(antiMusic) Is Tommy Lee Motley Thru or not? His bandmates won't return his calls but he says he is still a member of the band. The news that Lee was out of Motley Crue broke this week when the press got their hands on the amended lawsuit the band filed against former manager Carl Stubner, which said that Lee "recently informed [bassist Nikki] Sixx and [guitarist Mick] Mars, the shareholders of MCI [Motley Crue, Inc.], that he was resigning from the band and his resignation was accepted." Now Lee has reportedly issued a statement contradicting that. It reads, "I am a founding member of Motley Crue. Based on internal band issues aired publicly, my future with the band is uncertain. I have tried to meet with my bandmates repeatedly without success but have informed them that I'm not walking away from my band of 25 years.
"It troubles me that the current legal issues which were filed by the corporations against my personal manager are separating us and causing more dysfunction. I hope we can work this out amongst ourselves."
The original lawsuit accuses Stubner's of mismanagement of Lee when he advised him to star in two failed reality shows that made him look "incoherent, lazy and incompetent," which not only provided some reality for reality TV but supposedly damaged the band's image, caused overexposure and made them lose millions by preventing Lee from touring as much as planned and stopped them from recording an album for Wal-Mart. Tommy's participation in Rockstar: Supernova alone allegedly forced Motley Crue to cancel 40 concerts and lose more than $8 million in ticket and merchandise sales, according to a report by E!.
The good news for Tommy is that the Rockstar: Supernova's debut album outsold Nikki Sixx's new solo CD. Supernova moved 17,000 units the first week and Nikki's Sixx A.M. effort only sold 11,000 copies it's debut week. But Tommy still well undersold Kid Rock's last effort "Live Trucker" which moved 56,000 units the first week. So maybe Tommy was right this week when he said, "This is what people do when they have sh*tty albums and their careers are going down the drain."
