“They really are a fucking atrocious band; they always have been.” — Phil Lewis on Mötley Crüe

“I never liked them. I never did. I never bought one of their records. I loathed ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’; I hated all of it.” — Phil Lewis of L.A. Guns

“It’s a punishment of luxury — somebody that became a millionaire at such an early age that they never really developed social skills.” — Phil Lewis on Mötley Crüe

Metal Sludge — The gloves are off, and Phil Lewis of L.A. Guns is swinging for the fences in a brand new interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series.

Lewis doesn’t mince words when the subject focuses on Mötley Crüe and their recent drama involving Mick Mars.

Lewis said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s incorrigible, isn’t it? It really is. It’s such a swindle. But it’s probably a lot better. I mean, they’d probably sound like utter shit if they were live, with the big stadium and the big lights and Vince [Neil] singing in the way that we’ve come to know and love.

“They really are a fucking atrocious band; they always have been,” Phil continued. “And the only good player, the only good one in the band, has been very unceremoniously dismissed.

“I never liked them. I never did. I never bought one of their records. I loathed ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’; I hated all of it. Occasionally I caught the attention of Nikki, and he doesn’t like me. I’m a sad little pumpkin as to what he thinks about me. I just find him to be a big fraud.

“It’s a punishment of luxury — somebody that became a millionaire at such an early age that they never really developed social skills,” Lewis added. “It’s like taking a bird out of a nest when it’s not ready to fly; it won’t develop. And I don’t think, really, that any of them… The three of them aren’t very well socially developed. They’re not very good. And Mick‘s a different category entirely because he was so much older before success.

“Success can be a punishment quite often. And in their case it must just be so painful right now having been idolized for so long and now to called out as frauds, essentially as instrument-holding MILLI VANILLI, as a disgrace. They’ve gotta be hurting real bad.”

It appears Lewis has a pretty good memory for sure when using the “pumpkin” reference in this latest 2023 interview.

It’s also safe to say this feud has been going on for quite some time.

Some of our readers might recall an exchange we shared back in 2012 between Sixx and Lewis.

Lewis had taken a few quality shots at Sixx about the bassist’s Heroin Diaries and it seemed to have gotten back to the Mötley Crüe co-founder and chief song-writer.

Sixx then answered a tweet and called Lewis a “sad lil pumpkin.”

See our post detailing it below from October 19th 2012.

Stay tuned to Metal Sludge for Breaking News, Updates and Features along with both new and classic interviews.