John 5 Says He and Mick Mars ‘Talk All the Time’

John 5 says he and Mick Mars have a “great respect for each other,” and that his predecessor even reached out after John 5 was formally named Motley Crue’s new guitarist.

“Me and Mick, we talk all the time,” John 5 famous throughout an look on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation, his first interview since becoming a member of the Crue in October. “We exchange Christmas gifts and things like that. When I was announced as the guitar player, he was one of the very first texts I got. He said, ‘You’re going to kill it.’ It’s good, because it’s not like some stranger coming in. We have a great respect for each other.”

Mars has been struggling with ankylosing spondylitis since he was 19, and the ailment finally contributed to the band’s lineup change.

(*5*) Motley Crue mentioned at the time earlier than asserting John 5 could be filling Mars’ footwear.

While issues appeared to begin peacefully, a disagreement quickly broke out between Mars and his former bandmates. The guitarist filed a lawsuit claiming Motley Crue was making an attempt to tear him off financially. The band responded by saying his swimsuit was “completely off-base” and prompt that Mars’ supervisor and lawyer had been manipulating him.

Mars additionally alleged that Motley Crue mimed to backing tracks throughout their 2022 Stadium Tour. While John 5 usually prevented commenting on the litigation, he did refute these claims that Motley Crue do not play their live shows stay.

“Not 99%, not 98%, but 100%, Nikki [Sixx] is playing every single note on that stage….. Nikki plays 100 percent,” the guitarist declared. “We even have penalty flags at rehearsal, if someone messes up at rehearsal, we throw a penalty flag at them. … Nikki, If you listen to these concerts I do with him, you’ll hear bum notes. It’s all live. NFL Draft, you hear a bum note in ‘Home Sweet Home.’ Do you really think that we would put a mistake on a track or something? No, that’s crazy.”

“Just listen to the shows before you make these statements, because you’ll hear mess-ups,” John 5 continued. “Yes, we do rely on technology for backup vocals, for intros, for outros, sirens, horn hits, things like that. Of course they’ve been doing that since Dr. Feelgood. I’m not saying we don’t rely on technology for things like that. Backups, intros, outros, things that we can’t replicate ourselves. But me, Nikki, Tommy [Lee] and Vince [Neil], we’re all live up there.”