Drummer legend Carmine Appice recently revealed that his close friend Mick Mars told him how Motley Crue were playing to pre-recorded tracks. One thing led to another and it started a whole avalanche of online beefing, all of which was an overture to a legal battle between Mars and Crüe.
But one of the highlights of this whole thing was Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx calling Carmine a “washed-up drummer,” Carmine publicly replying with a “jam off” invitation, and an eventual cease-and-desist letter.
In a new interview with Blabbermouth, Appice looked back on the whole thing. Asked whether he expected his comments about Mick Mars and Crüe to blow up, he replied:
“I didn’t expect it. I was talking to somebody like I’m talking to you and they asked why Mick left. I just said what Mick told me. I didn’t expect anything, but then it got out of hand. Then Nikki [Sixx] called me a ‘washed-up drummer.’ I’m far from that! I used to know Nikki. We were good friends. We lived around the corner from each other when they were doing their first or second album. We used to go to a ’50s café and have breakfast. We had a song with King Cobra called ‘Raise Your Hands to Rock’. He loved the name. He took that name and wrote another song and gave me the credit on the album. They used my bass drums on the album. We were friends. For him to say stuff about me — I didn’t say anything that people didn’t know. Now I thank him for giving me a lot of press.”
Then asked whether it’s hard to keep friendships in the music business after so long, he replied:
“Sometimes. This was weird. I talk about it during the storytelling gigs because I actually got a cease-and-desist letter from the attorneys. I can’t talk about it, but everyone agrees with what I said about Mick. Mick made it clear I was fine. Everything I said, he said. I wasn’t lying about it. It was a weird thing. I never expected anything like that.”
When asked how he reacted to the whole “washed-up” comment, Appice offered:
“I’m not playing arenas and I’m not worth a hundred million dollars, but I’ve had a great career. I didn’t title my book ‘The Heroin Diaries’. Somebody pointed out to me that his book was based on being on heroin. I knew him then; I always liked Nikki. I never had a problem with him until this stupid thing. Tommy Lee, the same thing. I like Tommy. I used to hang out with Tommy when he was married to Heather [Locklear] and then to Pam [Anderson]. I used to go to his house and watch Gene Krupa videos about stick twirling and showmanship. I loved it. I don’t think Tommy said anything about it. I loved when he was doing electronic stuff in Methods of Mayhem. I went to a show and got to hang out with him. He was pioneering stuff. He’s not an amazing technical drummer, but he kicks ass and rocks.
“I was amazed to see videos of the ‘taped’ [Mötley Crüe] stuff. I didn’t know anything about it. It was crazy. Mick was telling me the stuff because he was on the road. We were talking like two friends. I’ve known Mick since we took them on tour in 1984 when I was headlining with Ozzy. I always do that. The opening bands, I go and talk to them. Led Zeppelin, when they opened up for the Fudge, I hung out with Bonzo [John Bonham] and John Paul [Jones]. I hung out with Mötley Crüe; I hung out with King’s X when they were on the Blue Murder tour and they were opening. I liked that. I liked seeing the guys who were opening and were the future.”
