Crue had made a public statement at the time clarifying that Mars would “continue as a member of the band, but can no longer handle the rigors of the road.”
However, the new lawsuit states that shortly after the announcement the rest of the band had an emergency shareholders’ meeting of Motley Crue’s main corporate entity, and decided to throw Mars out of the band, fire him as a director of the corporation and take away his shares. which according to the suit Mars has 25%.
This decision by the rest of the band is very controversial in comparison to other scenarios in which longtime members of bands maintain their shareholder rights even if they quit or get fired, as the lawsuit explains. “Countless members have left countless bands (typically after much less than 41 years), or died, and still maintained (or their estates maintained) their shareholder, officer, and director status, as well as their concomitant right to profits,”
Mars Lawyer went on to say “It is beyond sad that, after 41 years together, a band would try to throw out a member who is unable to tour anymore because he has a debilitating disease,” He continued “Mick has been pushed around for far too long in this band, and we are not going to let that continue.
However, Sasha Frid, a lawyer for Motley Crue, said the lawsuit was “unfortunate and completely off base.” He said that Mars and other band members signed an agreement back in 2008 that concluded that nobody would receive money from performances if they resigned.
“Despite the fact that the band did not owe Mick anything, and with Mick owing the band millions in advances that he did not pay back, the band offered Mick a generous compensation package to honor his career with the band.” Frid went on to say, “Manipulated by his manager and lawyer, Mick refused and chose to file this ugly public lawsuit.”
The lawsuit also brings up struggles within the band personally, accusing Nikki Sixx, Mötley Crüe’s bassist, of making decisions on the band’s behalf without consulting his bandmates. stating also that Sixx “gaslighted” Mars in recent years, telling him that his guitar playing was subpar, that he often played the wrong chords onstage, and that he had “some sort of cognitive dysfunction.”
Frid provided signed declarations from seven members of the band’s crew, including the band’s production manager, who said Mars’s performance on Mötley Crüe’s 2022 stadium tour was “by far the worst I have ever seen in my years with the band.”
“Mötley Crüe always performs its songs live, but during the last tour Mick struggled to remember chords, played the wrong songs, and made constant mistakes which led to his departure from the band,” Frid said. “The band did everything to protect him, tried to keep these matters private to honor Mick’s legacy and take the high road.”
The suit concedes that Mars did occasionally make mistakes onstage, but they were the result of technical difficulties. “Mars, at times on the tour, did play the wrong chords, but not due to any cognitive dysfunction,” the paperwork says. “He was playing live, and his in-ear monitors were constantly malfunctioning, causing Mars to be unable to hear his own instrument.
“The fact is that Mars is rarely mocked or criticized online,” it continues. “He is a quiet member of the group, who shows up to play and puts his heart and soul into each performance. Conversely, other band members are often criticized online, particularly Neil, who is routinely torn to shreds for, among other things, not remembering the songs.”
