Mick Mars believes Def Leppard made Nikki Sixx 'feel inadequate' about his bass playing

He has claimed once again that the Mötley Crüe bassist mimed

Mötley Crüe on stage in 2022
Author: Scott ColothanPublished 5th Jul 2023

Mick Mars has doubled down on his stance that Nikki Sixx didn’t perform bass on Mötley Crüe’s Stadium Tour in 2022.

After his retirement from touring was announced last autumn, in April Mick Mars launched legal proceedings against his Mötley Crüe band mates over financial issues.

Among the stinging claims in the lawsuit was that Nikki Sixx “continually gaslighted Mars by telling him that he (Mars) had some sort of cognitive dysfunction, and that his guitar playing was sub-par.”

This was apparently despite Mars’ belief that Sixx “did not play a single note on bass during the entire US tour.”

In a statement to Variety a few days later, Mötley Crüe denounced Mick Mars’ claims in his “ugly lawsuit” and they included signed declarations from seven crew members about Mick Mars’ playing.

Sixx later told Planet Rock that Mars was “a little bit confused and being misled by representatives” in regard to the lawsuit.

Mötley Crüe with Mick Mars in 2022

Now, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Mick Mars has once again stated his claim that Nikki Sixx mimed his bass parts on tour.

“I’ve been with him a long time, and I got fan-based film of him thrusting his arms in the air and stuff when there’s a bass line playing,” Mars said.

“I’m absolutely positive (he wasn’t playing live bass). I think he did that because he felt too much competition from the other bands on the tour, like Def Leppard. I think they made him feel inadequate about his bass playing.”

Astonishingly, Mick Mars went on to say that the last time he had a proper conversation with Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx was at the premiere of The Dirt movie in 2019.

“Nobody spoke to me in 2022,” Mars said. “A lot of the time felt like I was just playing by myself. You know how you can be in a crowd of people and still feel alone?

“That’s how I felt that whole tour. I felt used, sad, and inferior. When we played the last show (in Las Vegas on 9th September 2022) I felt relieved. A lot of the pressure was gone. But I was very emotionally wounded. They weren’t just shallow wounds. They were deep ones; the kind you can’t get over.”

Mötley Crüe complete the UK leg of their co-headline tour with Def Leppard on Wednesday (6th July) at Glasgow Green.

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