Lemmy: From 'worst' to rock legend
Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister wants to make one thing clear when reached between tour dates a few days ago: He does not want to talk about drugs.
“I don’t talk about drugs in interviews because I don’t want to advertise them,” he says. “And I don’t want to see anything in your article that looks like I’m advertising them either – and I read them all.”
Yes, sir, Mr. Kilmister, consider yourself properly heard and me properly warned. We’re happy to talk about the stuff that really excites us, anyway, namely the music.
Over 35 years as the founding member of Motorhead, the bass-wielding Lemmy has turned from demon-eyed outlaw to ageless, well-read outlaw, a rock ‘n’ roll icon who legendarily has operated outside the boundaries of the mainstream with a series of iron-fisted, sentiment-free albums. It’s a life traced admirably in a new documentary DVD, “Lemmy” (lemmymovie.com), which surveys it all: leaving home to become a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and pursue rock ‘n’ roll until it succumbed to his will, his passion for history books and war memorabilia, the pioneering music, his tumultuous relationship with his son Paul, and his frequent dalliances with the word that shall not be spoken.
He was ousted from his previous group, space-rock pioneers Hawkwind, when his bandmates found Lemmy’s lifestyle too toxic even for their wayward tastes.
“I did like being in Hawkwind, and I believe I’d still be playing with them today if I hadn’t been kicked out,” he says. “It was fun onstage, not so much offstage. They didn’t want to mesh with me. Musically, I loved the drummer, the guitar player. It was a great band.”
Lemmy did them one better when he formed Motorhead, a band defined by his love of velocity and volume. “I basically wanted to be the MC5,” he says of the Detroit proto-punk band. “I was just going to be the bassist and sing some backing vocals, but then it became a three-piece and I became the singer. I got used to it I guess.”
Underlying it all was his love of ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll. “Little Richard sang how I felt,” he says. “I was 12 years old when I first heard him and that music, and I felt it was mine.”
His love of the greats – Little Richard, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly – may not be readily apparent in Motorhead’s lacerating sound. But it’s there in his embrace of no-nonsense melodies and concise songs. Along the way he developed not just an attitude about the music, but a look, a style: the fearsome muttonchops, custom biker boots and bullet belt, head thrust skyward as he sang.
Initially the band’s sound was derided by some critics. Motorhead weren’t just purportedly the loudest band in the world, they were also the worst according to many pundits, who saw them as the antithesis of the ‘70s progressive rock movement.
“How did it make me feel? Determined,” Lemmy says. “They started changing their tune. We became the best worst band in the world. And then people started to understand us better when punk came along. We were the first band of long-haired people who could relate to the punk crowd. They’d look at us funny at first, but after the first song we never had a problem with them.”
Ever since, the band has maintained a remarkable consistency over 20 studio albums; Motorhead’s latest, “The World is Yours,” transforms one of Lemmy’s many aphorisms – “Born to lose, live to win” – into a song. He’s got a knack for turning a wicked phrase and finding the humor in even the most dire circumstances (is there a more morbidly hilarious song title than “Killed By Death”?). At 65, he maintains a rigorous touring schedule, in no hurry to be killed by death or anything else.
“Yeah, I like what John Lee Hooker used to say about wanting to play until he drops, preferably on stage,” Lemmy says with a gruff chuckle. “There are worse ways to go. But don’t make me out as a ‘legend.’ When I stare at my face in the mirror in the morning, the first word that comes to mind is not ‘legend,’ I assure you.”
greg@gregkot.com
Motorhead: 7 p.m. Saturday at Congress Theater, 2135 N. Milwaukee, $25, $40, $80; congressticketing.com.
I want to be Lemmy when I grow up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFHsbHhY0T8
Posted by: Frank Gondo | February 16, 2011 at 05:20 PM
Motorhead kicked a$$ tonight at The Rave in Milwaukee,WI.!!!!!!
I'm definitely thinking of see them again in Chicago this time around.
Posted by: Stone Deaf Forever | February 17, 2011 at 02:32 AM
Lemmy is God. No question about it.
Posted by: Dean TenBrink | February 17, 2011 at 07:33 AM
Nice work Greg.
Posted by: jim h | February 28, 2011 at 01:25 AM