K.K. Downing says he ‘sympathises’ with Mick Mars on Mötley Crüe lawsuit: “It’s pretty unsavoury, to say the least”
“The circumstances between the two of us seem to be pretty much… well, identical.”
Image: Kevin Winter / Bill Tompkins / Getty Images
Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing has weighed in on Mick Mars’ ongoing legal battle with Mötley Crüe, saying he sympathises with the man because he’s going through “exactly the same thing”.
Speaking to Blabbermouth in a recent interview, Downing — who left Judas Priest in 2011 just ahead of the band’s supposed farewell tour — likened his situation to that of Mars with his Crüe bandmates, saying “I do sympathise [with Mick], because I’m going through exactly the same thing. And it’s pretty unsavoury, to say the least.”
“After spending a lifetime building the band’s name, reputation, popularity and value, in particular brand name, it should be all right for people to retire, especially through illness.”
“In my case, we were gearing up in 2010 to do a final world tour, the ‘Epitaph’ tour, which was meant to be the end of the band,” he said. “And because I was having pressure put on me to write for an EP to support that tour, which I absolutely was not gonna be any part of… I certainly didn’t want to finish my career with an EP. So I threw the towel in and sent a retirement letter in.”
That said, Downing explained that it “really wasn’t the band [he] was leaving”: “It was just I decided not to do the farewell, final tour of the band, because that’s what we all agreed and that’s what was intended to happen,” he said. “So essentially my decision was just not to do the final tour of the band.”
“Of course I didn’t know that the band would continue, at that time, right up until today. Otherwise things and decisions may well have been different. But, as I said, I sympathise with Mick because the circumstances between the two of us seem to be pretty much… well, identical.”
Mars, who retired from touring last October due to his struggles with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), has filed a lawsuit against Mötley Crüe for allegedly cutting his share of profits and kicking him out against his will.
“It’s just frustrating for me. I’m pretty upset that they’re even pulling this crap, when I carried these bastards for years,” he told Variety.