Mötley Crüe is setting the record straight about accusations by their former bandmate Mick Mars that they don’t perform live in concert.
The accusations came out in Mars’ 2023 lawsuit in which he claimed he was forced out of the band he founded and that his bandmates were cutting his stake in the group.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Nikki Sixx acknowledges the band uses backing tracks, but says that doesn’t mean they aren’t playing.
“Anything we enhance the shows with, we actually played,” he says. “If there are background vocals with my background vocals, and we have background singers to make it sound more like the record. That does not mean we’re not singing.”
Sixx tells the paper that Mars’ accusations were “a crazy betrayal” to the band’s legacy.
“Saying he played in a band that didn’t play, it’s a betrayal to the band who saved his life,” he adds. “People say things like, ‘Well, if you guys are really playing, then I need isolated tracks from band rehearsal.’ … It’s ludicrous.”
Mötley Crüe kicks off a 10-show Las Vegas residency on Friday at Dolby Live at Park MGM. The shows were originally scheduled for the spring, but were postponed due to frontman Vince Neil’s health issues. Sixx says Neil’s been working “really hard” at getting back in shape for the shows.
“You can tell he’s working up the stamina, and a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, man, he’s not kicking a** like he used to,’ but it takes a lot of courage to have a doctor tell you you will probably never go onstage again and to fight through that,” Sixx tells the LA Times. “If he’s got some imperfect moments here and there. They’re getting erased as the days go with rehearsal.”
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