When you think of “The World’s Most Notorious Rock Band,” Mötley Crüe, it’s Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx, or even Vince Neil who come to mind. Though, everyone loves his trademarked bluesy slide guitar playing, Mick Mars has kept a low-profile— comparatively, anyway—in Mötley Crüe, but it was Mick, however, who came up with the name of the band by walking into the rehearsal studio one evening, looked at his new band members and said, “Isn’t this a motley-looking crew?”
Mick Mars, who’s real name is Bob Deal, joined Mötley Crüe in April 1981. After being frustrated with the Hollywood music scene, Mick would place a legendary ad in the Los Angeles Recycler classifieds, which read “Loud, rude, and aggressive guitar player available.” Needless to say, Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx contacted Mick, and they instantly fell in love with his mysterious Addam’s Family-like persona, and of course, his guitar playing. Twenty seven years later, Mick is still with Mötley Crüe and has definitely seen it all from drug abuse to drinking to the debauchery of the band to depression to bankruptcy to failed relationships to even his own health problems. It’s no secret that Mick Mars suffers from a disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis, an illness that caused Mick’s lower spine to seize up and freeze completely solid. He was initially diagnosed with the disease when he was 19, which increasingly impaired his movement and caused him a great deal of pain and suffering through the years. When Mötley Crüe decided to reunite back in 2004, Mick was discovered in his apartment near death from too much pain medication, depression, and his suffering from this disease. He finally went into the hospital for a hip-replacement surgery at the end of 2004 to be able to join his Mötley brothers as they embarked on their first U.S. tour together, meaning all four original members, in close to eight years.
Today, Mick Mars seems stronger than ever, as he’s been on the road with Mötley Crüe on one of the most sought after tours of the summer, CrüeFest! Here’s how my interview with the true Saint of Los Angeles went:
How’s the CrüeFest tour going?
Really well! Thanks for asking!
Any problems yet? Is everyone in the band is getting along? No one’s fighting, right?
No, we’re far from that! Everyone is getting along.
Now, the one question that everyone had on the Red, White, and Crüe tour and the Route Of All Evil tour was how was Mick Mars’s health? So, how are you feeling, Mick?
I’m doing well. I guess the last tour that I did was kind of messed up from a lot of things. A.S. (Ankylosing Spondylitis), of course, which, without getting into too much detail or dragging it on, led to drug abuse, prescription quick-fix drugs, which was crappy, and made me worse, and then there was the hip-replacement. Now, I’m all good! I gained some weight. I probably gained 10 or 15 pounds since then.
