Drummer Rick Allen recently talked to the “Appetite For Distortion” podcast, where he said that it was [Motley Crue] Mick Mars’s decision to stop touring because of his long struggles with degenerative disease ankylosing spondylitis.
Rick said:
“It was Mick‘s decision to really move on and just get to the next part of his life. And we all know that Mick has suffered terribly, terribly with pain; you see it on his face all the time. And I think the only time I ever saw him truly in his element [was] when he was up on stage playing with the band. It was more his decision.
”That must have been a super hard decision. I mean, it would have been different if the guy was being thrown out of the band, but it wasn’t like that at all. It was a personal choice that he made. And you can’t say that that’s wrong. It was right for him at the time.
“Over the months, well, actually years, that I’ve known him, I really started to talk to him. So unassuming. Such a soft, gentle soul. And when I first met him years ago, I was actually quite afraid, you know.
”But he’s the exact opposite of that, just a really sweet, generous person. So it must have been a very difficult decision for everybody to have to go through that.”