Despite his contentious split from his longtime band Mötley Crüe, guitarist Mick Mars has nothing but kind words to say about the man who replaced him.

In a new interview with Guitar World, Mars went as far as to say that the Crüe made a “very wise choice” in selecting longtime Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 for the job. The latter has been a seamless fit in the group after being announced as Mars’ replacement shortly after Mars declared he was retiring from touring with the band.

“Well, I’ve never disliked John, I’ve always liked him and still do,” said Mars. “He’s been a really good friend of mine for a long time. So I think they’ve made a very, very wise choice with John.”

Mars didn’t delve into his drama with Mötley Crüe, which, has included some nasty exchanges between the band’s camp and the guitarist. Instead, he looked back fondly at his 40-plus years in the band.

“In terms of that body of work, I’m very proud of it,” he said. “I have all my plaques hanging around. For me, it became too much of a burden for me to tour. I tried to be as up-front as I could with them, saying, ‘I just can’t do this anymore!’ because of my AS [Ankylosing Spondylitis] condition. It stunk, but yeah… I’m proud of everything Mötley Crüe did and everything we achieved together.”

While Mars retired from touring with the Crüe roughly a year ago, he never announced that we was leaving the band entirely. From there, a series of legal squabbles and heated comments took place.

Now, Mars is promoting his just-announced debut solo album, The Other Side of Mars. The record was produced by Michael Wagener, who engineered the Crüe’s 1981 debut Too Fast for Love, and features a musical cast including Korn drummer Ray Luzier.

“[Luzier] actually insisted on playing on this album!” Mars enthused. As for the rest of the players on the LP, the guitarist went with a hired gun approach.

“It isn’t really a band,” he said. “I’ve hired some singers — Jacob Bunton did a lot of stuff, Brion Gamboa is also on the record. He’s so cool… a contractor/construction guy with a voice like that? Come on! Listen to him on the songs Undone and Killing Breed, that’s Brion. Then the other songs are all Jacob.”

The Other Side of Mars is set to drop February 23rd, and you can stream the lead single “Loyal to the Lie” below. Pre-order the album on vinyl here.