Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars is denying – for a second time – that his health is a factor in the band’s farewell tour plans.
"Once again, any rumors regarding a farewell tour due to 'my poor health is BS," tweeted Mars on Saturday. "I am doing fine, my AS has never kept me from touring", adding, "Thank all of you for knowing the truth… When I'm done touring, you'll hear it from me."
Drummer Tommy Lee responded to Mars' tweet with one of his own, writing, "@mrmickmars it's probably not so much about your physical health it's more about our mental health as a band! Haha!"
Throughout his career, Mars has struggled with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a chronic, inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis. It was initially diagnosed when he was 17 years old, and has increasingly impaired his movement and has caused him a great deal of pain, which led to hip-replacement surgery at the end of 2004.
Mars’ latest tweet come on the heels of comments made by Lee during a hang session with Canadian producer and performer Deadmau5 on his online series “Coffee Run” (see it here).
“The farewell tour is next,” said Lee. “This will be it. Our guitar player [Mars] has a spinal disease that's slowly fusing his vertebrae together. 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 wanna tour much longer. I can't say I blame him.”
When Deadmau5 asks if the Crue would bring in another guitarist to substitute for Mars, Lee responded, “The last thing we ever wanna do is go out running on two cylinders with some hired guy playing guitar; that's just whack. So we wanna go out with one big hurrah with the original guys and be done with it. That's such a bad look when bands are still playing the fairgrounds — those county fair shows — and it's just like two of the original guys, or one original guy, and the rest, no one knows who they are. We don't wanna do that."
Lee’s comments about the tour echoed those from frontman Vince Neil, who told the Oakland Press this summer that “Mick’s (Mars) health is not that good, and touring is tough on him.”
Mars responded to Neil’s comments by saying his health issues are not a factor in the band’s retirement plans.
"Any rumors regarding a farewell tour due to 'my poor health' are BS," tweeted Mars at the time. "I am doing fine, my AS has never kept me from touring and never will."
Motley Crue recently wrapped up their second Las Vegas residency at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, where they played an exclusive 12-show run from September 18 through October 6.
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