Metal Sludge The Power and the Glory
Mick Mars on his band mates "I’d call them bastards."
Mick Mars is still bad as fuck and on tour with Motley Crue!
The following is a portion of an interview with Mick Mars conducted
The entire interview has was not able to be translated due to tape malfunction! Som o’ bitch!
Either way enjoy it. Mick Mars rules & rocks!
How’s the tour going?
It’s going really well. Good response everywhere.
Looking back at everything are you surprised at all that it’s lasted as long as it has and that you’re drawing the kind of numbers you are today?
There are several ways to answer that question. I could just simply say, ‘no,’ but the thing is I think that any kind of career, occupation or whatever it is that you do if you’re not in the proverbial, ah, limelight then you’re not thought of as popular, but there are a lot of bands like Cheap Trick that have been together for a long time that still tour and still do things, that’s what we do. I feel fortunate that people are rediscovering us. I’m real happy about that because this is what we do.
Did you ever fathom the fact that you would accomplish this much with Motley Crue?
I think sometimes certain bands just don’t go away, like the Stones and a few other bands, so I think we pretty much had every intention of not ever going away.
Even though you never had the intention of going away was there a point that you didn’t think the band would sustain itself simply because of the lifestyle?
For the time it was you have to change. If you don’t change then things don’t change, so you have to change. I think that part of the drug abuse, alcohol abuse, women abuse, people abusing us and everything else was part of the growing process. We were a baby band learning the ropes, and learning what not to do.
Nikki Sixx & Mick Mars Shouting at the Devil circa 1983/84.
What was the biggest adjustment the band had to make when you went from being on the (Sunset) Strip to being on tour with Ozzy and playing arenas? Do you think some of that abuse, you mentioned, got even worse because you guys weren’t mentally equipped to deal with having whatever you want?
You mean from my point (of view)?
Yeah.
I liked to drink and party and that kind of stuff, but not as hard as the other guys. I mean, I was already in my 30’s and they were young and it was all new to them –17 and a multi-millionaire – so, yeah, it’s going to effect them a lot different then it affects me. I went through that when I was 19 years old and now I’m kind of over it. I’m not trying to paint myself as being like a saint – I wasn’t – but understand I was older and I wasn’t a crazy bastard. (laughs)
You brought up an interesting point. You were in your 30’s and they were 17, 18, 19, so what was that like having an adult mentality and watching these other guys in the band going crazy?
It’s kind of like raising kids. (laughs) You know, it was kind of like raising kids and you had to be very strong willed.
What about now. Given your health issues how different is it and difficult is it for you to go out and tour than it was before?
I’ve had this since I was 19 years old. That’s when I was fist diagnosed. I’ve had this all my life. It’s just the symptoms have gotten much worse…It’s been my whole life. When I was first diagnosed, I couldn’t hardly stand it because I had good days and I had bad days. Touring and music is what I do so I can’t (just quit) even though it does get hard.
What’s next? What more is there for Motley?
Well, if I knew that then I would start spending more money.
Is that your way of saying that you’re sort of taking everything you’re afforded day by day?
We absolutely have plans. Every time I plan on going on a vacation something comes up, but we are planning on doing a record starting May 1, recording it. I don’t know if it’s going to be finished in time frame that we have or if it’s going to be half finished or whatever, but I don’t know.
When you step back and look not only at your career, but some of the other bands that came out of Los Angeles what separates Motley from, say, a band like Poison?
These are strictly my opinions not the other guys, so if any anybody gets in trouble it’ll be me, but I think that bands like Poison, Firehouse, Great White and all these other bands during the ’80s were kind of copycat bands. They were copies of Motley when they came out…They were everywhere. So much of what they did was follow what we did.
Mick (bottom right) looking a lot more like Bob Seger in Krokus!
Can you compare and contrast the strip from the first days you were on the scene to when you finally joined Motley?
It became a lifestyle to where you lived it 24 hours a day. Some still do. They’re crazy guys. I’d call them bastards, but that would be too mean. (laughs) Crazy people, there we go. I think the ’70s, again, the golden days of disco and then in the late ’70s it started changing back to real roots, rock n roll, R&B. In the early ’70s it was (all about) rock n roll and then in the late ’70s all of a sudden there was all this crap, disco shit and then finally it got back to rock n roll and bands like Motley…It was about the same in the ’90s rock n roll was still there, but hip hop kind of took more of the limelight, I guess…That’s kind of weird.
At this point in your career do you still feel connected musically to what’s going on or are you more concerned with your own band and your own health?
You maybe push the envelope and change direction, but you still do and sound like your are. Do you understand?
Yeah.
If you change too much, too quickly I don’t think your fan base will follow you and you’ll only alienate them if you try to change the whole thing. We did that one time with John Corabi and we turned our fans off, but for the most part we’re still Motley. We still sound like Motley.
Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, & Vince Neil w/ a fan named Shawnlet 1983-ish!
Before I let you go is there anything else you want to add?
I would say that when you start any kind of career, anything, and music sounds very glamorous and in a way it kind of is, but my point is that whatever it is you chose to do make damn sure that it’s what you want to do with the rest of your life. It may sound in a way kind of stupid and in a way make sense…but I was saying when you choose your career you gotta really make sure you want to do that because people do tend to hate their job. You know what I mean?
Yeah, I do. Ain’t that the truth?
Totally, because regardless of what it is you do it becomes work. That’s right. That’s right and then you’re like, ‘damn it, I really hate this job.’ That’s why you gotta really, really love what you do and go with it because it really is work…Sometimes I hate the music business too, but it’s what I chose to do and it’s all I want to do.
To see a bunch of new Motley Crue & Mick Mars Exposed pics go here now!
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