MUDVAYNE’s CHAD GRAY Says MÖTLEY CRÜE Should ‘Just Bow Out’ At This Point: ‘It’s Hard For Me To Watch’

Mudvayne, etc. vocalist Chad Gray has spoken at length about his early fandom of multi-platinum glam metal legends Mötley Crüe. But in that same instance, he also revealed that he is no fan of the band’s latest round of reunion touring, which in addition to legal battles and lineup changes ,has faced numerous allegations of lip-syncing and heavy usage of backing tracks. Some of those allegations have even come from within the band’s own lineup.

There’s also the frequent criticism of the live capabilities of vocalist Vince Neil over the years to contend with. There’s been no shortage of videos displayed his significantly diminished live performances, be it with the band or at his own solo shows.

Speaking on The Jesea Lee Show of his early fandom of the glam metal stars, Gray stated:

“My first, my cutting-teeth metal record — it’s so weird even say the band name now considering what’s going on with that band — Mötley Crüe ‘Too Fast For Love‘. ‘Too Fast For Love‘ and ‘Shout At The Devil‘, man. Just fucking absolute game changers.

My mom had me when she was 17 years old. So, I would cruise the strip with my mom and her friends, and fucking Peter Frampton and The Eagles and Zeppelin, that was what was on the radio. So that’s what I grew up with. So I grew up in a very musical household, because my mom was still young and it was basically the classic rock era in real time.

So I grew up on a lot of really great music, man. But I’m telling you fucking what — nothing touched me like, man, the first [time I heard Mötley Crüe‘s ‘Live Wire‘]. That opening riff to fucking ‘Live Wire‘ was, like, ‘What?’ Like I said, I had a familiarity with music — I knew music and I knew good music — but that shit was just, like — it bit me; it fucking bit me.”

After revealing that his subsequent discoveries of the likes of Metallica and Slayer saw him lose interest in Mötley Crüe, he stated:

“The Crüe was still Crüe. But ‘Theatre Of Pain‘ and shit, [it was], like, full-tilt hair metal, versus ‘Shout At The Devil‘. Yeah, they were wearing fucking leather and, yeah, their hair was teased up, but they looked fucking tough and they had fucking handcuffs like belts. It was just a lot of really cool heavy metal imagery, and then ‘Theatre Of Pain‘ comes in, and it’s, like, pink zebra-skin fucking tights and full-tilt hair metal.

So there are moments on [that record] — ‘Home Sweet Home‘ is obviously timeless; it’s fucking an amazing song and shit. And I loved what [bassist] Nikki [Sixx] did, ’cause Nikki was Mötley Crüe. Nikki wrote the lyrics, Nikki laid down pretty much, I think, the song beds, the rhythm arrangements and shit like that. I think he arranged a lot of stuff. I think he was pretty much the man behind it. And then you’ve got fucking [guitarist] Mick Mars who is just fucking phenomenal — just such a great, great, great player. I can’t say enough about Mick.”

That led into discussing the band’s decision to continue on without Mars, enlisting John 5 in his place. Gray bluntly stated:

“At this point, I would just bow out. It’s not the same, dude. I’m not the guy that fucking like just wants to sit and talk shit, but I have, unfortunately… It hits me in such a pure place, and to see it just kind of turn into fucking whatever because it was such a big part of my life, and so it’s hard for me to watch.”

When asked by Lee if he feels Mötley Crüe “should just call it completely at this point”, Gray responded:

“Unless you wanna try harder. You know what I mean? And it’s not all of ’em. [Drummer] Tommy [Lee] can still fucking play. Tommy‘s a fucking beast; I mean, he always will be. But that’s usually the way with drummers; they usually can stand the test of time. I get it with singers and shit like that. You lose some of your register and frequency, your pitch will drop. That’s just fucking nature. ‘Cause it has with me — my resonant pitch has definitely dropped. I can still get up there, but it’s weird. My register break is a little bit lower and different. So, it does happen, but it’s just, like, come on, man.”