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Interview: Mick Mars of Motley Crue (Pt. 2)
Interview: Mick Mars of Motley Crue (Pt. 2)
- Genre : More Music
- Type: News
- Author : Super Admin
- Date : Fri, 01 Aug 2008
You mean it's all the stuff you used to do!
Oh, I don't do it anymore! I'm completely straight now. But in those days, when you're young… I grew out of it quicker than the other guys.
I find it fascinating that Nikki would keep a diary while he was doing heroin. Just doesn't seem like the thing most people would want to do on that drug!
Maybe to make sense of it! You tend to write in circles on stuff like that… They gave me the quick fix because of my AS—because I was touring and needed something to get me through the pain—and when the addiction came I felt like I was on a tricycle going around in a circle. It wasn't fun.
The last time we talked, it was prior to your reunion tour, and Tommy expressed concerns to me about your health at the time. How do you feel heading into this tour, as opposed to the last one?
The only thing that's really changed for me is that since I'm unable to move because my body has become very rigid and fused, it's allowed me to concentrate on what I'm playing more, instead of having to run over here or there around the stage. Just like when a singer runs and their voice wavers, running with a guitar does the same thing, I don't care how great you are. I'm able to concentrate more on my playing and technique now.
So you're not moving around onstage, but you feel like you're playing a lot better?
I feel a lot better because I can think more! I'm not having to think about everything else, running around and moving around, and I can concentrate on playing. I thought I did okay, but I feel that I'm a better performer now than I was then, when my body could move more.
You had a big part in the writing of Saints of Los Angeles, where Tommy and Vince didn't. Did you know that was going to happen heading into the writing process?
It was a different way of recording, actually, because James [Michael]and DJ [Ashba, co-writers on the album] would come up with ideas, as I would, and they would send me the songs, I'd listen to them, and think of stuff that I would do with them to change them. I'd do solos, I would go to DJ's house, James', and in the beginning even Nikki's, and do what I do to the songs. They called it "Mars-izing" them. Having so many good song ideas allowed all of us to collaborate like that. We had timeframe to write the songs and put them together, record them, so on and so forth, and both Tommy and Vince had prior commitments, so they didn't have a lot of time to contribute to this particular album. That doesn't mean the next album they won't, but on this album the timeframe didn't match up with what they already had scheduled. The songs were passed around to different studios. It was a different way of recording, but it came out very well.
Given what a good guitar player DJ is, I think a lot of people, myself included, would have assumed he'd have written the parts, and even played them on the album, like happens with other veteran bands.
No, that's my job. It's what I do. It's like this, "if it isn't broke, break it!"
Technology is such now where you can have four studios in four different houses and record an entire album without even seeing each other. Was that the case on Saints?
Well, not so much that [laughing]… With your home studio, though, it is truly just you and your ideas, and the way you play comes out. It gives me a lot more freedom to go somewhere else with the song without someone else saying, "That isn't how I'm hearing it, I'm hearing it like this…" Instead, someone can hear what I've done and go, "Okay, I get that," and then take it to another level. The only question is, when do we stop because it can keep going forever like this, you need to know when to stop!
You said you're playing better than ever. Are there any specific songs on the album that you think best define Mick Mars as a musician?
I think this whole album gives a better idea of what I play because I had the freedom to do what I want to do without having anybody else around. Instead of having a bunch
Oh, I don't do it anymore! I'm completely straight now. But in those days, when you're young… I grew out of it quicker than the other guys.
I find it fascinating that Nikki would keep a diary while he was doing heroin. Just doesn't seem like the thing most people would want to do on that drug!
Maybe to make sense of it! You tend to write in circles on stuff like that… They gave me the quick fix because of my AS—because I was touring and needed something to get me through the pain—and when the addiction came I felt like I was on a tricycle going around in a circle. It wasn't fun.
The last time we talked, it was prior to your reunion tour, and Tommy expressed concerns to me about your health at the time. How do you feel heading into this tour, as opposed to the last one?
The only thing that's really changed for me is that since I'm unable to move because my body has become very rigid and fused, it's allowed me to concentrate on what I'm playing more, instead of having to run over here or there around the stage. Just like when a singer runs and their voice wavers, running with a guitar does the same thing, I don't care how great you are. I'm able to concentrate more on my playing and technique now.
So you're not moving around onstage, but you feel like you're playing a lot better?
I feel a lot better because I can think more! I'm not having to think about everything else, running around and moving around, and I can concentrate on playing. I thought I did okay, but I feel that I'm a better performer now than I was then, when my body could move more.
You had a big part in the writing of Saints of Los Angeles, where Tommy and Vince didn't. Did you know that was going to happen heading into the writing process?
It was a different way of recording, actually, because James [Michael]and DJ [Ashba, co-writers on the album] would come up with ideas, as I would, and they would send me the songs, I'd listen to them, and think of stuff that I would do with them to change them. I'd do solos, I would go to DJ's house, James', and in the beginning even Nikki's, and do what I do to the songs. They called it "Mars-izing" them. Having so many good song ideas allowed all of us to collaborate like that. We had timeframe to write the songs and put them together, record them, so on and so forth, and both Tommy and Vince had prior commitments, so they didn't have a lot of time to contribute to this particular album. That doesn't mean the next album they won't, but on this album the timeframe didn't match up with what they already had scheduled. The songs were passed around to different studios. It was a different way of recording, but it came out very well.
Given what a good guitar player DJ is, I think a lot of people, myself included, would have assumed he'd have written the parts, and even played them on the album, like happens with other veteran bands.
No, that's my job. It's what I do. It's like this, "if it isn't broke, break it!"
Technology is such now where you can have four studios in four different houses and record an entire album without even seeing each other. Was that the case on Saints?
Well, not so much that [laughing]… With your home studio, though, it is truly just you and your ideas, and the way you play comes out. It gives me a lot more freedom to go somewhere else with the song without someone else saying, "That isn't how I'm hearing it, I'm hearing it like this…" Instead, someone can hear what I've done and go, "Okay, I get that," and then take it to another level. The only question is, when do we stop because it can keep going forever like this, you need to know when to stop!
You said you're playing better than ever. Are there any specific songs on the album that you think best define Mick Mars as a musician?
I think this whole album gives a better idea of what I play because I had the freedom to do what I want to do without having anybody else around. Instead of having a bunch
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