INTERVIEW: Lemmy from Motorhead
Published February 10, 2005
TS: And are you still learning your instrument, still learning your bass?
LK: Oh yeah. You never stop doing that.
TS; Is there something you do to help yourself learn?
LK: No. You know playing every night you learn how to back off from the precipice. [laugh] You know when you're plunging off into unknown territory. I've only been playing the bass since 1971 so it's not amazingly long ...
TS: I don't know. It encompasses my entire life.
LK: ... Yeah but ... Only since my teens really.
TS: Is there a .... Is there a reason that you keep on touring, keep on working?
LK: Yeah, because I think we're good at what we do and I think we're viable. I think we deserve to be there. I think you deserve us.
laughter.
TS: I've enjoyed a lot the albums over the years. So thank you.
LK: Thank you, sir.
TS: I didn't think I'd ever be able to get a chance to talk to you .... Not that I tried very hard, right? ...
LK: There you go ...
TS: ... But I'm glad I did today and good luck.
LK: Thank you. You too.
TS: I'll look out for you.
LK: Come and see us when we play .... where are you at?
TS: Phoenix, well Casa Grande to the south.
LK: Phoenix. Well we're supposed to be playing there in Arizona. I'm trying to get to play there again. So we'll see how it goes.
TS: OK
LK: OK man
TS: Great. Thanks a lot.
LK: You too. Bye bye
TS: Take care.
- INTERVIEW: Lemmy from Motorhead
- Published: February 10, 2005
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Interviews
- Writer: Temple Stark
- Temple Stark's BC Writer page
- Temple Stark's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments
super job Temple, thanks, a real sense of who Lemmy is and how he thinks. I think Motorhead's greatness and relative lack of popularity is probably because they don't easily fit any given category, sort of like speed-grunge or just maximum rock 'n' roll or something: much more organic
than most of what gets called "metal," but too roaring and wired to be "punk" - much harder to market that way.
Waaay back in time around the early 80's
Motorhead was the only "ROCK" band that
it was cool for the punk rock types to
admit to liking.
Of course,the punks were still listening
to their Sabbath,Van Halen,Kiss etc but,
if you admitted it,your friends would be
giving you grief about how "Un-Cool" you
were to be listening to stuff like that
instead of worshipping at the altar of
The Germs,Black Flag,X,et al.exclusively
I saw Motorhead open for Ozzy many years
back and the crowd was pretty well split
between Punks and Headbangers.Majority
of the punks left after Motorheads set.
and the favor is returned, remember the Motorhead song "Ramones" from the 1916 album?
"come on baby, eat the rich...." Good interview, TS....
Thanks Doug. For some reason - perhaps because of the expected shorter answers - I felt the need to inject a bit more of myself in this inerview and keep the conversation flowing. That would be at least one of he main differences so far between most of the interviews I conduct and the one's with people in te arts, musicians.
I wish I had been able to get the sound quality good enough for an audio take. But it was not happening.
Great interview, Temple -- you get a real sense for who Lemmy is and what he's about. The phenomena of wearing Motorhead tee-shirts as some kind of cultural/personal statement makes a lot more sense to me now.
PS Motorhead won their Best Metal Performance Grammy. Wooo-hoooh.
That's awesome.
Great interview. I heard somewhere that Lemmy is having health problems, possible liver (not that it would be suprising!) damage. Sounds like he is not slowing down, so maybe a rumor is all that it is.
Good interview.









i wanna join mohicans for jesus. I used to have a mohican, so maybe i could get a retrospective membership or somesuch. Seriosuly, though, great interview Temple. I love the whole as-is transcript, too. Unedited. Warts and all, as is fitting for sir L. I find it hard to believe, though, that Motorhead aren't big in the states. i just assumed they were one of the ROCK GIANTS like, i dunno, Motley Crue or Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch.
Interestingly, motorhead were one of the few metal bands it was ok for punks to like. Probably the shared love of amphetamine (which is where the name comes from, i belive)
Whatever. Great stuff.