anderswolleck

For a man that was Born to Raise Hell, Lemmy was surprisingly calm while we spoke. I dont know what I was expecting for him to do while we on the phone. Its not like he could have smashed me with a whiskey bottle or anything but that would have been kind of cool.

The first Motrhead approved box set is being released and its the first fully comprehensive box set collection covering Motrheads entire career from 1975-2002. It contains a new 12,000 word essay by Classic Rock editor and famed heavy metal journalist Mick Wall. It also features many rare recordings of Motrhead classics including 19 previously unreleased tracks. It contains a 60 page booklet featuring rare and unpublished photos and memorabilia.

Check out the official Motrhead website

Daniel Robert Epstein: What's going on?

LK: I only got up about an hour ago.

DRE: Were you up late last night, what we're you doing?

LK: Screwing.

DRE: Were you drinking?

LK: Yeah, jack and coke.

DRE: Is that what you've always drank?

LK: No, I used to drink vodka and orange for years, but switched to jack and coke about ten years ago.

DRE: Why?

LK: I don't know, change is as good as the rest.

DRE: You going to drink something else in another ten years?

LK: I don't know. Ill be drinking formaldehyde by then.

DRE: So the first Motrhead approved box set is coming out, what's that mean?

LK: Well, that means that they let me change a couple of tracks on it. I did an intro for it. I was very involved in this one and wasn't before.

DRE: Do you think that non-Motrhead fans will be into this?

LK: Well, I don't know. Thats up to the individual, isn't it.

DRE: I think that a lot of people are surprised that you've been able to stick around this long.

LK: Yeah, right. Everyone was wrong and I was right.

DRE: You were telling them that you'd be around forever?

LK: Yeah, I did, but no one believed me, not even the rest of the band.

DRE: Have you ever slept with a Goth girl?

LK: Oh, several.

DRE: Are they different from anyone else?

LK: No, they're just the same with their clothes off.

DRE: No blood sucking or anything?

LK: Not so far, no. Im sure there'll come a day.

DRE: What's your favorite sexual position?

LK: Facing the television [laughs]. I don't know. Its just whatever occurs to you at the time. Its improvisational, really.

DRE: Arnold Schwarzenegger just got elected governor and it came out that he'd been in some orgies, and I figured if he'd had some orgies, you'd been in a few yourself, right?

LK: Well, it wasn't a big thing until now, was it? No one gave a shit until now. It just politicians talking shit as usual.

DRE: have you done some orgies yourself?

LK: No, just one on one. I don't do sloppy seconds. Sloppy firsts maybe? I don't know.

DRE: I read that some journalist wrote that Motrhead was the grimy steal worker of the tour with Dio and Iron Maiden, does that sound right?

LK: Just about, yeah. I have a lot of respect for the people who've worked hard.

DRE: I think that you're bigger than Dio ever was though?

LK: He sold more albums though, that's what it goes on.

DRE: What was it like being on tour with those guys?

LK: Ive known those guys for years, we're old friends.

DRE: What was your first crush?

LK: It was probably a horse. I was big on horses when I was a kid. Theyre not too bad either, but you have to be nice to them if you want to kiss them.

DRE: I can't see you up there on a horse.

LK: You can't? Youd be surprised.

DRE: What was the first thing you ever crushed with your boot?

LK: Christ, I dont know. What kind of question is that? Probably a cigarette. I don't know, some lifeless, poor insect.

DRE: I read that you made a reporter get into a bathtub with you one time, what do you take into the bathtub with you now?

LK: The bath? I don't have a bath now, I have a shower. Im in America now, aren't I. you don't have bathtubs in America, you have showers.

DRE: The BBC sessions on Stone Death. Was that the first time you'd heard those in a while?

LK: Yeah.

DRE: Did it make you think of old times?

LK: Yeah, that's the thing about the past; it just brings back all those memories.

DRE: How different did the music sound to you?

LK: Oh, well, it's completely different. I mean, how does your writing look from then until now?

DRE: Apparently, you and Wendy O. Williams weren't that big fans of one another, is that true?

LK: No, we were very big fans of each other. She toured with us three times. Oh yeah, we had a thing going for a while. Who wrote that? They probably didn't know either of us.

DRE: I noticed that you've been in a few Troma movies, I know that they don't pay much money, right?

LK: No, they don't pay much, that's true, but you're not sort of doing that for the money. Youre doing it for the laughs.

DRE: What are your favorite Troma movies?

LK: Probably the ones that Im in.

DRE: What music have you been listening to lately?

LK: Evanescence, they're excellent. Thats the best album that Ive heard in a long time. Lets see, there's a band from Toronto that's called Cheerleader who are good. Theyre just starting up, but apart from that, not really.

DRE: What do you think of the stuff that's considered speed metal these days?

LK: Oh, I don't care. Its mostly not very good. Its like, you can only do so much with that format, really.

DRE: What made you guys first come together back in '75?

LK: Well, I needed to get something going before I faded from the memory of the public. I got fired from, Hawkwind, the band I was in. but the second one was great.

DRE: What happened with Hawkwind?

LK: They fired me. They basically thought that I was trying to be a primrose, a bass player, and I kept hogging the limelight. On top of that, I sang the only hit that they'd ever had and Id only been in the band for ten months which really pissed them off.

DRE: I read that the Rocking Vicars was the first band to play behind the iron curtain, is that right?

LK: Yeah, yeah, I think that England got the Red Army Youth Orchestra and they got us.

DRE: What was that like?

LK: That was a different time then. People were different. It was like unlimited whoopee all the time, then. Being twenty years older didn't hurt.

DRE: Are you turning sixty soon?

LK: In three years.

DRE: Do you have plans for your sixtieth?

LK: Yeah, Im going on holiday alone somewhere. I hate fucking birthdays. Its the day of the year that is the least in your control and the least that you enjoy. Youve got to do things other people expect you to do, birthday shit. So, Im not very keen on birthdays and my birthday is on Christmas Eve and so, it's like crap all of the time.

DRE: Was the last good birthday gift you got?

LK: The last good gift was a guitar from Phil Campbell.

DRE: Do you think that you'd be good having your own reality show like Ozzy?

LK: No, it'd be fisticuffs after the first few days with a camera crew stuck up my ass all the time.

DRE: I read that you said, 'if we moved in next door to you, your lawn would die'

LK: I stole that quote.

DRE: Whos was it?

LK: Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.

DRE: Do you think you'd piss on the lawn next door?

LK: No. I told you, I stole the fucking line. It just sounded mean.

DRE: You still getting into fights at all?

LK: No. there was this guy going after this girl with a pistol and I took it off of him. Thats the only thing I did and that was about two years ago.

DRE: What's your favorite porn?

LK: Movies, I suppose.

DRE: You like two girls together?

LK: Oh, no. I might be the only guy in the western hemisphere, but that doesn't do anything for me. I like there to be guys and then, pretend that it's me.

DRE: What was it like performing that black flag song for the album?

LK: It was fun, I like Henry. We get along well.

DRE: What's next for you?

LK: We're going to England in about a week for a month and then, we come back for a couple of weeks and then, on to Germany and Spain.

DRE: what country are you most excited to get back to?

LK: I like Germany. They really stuck by us when we couldn't get a gig anywhere else. Wed tour Germany and survive. Theyre a good rock and roll crowd.

DRE: What do you do to keep your sound fresh?

LK: Nothing, we are fresh. Were not pretending. Were not fooling you. This is what you see is what you get. Its always been like that.

DRE: What song did you record with The Damned?

LK: I did 'neat, neat, neat', one of their songs. Im going to bring it out. I don't know when, when I finish it because I have to do it in between Motrhead stuff.

DRE: Is this line up with Motrhead the one that's going to be sticking around?

LK: It's lasted eleven years, twelve years now.

DRE: What do you watch on TV?

LK: I watch the History Channel mostly. The History Channel and Discovery Channel, all the good ones. Law and Order.

DRE: You seem strangely low key for being Lemmy?

LK: I am low key when Im at home. You can't go around like that all the fucking time.

DRE: What gets your riled when you're out, music, drinking, both?

LK: Im not very rowdy when I go out. I don't go swaggering into a place when you're alone. You need backup.

DRE: Do you have kids?

LK: two.

DRE: how old?

LK: My youngest one is thirty six. Hes a musician. Hes out here in LA doing sessions.

DRE: Is he good?

LK: he's excellent. Hes better than me.

DRE: Are you going to work together in the future?

LK: Possibly, yeah. Im going to try and get him on the album.

by Daniel Robert Epstein