MOTLEY CRUE Manager Allen Kovac Backs VINCE NEIL: “He Is Singing Better Than Before”
MOTLEY CRUE Manager Allen Kovac Backs VINCE NEIL: “He Is Singing Better Than Before”
MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s manager has accused Mick Mars‘s representatives of “elder abuse” and has backed Vince Neil’s vocals in the guitarist’s legal dispute with his bandmates over their ongoing tour.
In a new interview with Variety, CRÜE‘s manager of 29 years, Allen Kovac said:
“Mars is coming out with a list of allegations to gain leverage in a smear campaign on MÖTLEY. He’s attacked the band, and he’s done it in a slanderous way, with false accusations and misrepresenting the facts to the fans. Mick is not the victim. The victims are MÖTLEY CRÜE and the brand, which Mick is so prideful of.”
“What’s upsetting to me is not Mick, but his representatives, who have guided Mick to say and do harmful things to the brand he cares about so much, MÖTLEY CRÜE. He has a degenerative disease and people are taking advantage of him. It’s called elder abuse.”
He continued:
“Mick’s representatives have no idea what they’ve created, but I’ve stopped the band from speaking about this, so they’re not gonna turn the fans against Mick. But I am going to make sure that people understand that Mick hasn’t been treated badly. In fact, he was treated better than anyone else in the band, and they carried him and they saved his life.”
In his lawsuit, Mars also alleged that he was the only band member to play 100 percent live on their most recent tour, claiming Sixx “did not play a single note on bass during the entire U.S. tour.”
“Everything is live with Nikki’s [Sixx] bass playing and Tommy’s [Lee] drum playing,” insisted Kovac in his Variety interview.
“When they’ve used loops, they’re still playing. There are augmented vocals, which were (recorded) in the studio and are backgrounds behind the two ladies who are singing and (other background vocals by) John 5 and Nikki Sixx, and before that Mick and Nikki.” He described the pre-recorded vocal layering as where “you multi-track and you do gang vocals with, like, 20 people, just like all the other bands do with background vocals. They’ve got background vocals in the mix. That’s the truth.
“But Nikki played his bass and always has,” Kovac continued.
“Vince [Neil] was singing better than he was before (on the latest tour). That was in reviews. Now, John 5 is playing like who John 5 is. I’ve heard John 5 perform and I heard Mick perform. Both are great guitar players. Unfortunately, Mick is not the same. He hasn’t been the same for a long time. Which was in reviews! You see that the professionals knew. DEF LEPPARD (which alternated headlining spots on tour) knew. And (Mars) caused a train wreck up there, because he would play the wrong songs and the wrong parts, even with the guide tracks. When he played the wrong song, it wasn’t Nikki Sixx that had a tape; it was the soundman bringing it into the mix so the audience could hear a song, even though the guitar player was playing a different song.” He says audiences “would hear it at first, but (sound engineers) would fix it so that we could keep the song going. I heard it. I’d go to the sound board.”
The manager said that, despite what he alleges was a pattern of terrible performances, the band never thought of firing Mars — until he announced that he would be coming off the road due to the difficulties of touring with Ankylosing Spondylitis. “They honored their commitment and propped him up,” Kovac said. “Now there’s a new guitar player. I want people to hear the difference. They’re gonna play the U.S. again in a bunch of markets, and people will be able to use their own ears, just like they can use their own judgment about third-party declarations and contracts instead of spin.”
