Metal Anarchy

Mötley Crüe’s manager Allen Kovac has commented on Mick Mars’ lawsuit against the band and claims regarding their alleged use of pre-recorded tracks. According to him, the guitarist’s representatives are “taking advantage of him” and commiting acts of “elder abuse.”

As previously reported, Mars claimed he was asked to sign a severance agreement, which would drop his 25% stake in the band’s business interests to 5% for their 2023 shows and to 0% for future tours. The offer was then upped to 7.5% for 2023 if the guitarist agreed to divest himself from the band and their businesses.

For their part, Mötley Crüe’s management claim these allegations and the accusations of the band using pre-recorded tracks are part of “a smear campaign.” Kovac told Variety the following:

“[Mars] attacked the band, and he’s done it in a slanderous way, with false accusations and misrepresenting the facts to the fans. Mick is not the victim. The victims are Mötley Crüe and the brand, which Mick is so prideful of.”

He continued:

“What’s upsetting to me is not Mick, but his representatives, who have guided Mick to say and do harmful things to the brand he cares about so much, Mötley Crüe. He has a degenerative disease and people are taking advantage of him. It’s called elder abuse.

Mick’s representatives have no idea what they’ve created, but I’ve stopped the band from speaking about this, so they’re not gonna turn the fans against Mick. But I am going to make sure that people understand that Mick hasn’t been treated badly. In fact, he was treated better than anyone else in the band, and they carried him and they saved his life.”

He also added:

“Everything is live with Nikki’s bass playing and Tommy’s drum playing. When they’ve used loops, they’re still playing. There are augmented vocals, which were (recorded) in the studio and are backgrounds behind the two ladies who are singing and (other background vocals by) John 5 and Nikki Sixx, and before that Mick and Nikki.

You multi-track and you do gang vocals with, like, 20 people, just like all the other bands do with background vocals. They’ve got background vocals in the mix. That’s the truth.

But Nikki played his bass and always has. Vince was singing better than he was before (on the latest tour). That was in reviews. Now, John 5 [who has since replaced Mars on the band’s touring] is playing like who John 5 is. I’ve heard John 5 perform and I heard Mick perform. Both are great guitar players.

Unfortunately, Mick is not the same. He hasn’t been the same for a long time. Which was in reviews! You see that the professionals knew. Def Leppard (which alternated headlining spots on tour) knew. And (Mars) caused a train wreck up there, because he would play the wrong songs and the wrong parts, even with the guide tracks.

When he played the wrong song, it wasn’t Nikki Sixx that had a tape; it was the soundman bringing it into the mix so the audience could hear a song, even though the guitar player was playing a different song.”

Kovac went on to say:

“[Audiences] would hear it at first, but (sound engineers) would fix it so that we could keep the song going. I heard it. I’d go to the sound board.”

The band‘s litigation attorney Sasha Frid also commented:

“The lawsuit that Mick filed is a petition for writ of mandate to obtain certain records. It’s a perfunctory request that usually consists of nothing more than a couple of pages. There was absolutely no need for Mick to tell a 41-year history of the band, bad mouth Nikki by claiming that ‘100% of his bass parts’ were recorded, or any of the other flurry of lies that he made. These allegations have nothing to do with his request for corporate records. It is completely irrelevant and superfluous; and no code or case law requires such allegations to be made to get documents.

The only reason these bogus allegations appeared in this legal filing is so that Mick and his lawyer would be protected by the ‘litigation privilege’ — which protects parties from statements made in legal filings. Mick and his lawyer filed this bogus lawsuit because if these statements were made in the press, the band would sue them for defamation and slander.

This lawsuit is nothing more than a malicious attempt to badmouth the band. It’s not surprising that they made no attempt to serve us with it or ask me if I would accept service. They don’t want these documents — they just used this as an opportunity to mislead the public to create leverage.”

Mars’ attorney Edwin F. McPherson fired back as well:

“It is interesting that these declarations about Mick’s playing are from employees of Motley Crue, who rely on the band for their livelihood. I noticed that there are no declarations from anyone about the other members’ playing – or not playing.

Did you ever wonder why Mötley Crüe’s lawyers drafted declarations stating that Mick was unfit to perform successfully on tour, and had them signed — albeit by people whose livelihoods depend on pleasing Mötley Crüe — in response to Mick announcing that he is retiring from touring? If Mick is so bad, isn’t it a matter of ‘problem solved’? … The bottom line is that this case is not about whether or not Mick can still play. It is not even about whether the other band members are playing anything at all. But if you are going to gather disparaging declarations from employees, and kick someone out of the band for not playing properly — ironically, after he tells you that he can no longer handle touring anymore — you better get out of your glass house.”