Mick Mars, who announced his official retirement from touring late last year, was recently in the studio working on his long-awaited debut solo album.
Though it was confirmed Mars would remain a part of the band when his touring retirement was announced, Mötley Crüe are currently gearing up for a mammoth world tour with new live guitarist John 5, and so the group’s founding member has found himself with a fair amount of spare time.
As such, it seems as though Mars has put the time to good use, and has continued work on his highly anticipated solo outing with the help of country rock singer-songwriter, Cory Marks.
Writing on Instagram, Marks teased Mars’ upcoming project sounded “huge”, and claimed “the rock world is in for something weird, special, great and loud”.
“Spent my Saturday hanging out with one of the coolest, sweetest, most kind down to earth bad asses on this planet that I’m lucky to call a friend,” Marks wrote. “So many stories and a lot of laughs talking music, guns, planes, guitars, drums, travel, road stories (he’s got cooler ones than me), health, fitness, zombies, sex, drugs and rock and roll.”
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He continued, “Thank you for having me over and letting me hear your new project…which sounds huge. The rock world is in for something weird, special, great and loud.
“Surreal walking into your studio and the first thing I see is a gold record on top of a bunch of Marshall amps stacked up together with my face and name on it and I’ll be sending you a couple more very soon.
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“Don’t be surprised if you see Mars & Marks on more songs together down the road. Outlaws And Outsiders forever.”
It’s the latest tease we’ve had regarding Mars’ premiere solo effort following tidbits we received from drummer Carmine Appice and guitarist Paul Taylor last year.
Speaking to Sonic Dorms podcast in April 2022, Taylor hinted that Mars’ album was “definitely heavy and very versatile”, and claimed it had the potential to “blow some people away”. In the same interview, Taylor estimated the album would arrive at the end of the year – something, of course, that didn’t quite go to plan.
In November, Appice followed this up with a tease of his own, suggesting that Mars would be open to doing some smaller, intimate live shows to support the album when it finally arrives.
“[Mars] said he's gonna do a solo album and go out and do some gigs,” Appice recalled. “I said, 'Look, if you need anyone to play drums, I'll play with you.' He goes, 'That would be great.' So maybe I'll do some gigs with him.
“But it's not gonna be big tours. It'll be a weekend maybe somewhere and then go home. Two weekends later, maybe a weekend and go home.”
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Even before Taylor and Appice’s hints, the topic of Mars’ solo album has been around for almost 10 years, with Mars himself telling Eddie Trunk in 2014 he had plans to release “at least an EP” of his own material.
Since then, details have filtered through slowly over the years, with vocalist Jacob Bunton – reportedly the lead singer on Mars’ record – telling AL.com the record itself is packed with “insane riffs”.
“The songs are really cool, the record is really cool,” Bunton said back in 2020. “He's such an inventive player and his riffs are insane and it's definitely going to be what people are expecting. When they hear it… It's really cool.”
Now Mars has some more time to himself and his own musical project, we may see more developments regarding his solo album arriving in the near-future.
Mars retired from touring last year as a result of his ongoing struggle with ankylosing spondylitis.
While Mars works on his solo material, Mötley Crüe will hit the road with the help of John 5, who was announced as the band’s new live guitarist following weeks of intense online speculation.
Rehearsals for the tour began a few weeks ago, with bassist Nikki Sixx reporting they had been “fucking epic”. To further stoke anticipation ahead of the tour, John 5 took to social media to show off his entire guitar rig for the upcoming string of shows.
