Carmine Appice Fires Back Again at Nikki Sixx’s “Washed Up” Comment: “I’m Not Playing Arenas… But I’ve Had a Great Career”

It’s the story that just keeps coming back up. Back in March, legendary drummer Carmine Appice revealed during an interview that he’d heard from ex-Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars that he was upset with the use of backing tracks during his final stint with the band. At the time, it was pretty well documented that Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee both had used backing tracks in live settings in the past. That comment blew up and caused Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx to fire back, denying Appice’s claims before calling him a “washed up drummer.”

Barbs were traded through the press and now, a couple months later, Carmine has more to say about Sixx’s insult. Though a recent interview with Blabbermouth was initially about his work on the rock instrumental album Running Up That Hill he did with Cuban guitarist Fernando Perdomo, the conversation inevitably shifted to the drama that unfolded.

“I’m not playing arenas and I’m not worth a hundred million dollars, but I’ve had a great career. I didn’t title my book The Heroin Diaries. Somebody pointed out to me that his book was based on being on heroin. I knew him then; I always liked Nikki. I never had a problem with him until this stupid thing.”

Appice, who’s known the guys in Mötley Crüe for decades now, said he’s personally hung out and gotten to know Lee over the years and has a great friendship with Mick Mars. And while it was that latter relationship that ultimately led to the online fighting between Appice and Sixx, Appice said seeing the videos online that highlighted the fact that Mötley Crüe was using backing tracks “was crazy.”

“I was amazed to see videos of the ‘taped’ [Mötley Crüe] stuff. I didn’t know anything about it. It was crazy. Mick was telling me the stuff because he was on the road. We were talking like two friends. I’ve known Mick since we took them on tour in 1984 when I was headlining with Ozzy.”

Still, after the dust settled from his original comments and Sixx fired back by calling Appice “washed up,” the drummer admitted that he didn’t expect that kind of response at all. But saying he’s effectively got nothing left in the tank as a musician bothered Appice, since — as he put it when he initially responded to Sixx — at least he can still play his instrument.

“I didn’t expect anything, but then it got out of hand. Then Nikki [Sixx] called me a “washed-up drummer.” I’m far from that! I used to know Nikki. We were good friends. We lived around the corner from each other when they were doing their first or second album. We used to go to a ’50s café and have breakfast. We had a song with King Kobra called ‘Raise Your Hands To Rock’. He loved the name. He took that name and wrote another song and gave me the credit on the album. They used my bass drums on the album. We were friends. For him to say stuff about me — I didn’t say anything that people didn’t know. Now I thank him for giving me a lot of press.”