VINCE NEIL: ‘KISS Had Five Farewell Tours And Four Reunion Tours. That’s Exactly What We Don’t Want To Do’
While announcing the first details of “The Final Tour” at a Los Angeles press conference in January 2014, the four members of MÖTLEY CRÜE revealed that they took the unusual step of having their lawyer draw up a formal “cessation of touring” agreement that goes into effect at the end of 2015 and prohibits the members of the group from going on the road again under the MÖTLEY CRÜE banner.
Asked if there will be any legal penalties if MÖTLEY CRÜE reunites, the band’s lead singer, Vince Neil, told The San Diego Union-Tribune: “Well, there’s no penalty. There’s just a legally binding contract that we can’t perform as MÖTLEY CRÜE again.”
He continued: “[The contract] wasn’t for us; it’s really for everybody else, to show how serious we are about not trying to find a loophole [to reunite]. Someone might ask: ‘Oh, what if a sheik gave you tens of millions to get back together?’ No. It’s not about that… We have (a few) more shows, and that’s it.”
When reminded that bands like KISS and THE WHO had also announced farewell tours, only to reunite — and repeatedly, in some cases — Neil said: “Other bands don’t really give a shit. That’s their philosophy: ‘This tour will never end,’ or, ‘We’ll do reunion tour.’ That’s not what we’re about. That’s why we’re going out on our terms.”
He continued: “I mean, KISS had five farewell tours and four reunion tours. That’s exactly what we don’t want to do… We wanted to go out on top, with people saying: ‘Yeah, man, I saw the last concert. It was awesome!’ We don’t want to be that band, where it’s [billed as] MÖTLEY CRÜE, and it’s maybe one [original member’s] brother left in the band, and they’re playing clubs… If we let that happen, we wouldn’t be thought of or remembered like we wanted to be.”
The 2014 leg of “The Final Tour” was one of last year’s top-grossing tours, selling close to a million tickets across 72 cities and grossing more than $45 million.
Asked in an interview with For Bass Players Only if there is any chance of a reconsideration, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx laughed and said: “For me, no, never. Every version of that question has been asked and there’s all the trick questions: ‘Would you do it for $100 million for five shows in Dubai?'”
He continued: “Y’know, let’s just get to the core of it: Do you want us to renege on our word? We don’t want to. I don’t need to name the bands that have. It’s obvious. It’s okay if they want to do that, and it’s okay if their fans accept it. For us, we didn’t want to do that. Plus, I have less years in front of me than I have behind me, and it’s the same for all my bandmembers. There’s a track record of what we’ve done together, and I think we each individually want to go out and do some other stuff.”
Sixx added: “If it was just about money, it would be different. But it’s not about money. It’s about credibility. And, you know, the next day after we take our final bow, I’m gonna look at my band members and say, ‘Wow, dudes, everything we said the first day we got together, the very first band rehearsal, we did it.’ And then I’m right back at it. I’ve got my fingers in many pies and I’m very excited about creating stuff and watching it blossom and bloom and harvest it and get on with the next thing. I think it’s a very exciting thing to look forward to as well.”
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