Tommy Lee: Mick Mars’ Health a Factor Behind Motley Crue’s Farewell Tour
The countdown to what's being touted as Motley Crue’s farewell tour has officially begun. But details about the exact reach, dates and reasons behind the decision remain subject to wild debate.
The conversation was first set in motion in August, when Crue singer Vince Neil told the Oakland Press that he and his bandmates were looking to go out on top, while they're still selling out larger venues instead of playing smaller clubs.
Neil went on to imply that Mick Mars’ ailing health was also at least partly to blame for the band’s decision. (The guitarist has long suffered from a painful and incurable condition known as ankylosing spondylitis.) But within days, Mars had taken to Twitter to deny this, stating that that “any rumors regarding a farewell tour due to ‘my poor health’ are BS. I am doing fine, my AS has never kept me from touring and never will.”
At that point, the issue was left unresolved, but now drummer Tommy Lee has rekindled the flames in a video interview with EDM artist Deadmau5 by once again citing Mars’ ill health as a key reason for the onetime sleaze-metal kings’ imminent retirement.
"[Mick] has a spinal disease that’s slowly fusing his vertebrae together," Lee said. "It’s one of those things that’s treatable, but not curable. So it’s just progressively getting really worse and it’s painful for him, so he doesn’t want to tour much longer. I can’t say I blame him.”
Lee echoed his singer’s words about all four members of Motley Crue wishing to end the band’s run on a high note.