MÖTLEY CRÜE Guitarist: 'When The Four Of Us Get On Stage, It's Like We Become One Person'

Beyond The Watch recently conducted an interview with MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Beyond The Watch: MÖTLEY CRÜE has been around for a long time now. Collectively you guys have been through extremes in life; that's probably an understatement. What do you think has been the glue keeping you all together? How have you all made it out together still doing what it is you do best?

Mick: That's a good question. That's kind of a difficult one to answer. I don't know. There's something about when the four of us get on stage, it's like a weird thing that happens, it's like we become one person. Of course, off stage, it can get bad, I guess, with disagreements and such, but once we hit the stage, it's this powerhouse substance that absolutely stops anything that's going on. Just keeping up, keeping up with the times and staying on top of things helps to keep us going.

Beyond The Watch: Let's go back in time a bit and tell us what moment stands out the most as the best time you ever had with MÖTLEY CRÜE?

Mick: The best time I ever had? Hmm… Well, you know, probably the first month that we were together. Like the first gig that we played at the Starwood Amphitheatre and we won the crowd over and at the time it was quite a big band that we were playing with. And the next night we played — we played two nights in a row — the crowd was there for us and then for them, kind of empty. [laughs] That was kind of a sign like, "We're doing something right." That kind of stuff, the first time experiences and that kind of stuff is always cool. We had stuff going on with a couple of guys from other bands like the gladiators just causing havoc everywhere we went, drinking and fighting. That was the fun stuff, when you're young. [laughs]

Beyond The Watch: Out of all the songs that you created with MÖTLEY CRÜE, what song or album are you most proud of throughout the discography?

Mick: That's kind of a hard one as well. I like the [John] Corabi album [MÖTLEY CRÜE's 1994 self-titled album] quite a bit. I thought that was really, really good writing going on that. It was actually kind of dismissed from by our fan base, but that one is one of my favourites. That one and probably "Dr. Feelgood" (1989).

Beyond The Watch: After the years of John Corabi, has MÖTLEY CRÜE incorporated any of the material from that 1994 self-titled release into your set? Or has that always remained separate from what the original members have created?

Mick: It's always stayed out. Just like when Tommy [Lee, drums] was out for a bit on the "New Tattoo" [2000] album. Randy Castillo was filling in for him on that, and that stuff, to me, was a bit removed. It's still MÖTLEY CRÜE, but we're staying true to the original four. Even though I think there's a lot of great songs on both those albums.

Read the entire interview from Beyond The Watch.