Producer BOB ROCK Confirms He Worked On Three New MÖTLEY CRÜE Songs: ‘It Was So Amazing’

During a new appearance on “Talk Is Jericho”, the podcast hosted by FOZZY frontman and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho, legendary producer Bob Rock confirmed that he recently worked on three new songs with MÖTLEY CRÜE. Asked what it was like having new CRÜE guitarist John 5 in the studio during the sessions, Rock said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It was so amazing. It was just the best time — so easy. It was really easy.”

Bob also recounted a story about being impressed by CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx‘s willingness to improve his craft decades into the band’s existence.

“[While we were making 1989’s] ‘Dr. Feelgood’, [Nikki] says to me, he goes, ‘I don’t think I ever played on any of the MÖTLEY CRÜE records. I think somebody came in at night and replaced all my parts.’ He says, ‘So I don’t really know how to play bass.’ And I said, ‘Too bad. You’re playing bass on it.’ So I worked with him through ‘Dr. Feelgood’, did a lot of edits and made him play every note. But when we did ‘The Dirt’ [soundtrack], the songs on ‘The Dirt’, I went to see him and we started working on the demos. He picked up the bass and started playing, and I said, ‘Woah, woah, woah. What’s going on here?’ He had been taking bass lessons for five years. All of a sudden he’s an amazing bass player. And I think that’s so cool, in that point of his career, he wanted to be better. I admire that. So now, on ‘The Dirt’, Nikki and Tommy [Lee] played live off the floor, both of them.”

Apparently circling back to the latest MÖTLEY CRÜE sessions, Rock added: “So I had John 5, Nikki Sixx — excellent bass player — Tommy Lee. It was easy.”

Less than two weeks ago, Nikki said in a social media post that MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s new songs were “100% officially done and ready for mix.”

Earlier in the month, John 5 spoke to Sirius XM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” about recording MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s new music with Rock, saying: “Bob would come in and [say], ‘Okay, let’s try this here, and that here and this here. It was one of the most incredible experiences ever… I’m thinking, ‘We’ve got so much great technology today’… but we got in that room and it was like being in a garage working on a song when you were in high school… It was incredible, and we documented a lot of it too.”

Regarding the musical direction of the tracks he and the rest of MÖTLEY CRÜE have recorded so far, John 5 said: “The songs are fucking heavy. I sound like a little excited kid right now, but they’re heavy and they’re mean. I can’t wait for them to come out. I’m just so excited.”

When host Eddie Trunk asked John 5 whether the new MÖTLEY CRÜE music can be compared to the band’s breakthrough second album, 1983’s “Shout At The Devil”, the guitarist said that some of the new riffs are “heavier than anything” on that LP. “All I can tell you is that it’s heavy and it’s aggressive, and I think people are going to dig it because, talking as a fan, it’s fucking badass,” he said.

John 5 joined MÖTLEY CRÜE last fall as the replacement for the band’s co-founding guitarist Mick Mars. Mick announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE last October as a result of worsening health issues.

Mars suffers from Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS),a chronic and inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis. After years of performing through the pain, he informed the other members of MÖTLEY CRÜE last summer that he could no longer tour with them but would still be open to recording new music or performing at residencies that did not require much travel.

When Mars announced his retirement from touring with MÖTLEY CRÜE, he maintained that he would remain a member of the band, with John 5 taking his place on the road. However, last month the 71-year-old musician filed a lawsuit against CRÜE in Los Angeles County’s Superior Court claiming that, after his announcement, the rest of CRÜE tried to remove him as a significant stakeholder in the group’s corporation and business holdings via a shareholders’ meeting.

MÖTLEY CRÜE resumed its world tour with DEF LEPPARD this past Monday (May 22) in Sheffield, U.K.