Unboxing Motley Crue's Mess: Manager Slams Mick Mars ''Smear Campaign''; Guitarist's lawyer says he's 'tired of being bullied' [EXCLUSIVE]

It may take an elixir greater than anything Dr. Feelgood has to offer to arouse positive vibes in the war of words - and writings - between the guitarist of Motley Crue, Mick Mars, and the three other members of the group. Following a high-profile lawsuit filed by Mars against the group last week, lawyers or managers from both sides spoke at length with Variety about the positions they double down on. . If you had to sum it up in one hard-rock song, it might be: "Grievances Grievances Grievances".

So far Camp Crue has only issued brief statements and a frustrated tweet from Nikki Sixx. But the band's manager of 29 years, Allen Kovac, was so angered by an interview Mars gave to Variety after the lawsuit was filed that he agreed to speak publicly about what he believes to be the musician's most scurrilous accusations – including whether or not the band's performances are largely on tape. "I have a lot of regrets having to do this," the lawyer says, pointing out that he stopped the band's unofficial frontman Nikki Sixx from speaking to the press himself, wanting the bassist to continue to "take the high road."

Meanwhile, Mars attorney Edwin F. McPherson explained why he believes that his client has reached such a breaking point that he has decided to not only file a complaint, but to go public about how he thinks the band hurt him, now that his 41-year run with the band seems to be coming to a controversial end.

Kovac says Mars is releasing a list of allegations "to gain leverage in a campaign of defamation on Motley. He attacked the band, and he did so in a slanderous way, with false accusations and by distorting the facts to the fans. Mick is not the victim. The victims are Motley Crue and the brand, whose Mick is so proud. But, adds the manager, who says he has always liked and got along well with Mars over the past three decades: "What bothers me is not Mick, but his representatives, who have guided Mick for saying and doing things that are harmful to the brand. he cares so much, Motley Crue. He has a degenerative disease and people are taking advantage of him. It's called elder abuse."

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He continues: "Mick's reps have no idea what they created, but i stopped the band from talking about it so they're not going to turn the fans against mick. but i'm going to make sure people understand that mick wasn't mistreated. in fact he was treated better than anyone else in the band, and they carried him and saved his life."

Kovac mentions that Sixx got Mars tattooed, to show his loyalty to him. For McPherson, however, that doesn't matter much now. The guitarist's attorney says, "Just because you tattoo someone doesn't mean you can kick them out of your band's corporations and LLCs 41 years after they started with you. "

The brief filed by Mars' attorney on Thursday included a simple request: The musician asks the court to compel the Crue team to produce files and documents that they took too long to deliver, according to Mars, before the arbitration likely to settle their main disputes. But the primary legal focus of that brief was of much less interest to the band's millions of fans than the supporting documentation that included a lengthy account of Mars' disputes with the other three members and their management.

Three core questions have captured the curiosity of Motley Crue fans, and the simply curious, since the trial from last week and the follow-up interview from March: Has he left the group, as the others would like, or is he being ousted? Is retiring from touring completely quitting? And, as a flat accompaniment: who really can't do it on stage anymore - the other three members, whose tour performances Mars says were largely pre-recorded, or Mars himself, who the other members say that he was unable to properly remember or perform his roles when he last toured stadiums with them in 2022?