The REAL dirt: Motley Crue v Mick Mars for Easter

By STEVE MASCORD

‘THE Dirt’, that sordid paen to rock excess, may soon be in need of a sequel.

It was announce overnight Thursday (Australian time) that former Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars was suing the band for loss of earnings.

Mars, 71, claimed he had been kicked out of the band unfairly, ‘gaslighted’ about his playing by bassist Nikki Sixx and threw in revelations about the Crue’s use of tracks for good measure.

If all that sounds unedifying, the Crue’s response had it covered.

In a new low for rock feuds, they included statements from crew members outlining what a bad musician Mars has allegedly become.

It’s important at this time to note the original legal action only orders that the band, now made up of Sixx, singer Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee and guitarist John 5, hand over financial information ahead of arbitration.

The other revelations which made headlines around the world overnight come from the paperwork.

That submission was made to the Los Angeles County’s Superior Court by lawyer Edwin McPherson and claims the band wants him to give up his 25 percent share in the business in return for a five percent cut of the current tour.

The band claims he left and is not entitled anything but was offered the five percent as a goodwill gesture.

Mars always contended he would stay a part of the band without touring, like Cheap Trick drummer Bun E Carlos. Sixx, Lee and Neil clearly want him gone completely.

The filing contends it is ridiculous that he should be fired “with cause” given that he has been by far the best behaved member of Motley Crue since the beginning.

When he was asked to divest himself of several businesses the Crue owned, Mars contends it’s the first time he knew some of them existed.

The suit reads: “How did Mars’s brothers of 41 years respond to Mars’s tragic announcement [about his health preventing him from touring]?

“They noticed an emergency shareholders’ meeting for the band’s main corporate entity in order to throw Mars out of the band, to fire him as a director of the corporation, to fire him as an officer of the corporation, and to take away his shares of the corporation. When he did not go away quietly, they purported to fire him from six additional band corporations and LLCs.”

Mars was the only member of the band on the Stadium Tour to play all his parts live, the filing alleges.

“A 100 percent of Sixx’s bass parts were nothing but recordings. Sixx was seen fist pumping in the air with his strumming hand, while the bass part was playing. In fact, a significant portion of Neil’s vocals were also pre-recorded. Even some of Lee’s drum parts were recordings. Some fans actually noticed that Lee was walking toward his drum set as they heard his drum part begin.”

The band subsequently offered to increase his cut of the current tour to 7.5 per cent.

In a statement in response, the band said all members agreed in 2008 that if anyone resigned, they would get nothing going forward.

It said Mars owed Motley Crue “millions in advances which he did not pay back” and that the guitarist had been “manipulated by his manager and lawyer” who were “motivated by greed”.

“There are multiple declarations from the band’s crew attesting to his decline which are attached.”

And sure enough, there they were: statements from Motley Crue’s employees bagging Mick Mars.

Author Neil Strauss should be sharpening his pencil.