Lemmy Page #6

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d On a silver machine

d And I'm still feeling mean d

It's dangerous rock and roll.

It's not choreographed.

It's not safe. It's not clichd.

You never know what you're gonna see.

That's got to be good, hasn't it?

We were a space-rock band

so a lot of the music we played

was around science-fiction stories,

which we'd sort of interpret

and put into music.

We were a pretty heavy rock band

with nice flowing electronics.

People thought

we were hippy flower people.

It f***ing wasn't true.

We were like a black nightmare.

We used to lock the doors

so people couldn't get out!

It was a psychedelic experience

and no one was doing that.

We used to have

this sort of trancey beat going,

this trancey rhythm

and strobe going.

It didn't drive you insane.

It just put you into a trance.

D I got a silver machine

d I got a silver machine d

It's quite odd, as New Order,

the driving sound Hawkwind had -

the very pulsey,

percussive, keyboard sounds,

we would actually listen to that

and try and emulate it.

In songs like "Temptation"

and "Everything's Gone Green,"

we did try and rip off Hawkwind.

They represented

the first counter-culture

with IT and Oz Magazine,

and it was very romantic.

It was a wonderful time

to grow up and be a kid,

but mostly I remember standing

at the front, drooling at Stacia.

The girl with her breasts out,

which was incredible

for a 12 or 13 year-old.

It was like our education!

We were a bunch of misfits, basically.

It was like a family.

It was like a family.

We had a huge following,

because we would do any gig.

We'd do a gig in London and

it'd be like a drug dealer's convention.

Dik, Mik and Lemmy were always

into a lot of speed, and grumpy.

Dik was always grumpy

cos they'd been up for a few days.

We'd get picked up in our van,

and Lemmy would be all surly

and slam the door and sit down.

We were in the States touring.

We were in Niles, Michigan,

on the way to Detroit.

Niles is on the other side

of Michigan from where Detroit is.

So we pulled over

at a roadhouse to eat,

and I wasn't hungry,

being a speed freak.

I just got this new camera,

so I went out, prowling round,

looking for things to photograph.

And I got conked over the head

in this abandoned housing project

and f***ing came round

without my camera, without any money.

I go back to the roadhouse

and they'd gone, dumped me there.

I mean, what kind of sh*t is that?

One of your band members is missing

after a meal and you just drive off?

That's not the way I work.

And so now I'm stuck here.

I have to hitch across Michigan.

I go up to my room,

crash out for about two hours,

down to sound check, do the show.

Crossing into Canada the next day,

I get busted for speed.

In jail for two days in Canada,

handcuffed to a f***ing iron bar.

Then I get the news,

as I'm going into Essex County jail,

with overalls over my arm,

going into the delousing section,

this voice behind me says,

"You're bailed, Kilmister."

"Ah, thank you."

Flown to Toronto immediately.

Do the show.

Four o'clock in the morning, fired.

They only got me out of jail

because my replacement

couldn't make it in time.

I found Lemmy in certain ways

quite hard to work with

because we were in a band where

everybody was taking different drugs.

So you had this sort of disparity

between people

of where they were and

what sort of wavelength they were on.

I was into psychedelics myself -

pot, mushrooms and peyote,

all that sort of thing.

Pretty calm stuff, you know.

And I think Lemmy

was more into amphetamines.

He used to hang the band up

cos he was never on time to leave

when we had to catch a flight and

we'd all be downstairs waiting to go.

And it'd be, "Christ, where is he?"

And he'd be still in bed.

You'd shake him.

"Come on, Lemmy!"

It did cause a lot of stress

within the band.

All of us got pissed off over it.

It wasn't just one or two.

Then he got busted

at the border, sort of thing,

which, when you're on tour

with all the stress factors,

is like the last straw.

And the majority of the band said,

"Enough's enough," and that was it.

When I arrived at the gig, I said,

"Where the f***'s Lemmy?"

And they said this other guy,

Paul Rudolph, was taking his place,

that they'd sacked Lemmy.

I was devastated,

but I'm the type of person who...

I keep a lot inside, so...

I think I just carried on,

but I was devastated.

It was quite a sad thing, actually.

Very sad.

I mean, he was very upset over it.

We all were, really.

It was coming for a long time.

It was '70s drug snobbery.

Like, they were all just doing

organic drugs, man.

I was doing speed and organic drugs,

so they didn't like that.

He hated us for it all.

Well, you would do, wouldn't you?

He described me

as a sanctimonious,

self-righteous arsehole.

And I thought, "All right.

That's what he thinks of me."

I went home and screwed

three of their old ladies. Ha ha ha!

Well, you know, "Vengeance is sweet,

saith the Lord."

And I must admit, I was banging

one of them already before we left.

But it was a great time.

I wouldn't have traded it

for any other band ever.

I'd probably be in that band now

if they hadn't fired me.

But there you are. It was quite good

for him cos look where he is now!

How long have I been on the road?

- 19 years?

- Yeah. Give or take a year.

- Isn't it boring after a while?

- No.

Why is there

so much violence on the road?

Why do you break things?

When you start,

when you start doing things...

What f***ing violence?

I don't know what you mean

about violence.

You wanna see some violence, baby?

Come and see me!

Don't break it!

No! Not me!

Want to do an interview?

D Sunrise wrong side of another day

d Sky-high and 6,000 miles away

d Don't know

how long I've been awake d

Lemmy was

at the beginning of heavy metal.

Maybe even pre-Black Sabbath.

If they'd said to me,

"Who was the original metal band?"

It was a toss between Lemmy

and Black Sabbath,

but I would say Lem and Motrhead.

D Motrhead,

you can call me Motrhead all night d

They took elements of what existed

as heavy metal, mixed it with punk,

and created this

frantic, intense, powerful music form

that went on to define

heavy metal as we know it.

It was brash, in-your-face.

It was like getting socked

by an overhand right,

like Mike Tyson in his prime.

I remember you'd turn the radio on

and it was like really rancid disco,

bad boy-band pop music.

The Osmonds, stuff like that.

You'd go and see a Motrhead show

and it was completely different.

D Silver-tongued devil

the demon leech

d I know just what I'm doing

d I like a little innocent b*tch d

I could not believe

that there was a guy

singing like that on a record.

People were digging it.

It was like, "Whoa!"

One headline we had was "Worst Band

in the World", but it was in big letters.

I mean, it was f***ing great.

You didn't give a f***.

You kind of care up to a point,

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