MOTORHEAD Lemmy talk:

Rip It Up, Issue 49, 1 August 1981, Page 11

MOTORHEAD Lemmy talk:

George Kay

mm 4 supplement y

"Hello, Grammacy Hotel, New York." The voice is cool, casually American female, efficient but polite. "Hello, Rip It Up New Zealand here to talk to Lemmy." "Lemmy? Aahhh, we have no one here by that name." "He's a member of Motorhead," I explain hopefully. "Just a minute." Pause. She returns. "Do you want to talk to Mr Kilmister, Clarke or Taylor?" Problem. Which one is Lemmy? I jolt old memory banks and think I recall the name Kilmister being associated with Hawkwind, Lemmy's old band. But I'm not sure. "Ah, Mr Kilmister thanks."

"Just a minute." Silence, she returns, again. "Mr Kilmister is not answering and apparently they are all out. Do you want to talk to Judas Priest?" There must be a heavy metal convention in town. "No thanks, I'll try again in a few hours." Click.

A few hours means 7.15 at night in New York and 11.15 Saturday morning in NZ. In luck. Mr Kilmister is in and he's expecting the call.

"Mr Kilmister, it's Rip It Up New Zealand here. You are uh, Lemmy?" I'm squirming, what if he's not. He must be. "Yeah, right." Lucky. . v-■ .:■ "You've been expecting us?" "Yeah." ■ V

He sounds human. Doesn't grunt or moan heavy metal riffs but he doesn't seem to talk much either. I decide to lead with my dumb questions.

"How's the American tour been going?" "Very well, we've been getting the usual type of audience we get in Britain, y'know, fans and their friends." He doesn't expand, so next question. "What differences do you think exist between American and British metal?" "Not many. The only thing in America is that they still wear glitter and are flash, y'know bands like Kiss. We adopt a more workmanlike approach like bands like AC/DC."

Motorhead, a trio of rockers hellbent on metalling, started up in 1976, but it was only this year that they managed to get round to touring America. Why the delay? "Well, we didn't get a record deal until recently. I suppose they thought we were too outrageous."

To me, heavy metal has always been like the ostrich with his head in the sand: He's happy doing what he's doing, but it's in isolation, he's not in touch with what's going on. In fact, he's hiding from, a reality he doesn't want to know about because he can't cope with it or express it. I ask r t* * 'SißnEini Lemmy about escapism. hat s what music is. These days, society reflects rock. It's the second biggest industry it brings more money than petrol, and I think people treat it very shabbily. It's been sneered at because some people think it's not real music. If i that's so. how come it's survived long?jflBHBI "What do you think of the current British music trends?" "The futurist stuff? Ifa on, 11 mind it, I don't listenjto it much because I don't care about it although I quite like Ultravox." "Reggae?" ! SI

"I don't like reggae as a musical form." "Well, who do you like in your own idiom?" Euphemism for heavy metal y'unnerstand? "Iron Maiden are very good and so are Girlschool." "What do you think of Blue Oyster Cult because I understand you recently played with them?" "I don't think much of them because they sounded tired and worn out, not inspired." "Do you feel an affinity for other metal bands?" "I suppose we're in the same pigeon hole and there's some camaraderie but nothing special."

When Motorhead formed in 1976, (Lemmy having met drummer Philthy Animal Taylor and guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke "just hangin' around in London") the musical climate was critically against heavy metal: "We're playing for the audience, not the critics, otherwise we would've given up long ago. All the critics are into

is creating their own little fashions." "Are you resentful of bad reviews?" "No, a lot of critics came round when they realised we weren't going to go away and when we proved we were popular." "What do you think of the sexist accusations against heavy metal bands?" "If we were sexist then would we have taken Girlschool on tour?" The point's been missed but I let it go. "What is the Motorhead philosophy?" "We don't have a philosophy except 'enjoy yourself'. We just do what we want to do. I'm just saying have a good time." I'm vaguely familiar with the Motorhead album product, the best being their last studio effort, Ace of Spades, where everything is nailed down with customary muscle. But Motorhead differ from others of their creed in that their music is brutally honest, and although it's macho, it isn't without a certain rough humour. That can't be said for most of their colleagues. Anyway, I've always had this theory that anyone can write a heavy metal song, so I ask Lemmy how Kilmister-Clarke-Taylor write theirs. "The three of us write the music and I write the lyrics.

We just jam and , then tape the jam and then I write the lyrics over it." "Do you think Ace of Spades is your best studio album so far?" "Yeah, we're getting tighter and refining our sound more, making it faster and slicker. Their live album, which has just been released here, went, as Lemmy says, "straight to Number 1 in Britain." I've only heard the single from it, the Motorhead title song, 'Motorhead'. It's three minutes of devastation, virtually unrivalled energy, shove your head in the speaker cabinet: "It's a good reflection of our live concert and the sound was done by Vic Maile." .’ Let's end on nostalgia, on memories of another working man's band, Hawkwind. "Do you. miss the Hawkwind days?" "Nah not much, it wasn't my band, anyway. I was only a hired hand and we didn't socialise much, whereas Motorhead does." '. Socialising means pulling birds and knocking back vodkas,, and that's the Motorhead philosophy. Aristotle anyone? .'%<