As most rock bands come and go, the world’s most notorious rock band, Mötley Crüe has remained a constant in the hard rock and heavy metal genre since 1981, when they released Too Fast For Love on their very own label, Leathur Records. Yes, if you do the math, this means that Mötley Crüe is officially 30 years old this year! How do the bad boys of rock ‘n’ roll plan on celebrating their 30th birthday? The only way that they know how, and that’s with a blockbuster summer tour teaming up with Poison, celebrating their 25 year together and the legendary New York Dolls, who will be celebrating their 40th year together, which makes this tour one really big anniversary party.
Mötley Crüe, whose members’ lives and careers have been well-documented in the New York Times Best Seller, The Dirt, reunited with its original lineup back in 2005 to release Red, White & Crüe, and they haven’t looked back since. They went on to tour with their own traveling summer festival in CrüeFest and CrüeFest 2. Last summer, they co-headlined the legendary OzzFest tour with Ozzy Osbourne.
Drummer Tommy Lee released his own biography, Tommy Land, along with a couple of solo CDs and a new Methods Of Mayhem CD. Bassist Nikki Sixx released a book of memoirs chronicling his struggles with heroin addiction called The Heroin Diaries, with an accompanying CD performed by his extremely successful side project, Sixx:A.M., who will be releasing their new CD, This Is Gonna Hurt, to accompany Nikki’s next book, This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography And Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx, in May. Singer Vince Neil also released a biography called Tattoos And Tequila also with an accompanying CD of cover songs. With all of their own projects in addition to Mötley Crüe, Vince, Nikki, Tommy and Mick Mars have remained in the public eye gaining new fans—young and old—all over the world.
Before Mötley Crüe heads out on this amazing tour, they’ll be making a pit stop on Sunday, May 1, at the Bamboozle Festival at the New Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, NJ. The only Crüe member without his own biography, guitarist Mick Mars, recently gave me a call to discuss the upcoming tour, the Bamboozle Festival, 30 years with Mötley Crüe, and the possibility of putting out his own book. Here’s what he had to say:
Hey Mick! I haven’t talked to you since the first CrüeFest! How are you doing?
That was a couple years ago. I’m doing really good!
Well, since you’ve been back on the road with Mötley Crüe, how are you doing physically? (Note: Mick Mars suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis.)
What I can tell you about that is that I just got a life insurance plan, and they insured me until I’m 100 years old. That’s how healthy I am! Pretty funny, huh? I’m not making it to a hundred!
How does it feel to be going on tour with Poison and the New York Dolls, a band that was extremely influential to Mötley Crüe?
Well, I guess the only way that I can really answer that question is that a lot of our fan base and a lot of Poison’s fan base always wanted to see these two bands together—Poison and us. It’s just one of those things that after so many years, people wanting to see that happen, and you think, ‘We should do this! I think that it would be a good thing!’ By giving a lot of fans what they’ve been wanting to see, I mean let’s face it, ticket prices nowadays are out of hand, but giving them a real show that kicks butt [makes it worth it]. Our production is over-the-top this time, and New York Dolls are just one of those things where you just go with it, especially for Nikki because he’s been a big New York Dolls fan forever, and I’ve been a big David Johansen fan. I think that it’s a pretty good package. I think that it’s pretty strong. We’re calling it the “No Name” Tour, but this isn’t a CrüeFest by any means. With the 40th anniversary of the New York Dolls, the 25th anniversary of Poison, and our 30th, it kind of ties everything together.
I was actually going to mention that next. This is a milestone for Mötley Crüe— celebrating your 30th anniversary—if someone was to tell you in 1980 that you’d be playing with the same band for 30 years, what would you have said?
I’m not going to live to be 60 (laughs). I’m from that time period where nobody wanted to live to be 30, but that’s the way it works. It’s a cool thing. I mean, once we started playing, and once we started picking up the pace and developing and learning how to cope with being on tour and being on the road and doing all that kind of a thing—I think that I probably told you this before, but we wanted to be like an Aerosmith, and just be together for many years and just keep going or just until one of us falls over (laughs).
So, no regrets in your 30 years with Mötley Crüe then?
The only regret that I have is having to get [ankylosing spondylitis]. I hate that stuff. But no, no regrets. We did what we did and there are no regrets at all. Not to me anyway!
On May 1, you will also be partaking in our Bamboozle Festival at the Meadowlands in NJ. Bamboozle is known for bringing in a younger audience, how do you think Mötley Crüe will appeal to a younger crowd?
A younger crowd? Well, I know that I’ve said this to you before also, but with a lot of our fan base, we’re seeing a lot of the same faces out there, but they’re bringing their kids, and I think that sprung or triggered a new audience for us. You know, when Ozzy resurrected himself again from the ashes and he came out and his crowd is a younger audience, along with an older crowd, as well, but I think it’s cool. Like it’s always been; either you love us or you hate us.
Do you have a preference between playing big festivals like a Bamboozle to an arena?
A festival thrown in every now and then is cool, but everyday of open air type festivals are really weird because one day, you could be freezing and the next day you’re sweating your butt off, and in arenas it’s always consistent. I like both of them, but it’s like a 60/40 split, where I’d rather play an arena 60 percent of the time.
Everyone in the band has a book out! Where’s yours?
It’s on its way, but I want the right liar! I had a couple guys come over and give me a little 10 page thing on what they want to write about, and they didn’t know what they were writing about or what I’m about—get me a rock ‘n’ roll guy that knows about rock ‘n’ roll! I don’t want to put out something that’s dumb! I want to put out something that’s real and something that people can relate to, like The Dirt was, and these people weren’t even close to it. You know, I took this guy out on tour with us to help me write the book. And I wanted to show him what the road was about and stuff and he sat in my bus and got drunk. I should’ve known what was going on, so I just said to him, “Get outta here!” Crazy bastard! (Laughs.)
Well, Mick, if you’re looking for a writer, I’m available!
All right! You know what rock ‘n’ roll is all about! You’re in a band, so it’s all good!
Count me in! One last question: since you’re celebrating 30 years as Mötley Crüe, what was your favorite Mötley Crüe song to perform?
Oof! There are a couple of them. I like a couple of new ones from the Saints Of Los Angeles CD like “Mutherfucker Of The Year” and “Saints of Los Angeles.” They’re both a lot of fun to play. But out of the older songs, it would have to be “Primal Scream,” the other ones can go but not “Primal.”
Catch Mötley Crüe live at this year’s Bamboozle Festival on Sunday, May 1, and then this summer with Poison and the New York Dolls at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ on July 16 and at the Nassau Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY on July 20. For more info, log onto motley.com.
