During an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk“, Carmine Appice said that it pissed him off after Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx called him ”a washed-up drummer”, in response to comments he made about Mick Mars‘s leaving the band.

Here’s what Appice said:

“Everything that I said, Mick pretty much backed it up with his lawsuit. I was just doing an interview, like we’re talking. And when I do interviews, I’m pretty candid. Mick told me that stuff, and I didn’t mean it to go out of proportion like that.

“The thing for me is I knew Nikki since they opened up for Ozzy (Osbourne). And when they opened up for Ozzy, I’m like the kind of guy, when I’m on a headlining tour, I befriend the opening act. Like Led Zeppelin with Vanilla Fudge, I befriended John Bonham and all the guys. Same thing here. I was friends with these guys. Nikki used to live around the corner from me in L.A.

”We used to go out for breakfast at this ’50s café, and we were friends. Even their title ‘Raise Your Hands To Rock’ on that [third] album [‘Theatre Of Pain’], that was my title. I told him we were working on a song, ‘Raise Your Hands To Rock’, with King Kobra. And he said, ‘Oh, man. I love that title. Do you mind if I steal it?’ I go, ‘Oh, come on, dude.’ So he gave me credit: ‘Thank you’ for the initials, ‘Raise Your Hands To Rock’.

”And we were friends. So to hear him talk about me like that, it kind of pissed me off. But it is what it is. And I read all these things about other musicians talking about him. I said, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize everyone had hatred for this guy.’ I haven’t seen him or talked to him in years. Same with Tommy (Lee). Tommy and I used to hang out when he married to Heather (Locklear) and Pam (Anderson)… And I haven’t seen him for ages.”

The drummer added that he received a cease-and-desist letter from Mötley’s legal representatives after the claims put forward in his interview with Ultimate Guitar, adding:

“That’s why I stopped talking about it. But then when Mick said all that stuff, it kind of vindicated me because he said everything that I said. Because that’s what he told me.”