MTLEY CRE Guitarist On Band's Longevity: 'We Are All Too Stupid To Do Anything Else'

Brent Thompson of Birmingham Weekly recently conducted an interview with MTLEY CRE guitarist Mick Mars. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the fact that MTLEY CRE's music is now reaching a new generation of fans:

"It's a cool thing for me. People are there holding up their kids. Our fans are growing up and have kids and it's cool to see that."

On how the band's current tour has gone thus far:

"Really, really good a lot better than I expected. A lot of industry people who've never come to watch the band before, like movie stars, are coming to see us. It's pretty cool seeing that stuff happening. Scarlett Johansson came down a few days ago."

On touring with the NEW YORK DOLLS:

"It's really cool I hang out with Earl Slick a lot. He is David Bowie's main guitarist and David's kicking back for a while, so Earl's out here with the DOLLS. We are the same age, but I was playing his licks when I was having to play in cover bands. So, we talk about that stuff and goof around and exchange stories of what we went through musically. We've become friends."

On how he keeps things fresh while maintaining the integrity of the songs:

"I throw in little things here and there. I change things a little bit. The body of the song is there and people know what it is. But on a song like 'Ten Seconds To Love' that everybody knows, I may not play the same solo every night on that song just to make it a little different for me. The fans might say (imitating a frustrated voice),'He didn't play the same solo!' but I do stuff like that. I keep the song true to what it is, add little pops and dives and stuff that's fun for me."

On how he reconciles the benefits of technology (iTunes, Internet, satellite radio) with the problems it presents:

"I'm in-between on that. It's a cool vehicle for just about anybody. You don't have to really know how to play. For artists who are established, like us or THE [ROLLING] STONES, it helps but it also can hurt the band, too. By that, I mean royalty-wise and publishing-wise. If somebody can go into iTunes and download something and give it to their friends, I don't get paid for that. But, on the other hand, it's easy to get music out to your fans."

On how the relationships between the MTLEY CRE bandmembers have endured for so long:

"Because we are all too stupid to do anything else. I don't know it's 30 years' worth of stuff and it's like a family. We have our spats just like any other family kind of thing. It's like Thanksgiving everybody can argue about how the turkey is cooked. That gives you an idea of how things can get petty. You go off for a month and then you start talking, it's that kind of a deal. It's not a big deal at all."

Read the entire interview from Birmingham Weekly.