Mick Mars recently announced his retirement from touring with Mötley Crüe due to his worsening Ankylosing Spondylitis, and has been replaced on the road by John 5.
Now drummer Carmine Appice has revealed in an interview with Michael's Record Collection that Mars is reportedly working on a solo album and is planning on doing some shows here and there in support of it. It'll be great to finally hear what Mars has been cooking up for his solo material, considering he's been talking about it since at least 2014.
"[Vanilla Fudge] doesn't do big tours anymore 'cause nobody wants to do a big tour anymore. Nobody wants to sit in a bus. We wanna go out, do three dates in close ratio, split a van and we fly to the gig, 150 miles, 200 miles, we're in there for three or four hours and we do the gig. And we go to a hotel and do it the next day. And then third day, fourth day, we go home. Then two weekends later we do the same thing.
"I'm friends with Iron Maiden, with Nicko. He left his house in Florida in April. He's coming home next week. He's been on tour the whole time, rehearsing and on tour. We're too old for that. I talked to Mick Mars, who's been touring with Mötley Crüe. He just gave up his seat in touring with Mötley Crüe. And John 5 is gonna tour with them. He said, 'Man, we did our final tour. Now we're out again doing this major tour with Def Leppard.' And he said, 'I don't wanna do it no more. I'm sick of being in a bus.'
"He said he's gonna do a solo album and go out and do some gigs. I said, 'Look, if you need anyone to play drums, I'll play with you.' He goes, 'That would be great.' So maybe I'll do some gigs with him. But it's not gonna be big tours. It'll be a weekend maybe somewhere and then go home. Two weekends later maybe a weekend and go home."
