Two-minutes-and-30-seconds in, the guitar solo kicks in and you know it’s him. There’s a blues-metal tone, feel, power and melodic economy to the playing that’s unmistakably Mick Mars.
Yes, the first ever single from Mars, the Mötley Crüe guitar legend, is finally here.
Intriguingly titled “Loyal to the Lie” and fittingly released on Halloween, the track puts Mars’ tiger-shark riffs amid horror-soundtrack production and a big, mascaraed chorus. You can stream the track at orcd.co/loyaltothelie and watch the music video below.
Lead vocals on “Loyal to the Lie” are by Birmingham rocker Jacob Bunton. As AL.com reported, Bunton collaborated extensively with Mars on the album.
Including “Loyal to the Lie,” Bunton has seven cowrites on Mars’ debut album, titled “The Other Side Of Mars” and releasing in full Feb. 23, 2024. You can preorder the album at shop.mickmarsofficial.com.
Alabama musician Jacob Bunton, left, and Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars in the studio. (Courtesy Jacob Bunton)
In our 2020 interview Bunton said of the Mars album, “The songs are really cool, the record is really cool. He’s such an inventive player and his riffs are insane and it’s definitely going to be what people are expecting.”
A gifted singer, guitarist and songwriter, Bunton has previously collaborated with the likes of Quiet Riot, classic era Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler, and Cinderella frontman Tom Keifer. He’s scored songwriting credits with acts ranging from Mariah Carey to Steven Tyler to Smokey Robinson.
In 2020, Bunton said of Mars’ guitar sound in the studio, “It’s louder than anything you’ve ever heard in your life. Louder than a jet engine - I’m not exaggerating. He runs through so many [speaker] cabinets and (amplifier) heads and everything it is insane, but his tone is just the most incredible thing you’ve heard.”
Bunton sang all but two lead vocals on “The Other Side of Mars,” which counts one instrumental among its 12 tracks.
In a press release, Mick Mars says of his debut solo single “Loyal to the Lie”: “I wanted to do something that was just big and mean.” He adds, “I am what I am. Nobody else can do it. And like everyone, I’ve got a limited number of years. So, I’m gonna do all I can to do a lot of stuff.”
Now 72, Mars’ playing with Mötley Crüe is some of the most hummable of the past 40-plus years, as heard on the Hollywood-founded band’s glam-metal classics like “”Kickstart My Heart,” “Dr. Feelgood,” “Home Sweet Home,” “Girls Girls Girls,” “Live Wire” and “Shout at the Devil.”
After rocking sold-out U.S. stadiums last summer with Mötley Crüe, coheadliners Def Leppard, and support acts Poison and Joan Jett, Mars stepped away from touring.
The band -- whose classic era members also include singer Vince Neil, bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee -- and Mars have vastly different accounts of the split.
What should have been a celebration of Mars’ guitar greatness and sheer determination -- he’s played through a debilitating spinal disease for decades -- turned into a messy, public divorce.
Mars has been working on and teasing the release of his solo album for years.
In addition to Bunton, key contributors include Winger/Alice Cooper keyboardist Paul Taylor, Korn drummer Ray Luzier, bassist Chris Collier and singer Brion Gamboa, who contributed lead vocals to the songs “Undone” and “Killing Breed.”
Hard-rock/metal studio wiz Michael Wagener -- whose resume includes Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, White Lion, Skid Row, and Mötley Crüe’s 1981 debut LP “Too Fast For Love” -- produced “The Other Side of Mars.”
It was Paul Taylor who introed Mars to Bunton. Mars says in a statement, “Jacob came into the studio and it was like, bam! And I just said, ‘Yeah, he’s the guy.’ And most of his vocals were one take.”
A Tarrant, Alabama native, Bunton first gained notoriety at century’s turn with major-label Birmingham band Mars Electric, which opened for some big bands in their day, including Stone Temple Pilots, Nickelback and Mötley Crüe.
Back then, Birmingham News/AL.com writer Mary Colurso described Mars Electric songs like “Lucid,” “Inside,” and “Feels like June” as “polished, radio-friendly rock with pop underpinnings. It’s melodic instead of spiky, straightforward and accessible.”
He later fronted Lynam, a tuneful/heavy Birmingham combo that toured with the likes of Live and Puddle of Mudd and made noise on the rock charts with cuts like “Enemy,” “Save My Soul” and “Tanis.”
In their 2000 interview, Bunton, then 23, told Colurso, “You need to be realistic, so you don’t get your heart broken every five minutes, but I’m in this for life. And, really, it blows me away when someone actually likes what I do.”
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