Before the show Lumino Magazine was lucky enough to sit down with Crue’s guitarist, the legendary Mick Mars. Formed in 1981 Motley Crue is made up of some of the biggest names in glam rock history. Even after their breakup in the late 90s each of the band members has managed to stay in the public spotlight, a rare feat for a group that helped define 80s rock music.
Mars founded the band after placing an advertisement in a local Los Angeles newspaper. Both Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee answered and quickly convinced vocalist Vince Neil to leave his current band and join the new ensemble. The band’s outrageous stage show which included Mars’ spitting blood into the audience and Sixx lighting himself on fire caught the attention of Elektra records (now Atlantic) and it wasn’t long before the band released their first album “Too Fast for Love.”
Often seen as reclusive and mysterious Mars was diagnosed with a degenerative bone condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis when he was 19 years old. The disease is a fusion of the spinal joints that actually took several inches off of Mars’ height.
With a style seeped heavy in the blues Mars’ guitar riffs take the already electrifying sound to another level. “I’ve been playing for longer than most of my audience has been alive,” he says with satisfaction in his voice. “Every few years I change up and play with the stuff I’ve done. With Motley I can keep the body of the song the same but I experiment with the chords in between. There are a couple of songs I’ll never play the same way twice, especially my solos.”
“So many people have influenced me over the years,” he explains. “Jeff Beck has been one of my favorites since The Yardbirds but when I first got into music and the blues it was all about Paul Butterfield and Alvin Lee.” Listening to Mars talk about music you can hear the passion radiate from his voice.
As a veteran rocker Mars has seen the industry change both for what he considers the good and the bad. “I can finally say it, those fuckers [the record companies] were taking all our money!” he exclaims and takes a deep breathe, this has been on his mind for quite sometime. “Back when we first started they were taking something like 10 cents every time we sold a record, now that there are a lot less record companies they can only take something like 1 cent every time we produce.” This was an issue for the band early on as they created their label Motley Records.
Though the band has been through its ups and down Mars admits that everyone has remained close. “We get along better but for the most part we’re more or less at home and on our own most of the time. I miss the old days when we could just pop over to each other’s house and jam but that’s gotten harder now,” he says.
Time take a heavy toll on rock n’ rollers and not all can handle the turning of time. Bands like The Rolling Stones and the B-52’s have been lucky enough to keep producing after all these years but few are that fortunate. When asked about the future of the band Mars had no clear answer. “I just don’t know, it’s always a surprise with us.”
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