Mötley Crüe respond to Mick Mars lawsuit: "Retiring from touring is resigning from the band"

This Thursday (April 6), electric guitar player Mick Mars filed a lawsuit against his former band, Mötley Crüe.

Mars retired from touring with the band last October – and was subsequently replaced by John 5 – but said at the time that he would formally remain a member of the group.

In the lawsuit, though, Mars alleges that after he announced his retirement, the band moved to remove him as a significant stakeholder in Crüe’s corporation and business holdings via a shareholders’ meeting, and – via lawyers – instructed him to sign a severance agreement that would divest him of his 25 percent stake in the band's various business interests in return for a 5 percent stake in the band's 2023 tour, a stake that would be reduced to 0 percent for subsequent tours. 

When Mars – after the 5 percent offer was upped to 7.5 percent – still refused to sign the papers, the band took him to arbitration in an effort to keep the dispute private.

In the suit's most eyebrow-raising point, Mars also accused the rest of the band – bass guitar player Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee and vocalist Vince Neil – of miming some (or, in Sixx's case, all) of their parts during Crüe's 2022 stadium tour with Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.

Now, Mötley Crüe have responded to the lawsuit, calling it – in a statement provided to Rolling Stone – "unfortunate," while maintaining that Mars "publicly resigned" from the band.

The band – through their attorney, Sasha Frid – also refuted the lawsuit's miming allegations, maintaining that the band "always performs their songs live." Mars, the band countered, "struggled to remember chords, played the wrong songs and made constant mistakes [on the band's 2022 tour] which led to his departure from the band."

At the core of the dispute is Mars' status as a member of Mötley Crüe, and how that factors into his share of the band's business holdings. In Mars' lawsuit – first reported by Variety – the guitarist says the band essentially conspired to fire him. In their response, Mötley Crüe say that Mars' decision to retire was tantamount to a full resignation from the band.

"In 2008, Mick voted for and signed an agreement in which he and every other band member agreed that ‘in no event shall any resigning shareholder be entitled to receive any monies attributable to live performances (i.e., tours),’” the band said in their response.

"Retiring from touring is resigning from the band,” Crüe lawyer Sasha Frid explained to Variety. “The band’s primary function is to tour and perform concerts. And as you saw from the amendment, if a shareholder resigns, he cannot receive any compensation from touring – which is what Mick is trying to get. It’s clear-cut that Mick is not entitled to any more money.” 

In his lawsuit, Mars contends that the band, particularly Sixx, "gaslighted" him into believing that his playing was sub-par and inconsistent. In their response, Mötley Crüe said that his playing was indeed below par.

To prove their point, the band provided signed declarations from seven members of their 2022 touring crew, each of which maintains that Mars struggled with his performances throughout the tour. These declarations were seen and confirmed by Variety.

Mars has Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.), a painful degenerative disease that affects the spine, an affliction that ultimately led to the guitarist's decision to retire from touring.

While his lawsuit acknowledges that he made some mistakes on the band's 2022 tour, it says that these were due to faulty in-ear monitors.

In a statement of his own – published on Twitter – Sixx said, "Sad day for us and we don’t deserve this considering how many years we’ve been propping him up. We still wish him the best and hope he finds lawyers and managers who aren’t damaging him. We love you Mick." 

According to Variety, Mars will still receive royalties from publishing and recordings he made with the band, but will not be a shareholder in any of the band's businesses going forward.

No date has been set yet for the arbitration between Mars – whose lawsuit served as a request to inspect the band's business records, and to be awarded attorneys’ fees and other costs associated with the lawsuit – and the rest of the group.