GIMME SOME LEMMY!

Rock and roll will never die, and Motorhead is rock and roll. Following simple logic it is easy to see that Lemmy Kilmister, the core of Motorhead, is pure living rock and roll. To some he is the epitome of the rock and roll lifestyle, dating from his days with the Aggro-Psychedelic band Hawkwind and the following formation of Motorhead in the mid-seventies.

For over two decades Lemmy has offered songs of pure ferocity, beginning with "Ace of Spades", "Bomber" and “Overkill", leading to new classics like "Orgasmatron" and "See Me Burning". Motorhead has weathered every musical trend to spring up, from disco to glam rock, with a dogged determination to be louder, faster, and meaner than everyone else. The band has stayed true to this mantra, continually serving up greasy slabs of bear meat album after album, disallowing any capitulation to popularity or sell-out.

Currently, Motorhead is on tour with Nashville Pussy and the Supersuckers in support of their album We Are Motorhead. Recently, Motorhead (current lineup: Lemmy on bass and vocals, 16-year veteran guitarist Phil Campbell, and drummer of ten years, Mikkey Dee), played to an energetic Oklahoma City crowd on June 11th at the Diamond Ballroom. SEEN caught up with Lemmy before the show during sound check and had the chance to interview the man who has influenced generations of musicians from metal to punk — and who can still outplay the lot of them.

SEEN: First, how comfortable are you and the band on your new label [CMC International]? I know you have been on a number of labels throughout your career.

Lemmy: Five albums on this label so far... we seem to be doing good.

SEEN: Regarding your new album, We Are Motorhead — it seems more straight-ahead balls-out rock and roll then your last few...

Lemmy: [interrupts] All our albums are rock and roll...

SEEN: Yes, but this one is more so. It’s a... blast furnace.

Lemmy: Sacrifice was the same.

SEEN: Yes, its very much like Sacrifice, but much different, more driving. I love it.

Lemmy: Thank you.

SEEN: What led to your recent cover of "God Save the Queen"? I know you have done covers in the past; why this one?

Lemmy: We were going to do a cover of something on this album and Phil wanted to do "Satisfaction" but Mickey and me wanted "God Save the Queen", so it was two against one, and we did "God Save the Queen". I always loved the song. The Pistols were a real rock band. Steve Jones is one of the best rhythm guitar players in rock and roll. Shame he doesn’t do more...

SEEN: It is the best Sex Pistols cover I’ve heard.

Lemmy: Megadeth did a cover of "Anarchy in the U.K."

SEEN: [laughing] Yeah, and so did Motley Crue... a really bad cover.

Lemmy: [laughing] The less said about that the better.

SEEN: Speaking of covers, I have a couple of cover tribute albums to Motorhead like Deaf Forever and Built For Speed. What’s your favorite cover of your band?

Lemmy: There is a Swedish tribute album called Heading North or Going North, it’s an all-girl band, I really can’t remember the name... they did a version of "Hellraiser" and go into this other thing — [singing] "Do you like it, do you like it, da da da," and straight back into "Hellraiser". I thought it was funny. I can’t really remember their names, I’m sorry... an all-girl group.

SEEN: Is there any truth to a Hawkwind reunion? I read something about it on the Internet.

Lemmy: It is supposed to happen, but trying to get it organized is a nightmare. You know the people involved have become even more eccentric; they’ve gone into hiding. I mean how the fuck are you going to find Del Dettmer [Hawkwind’s synthesizer/keyboard player] somewhere in British Columbia in a log cabin? I don’t know.

SEEN: I don’t know, send a Yeti for him?

Lemmy: [laughs] Yeah, send out a bigfoot!! I mean the odds of organizing it... it’s supposed to happen in September, but I’m not sure it is happening.

SEEN: So far in your tour what has been your least favorite and most favorite dates?

Lemmy: The worst was the first one, Las Vegas. The sound was terrible, we really didn’t have an audience, you know that was the worst one.

SEEN: Sounds like the show last fall in Wichita.

Lemmy: Yeah, it’s just some nights are a wreck, some are good. We’re just lucky most nights are good, but you have the others, the sinkholes, or you wished you just had one, you could just crawl into it. Hmm, the best one would have been Minneapolis or Vancouver.

SEEN: Well, thanks for playing balls-out at the Wichita show even though it was sparse.

Lemmy: People pay good money to see a show, even if there is only a few of them... it’s the same amount for our wages.

SEEN: If it means anything, I got bailed out of jail to see that show.

Lemmy: [smiles and laughs] Yeah?

SEEN: Yeah, my girlfriend bailed me out on a $5,000 bond to make it. I had a small altercation with the law...

Lemmy: I’ve had some of those myself.

SEEN: My next question might be touchy... you are considered an icon of rock and roll — no, you are rock and roll...

Lemmy: (interrupts) I’d rather be considered a competitor; people tend to ignore icons’ records.

SEEN: OK, that’s true. What do you think of the new movement in rock or heavy metal or whatever towards bands like Korn or Limp Bizkit?

Lemmy: Limp Bizkit? It’s all crap... sorry, sorry Fred. You know we did Ozzfest with him. Not good enough. In the seventies he would have been bottled off the stage. (laughs)

SEEN: Just a bunch of junior leaguers trying to make it big?

Lemmy: It’s not that they are junior leaguers; they have made it big. By all means good luck to them because it’s hard enough to get a break in this game. Good luck, I hope they make it, but I don’t have to listen to it.

SEEN: I agree. It seems you can’t turn on the TV without seeing those jokers jumping around.

Lemmy: Well you know, they think they got it and they don’t — and the same is true of Korn. Korn isn’t that bad. They got better, but they are not any better... Tool the same. I don’t want to badmouth anybody. Obviously, I’m old now, so I’m not supposed to like the standard. So, I hear my father talking, so maybe I’m just old and wrong. I know what real rock and roll is because I remember it — the original — and I know how to play it.

SEEN: I could not agree more.

Lemmy: I’ve come through the whole thing, three generations of it.

At this point the road manager walks up and asks Lemmy if he wants to go to a strip club, which — surprise! — he does.

SEEN: Well, I’m out of questions anyhow. Any last words you want to say?

Lemmy: Yeah. Just because people have grown old playing rock and roll doesn’t mean that they can’t play it anymore, and they are probably better at it, so I advise people to come see bands like us, bands from our time. You will get a good rock and roll show from most of the them. The young ones might be pretty, but they are not any better.

SEEN: And they might not be around in a couple of years anyway...

Lemmy: Some of them will survive. I have this terrible feeling that Limp Bizkit will be a survivor...

With those words we snapped some pics and Lemmy went his way toward gyrating nude flesh. I hope he is wrong in his prediction on Limp Bizkit. Only time will tell, but there will always be rock and roll — at least that is a constant we can all count on — and where there is rock and roll, Lemmy cannot be too far away.