Mick Mars has been living with the degenerative disease ankylosing spondylitis (AS) for decades now, and sadly it's not getting any better. For those unfamiliar with the disease, Mayo Clinic describes it as "an inflammatory disease that, over time, can cause some of the bones in the spine, called vertebrae, to fuse."
In an interview with Q104.3, Mars said his AS has essentially made him "almost a solid bone now", later mentioning that it's not stopping him from making music.
"My AS is what it is," said Mars. "There's nothing I could do about that. The hard stuff, like flying here and doing this — that crap is a little difficult for me to do nowadays 'cause I'm almost a solid bone now. It got a little rough, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna do a lot of music. As long as my brain and my hands and legs work, I'm never stopping."
Mars recently announced his first-ever solo album The Other Side Of Mars due out February 23, though he made it clear in the same interview that there are no extensive touring plans behind its release.
"I would say if there was one-offs or a residency for a couple of nights or whatever, I could do that. But it's the flying around. And then you get, like, let's say Japan. And it's like a 12-hour flight or something. And it's just, like… I mean, getting older with this crap. I'm not 30 anymore; I'm 72 years old."
Mars revealed in an interview earlier this year that he's sold all his publishing rights to Mötley Crüe's music, sadly mentioning that he's not sure how much longer he'll live as AS gets worse for him. "I sold my publishing! The deal was just finalized. Now I can relax and don't have to worry about anything, since, like I said, I'm probably just going to live another seven or eight years."
"I'm old enough, man. I'm not going to live to be 85 or 90, I just have a feeling. I don't want to, either. My brain doesn't want this ugly-ass body that's all fucked up to keep going. I wish I could just take the information out of my brain, put it on a chip and into somebody else, or a robot. There's still a lot of stuff going on up there."
