It's only Rock & Roll but he likes it!

How they do it we just don't know but once again Motorhead have produced a blistering album in 'Kiss of Death' that follows on from the outstanding 'Inferno'. Continually setting the standards, raising the bar and doing it like nobody else for over 30 years, R13 thought it about time we collared the living legend that is Lemmy to find out the secret of longevity and just what's left to achieve.

R13: "Kiss Of Death" offers a diversity that´s pretty rare, especially by your own standards. How comes?
L: Yeah, we get a couple of guests on there, too. On "God Was Never On Your Side" C.C. Deville plays a solo – surprise - and on "Under The Gun" there's Mike Inez playing second bass, from Alice In Chains.

R13: Are these people you bump into regularly?
L: With Mike it was literally I bumped into him in the Rainbow, and I said: "Do you wanna play on the album?" And he said: "Sure". He was all excited, you know, and he came down the next night, and he nailed it in about three takes, I think. It was really good and CC did it in one take.

R13: How does "Kiss Of Death" fit into that enormous body of work?
L: It's number 23, right (laughs). It's better than "Inferno", and "Inferno" seems to be the favourite of the later years so far. I bet you can't tell what people are gonna like, you know, just have to hope for the best.

R13: But you went in trying to create something different from "Inferno"?
L: No. We do it so we like it, and then we stick it out, and if you like it, it's the bonus, you know, but we're not actually playing for you, we're playing for us, you know, always. I think that's the best way to do it, do it so you like it, and then at least if you have to play it just to yourself for the rest of your life at least you're satisfied with it. Yeah.

R13: Did you record in LA?
L: Yeah, in Paramount Studios, like the last one. And Mickey did his drums at NRG Studios up in the Valley. We did pretty well, I think. We just rehearsed the riffs and the arrangement generally, but like with pro-tools now I can change the arrangement if we want to, so that's very handy. I like pro-tools. It's a very useful tool, you know.

R13: How does the new album differ from the last one?
L: Better songs. Better arrangements and better performance from me vocally. Better performance from Phil Campbell on the guitar, he plays great on the songs.

R13: Is "Kiss Of Death" the manifesto of your life: the man of electric blood, neglected by God...
L:... neglected? Fucking ignored is what you want by God. But it's not about me that "God Was Never On Your Side", it's not "God was never on my Side", it's "God Was Never On Your Side", you know, just sending out a message to people in case they still believe in God: "Hey, wrong!" (laughs)

R13: Does the ever growing religious movement around the globe scare you?
L: It's not scary, it's disgusting. I mean, if people still have to have God as a crutch, I mean, what the fuck are they gonna do with their lives? God is not gonna help you, God is not answering your prayers, you can pray all your life and you never get a fucking thing. God is deaf, blind and stupid. I don't like the devil either, they can both get fucked. I'm responsible for what I do, and I don't need no excuse.

R13: So how do you stand living in America, home of TV-evangelists and religious extremists?
L: You just don't watch the TV on Sunday, you know, I mean, religion is everywhere, America, Middle America is going crazy about religion, but not on the coast where I live, you know.

R13: What about "The Kingdom Of The Worm"? Is that about the UK?
L: No. It's about death. Death is "The Kingdom Of The Worm", and the worm wins every time, they always get to eat you and you don't get to eat them.

R13: How did you celebrate your 60th birthday?
L: I did it in Vegas, just stayed away from everybody, in case they had any surprises ready for me. Yeah, this is as good a way to spend your birthday as any. The next one I got to look forward is 70, man, how is that for a big step?

R13: In your case, are there still goals to be reached?
L: Yeah, I haven't fucked Halle Berry yet, you know, for a start. There's always goals that you haven't achieved, you know, I'd like to have a hit in America before we go, you know, I'd like to have another hit here, too, thank God for Germany, we still have hits there. They really stood next to us all the time, they were really loyal. Treue on treue. That's a great characteristic of Germany, they're loyal. They can listen to the new stuff and the old stuff at the same time. People over here don't realise that, they have to have just the new stuff.

R13: Any explanation why Germany is such a stronghold for you?
L: I don't know. Because they like us, and that's about the best reason I can think of, right? (laughs)

R13: So you'll end up as the Rolling Stones of hardrock one day?
L: Man, I think we already did that, didn't we? How old do you have to be? As old as the Rolling Stones? Well, then I only got four years to go. Jagger is only four years older than me, I think. Keith is about, what, 65 years?

R13: Do you take more care of yourself these days?
L: No. Why should I take care of myself, it's all still working. I just had a medical in Berlin, he said I had the liver of a new-born baby, my lungs are fine, it's incredible, right? My heart is fine. Figure it out. Na-na-na-na...

R13: Is it easy being Lemmy 24/7?
L: Yeah, I've never been anybody else (laughs). It's that simple. I can deal with it. A lot of people can't deal with being famous, I can deal with it. I like being famous, I'm used to it now. I don't know what it'd be like anymore, I mean, I can remember intellectually that there was a time when I wasn't in Motörhead, but I can't remember how it felt, you know, after 31 years it's like my life, and that's just fine.

R13: And you never wanted to escape that?
L: How can you? 'Cause you stop being a writer at whatever time you finished the interview, right, and then you're whoever you wanna be, but I'm always running for Motörhead, 24 hours, right, all the time, forever. Even if I stopped playing tomorrow I'd still be Lemmy from Motörhead, like McCartney is still Paul from the Beatles. You never shake that. But luckily I'm happy with it. A lot of people will go: "Oh no, I'm a private person", fuck off, you're not a private person, you gave up being a private person when you ran on stage the first time, then people make me laugh, you know, "the eyes, the eyes." Well, quit music, motherfucker, you're gonna be a cheap metal presser again, you know, that'd be much more fun, wouldn't it? Bullshit, you know.

R13: Any current music you´re listen to, or just the classics?
L: Every once in a while I roll out on my wheelchair and I´m getting to listen to a couple of new things, yeah. There's a lot of good bands around at the moment. Meldrum from Sweden, they're very good, all girls, Crucified Barbara are really good, they're coming on tour with us, Clutch are good, they're coming, too. Who else? There is an Iron Maiden tribute band in the States, called The Iron Maidens, they're really good, I saw them recently. Cheerleader from Toronto are really good, there's no end on them, but you never hear them on the radio, right, because they're too heavy or some fucking thing, you know. And Girlschool are still good, too, you know. They're still going.

R13: What do you think of HipHop and R&B?
L: I hate HipHop. I hate it. It's the worst music black people have ever played. I loved black music, you know, all the way through my life until the last ten years, fucking HipHop and reggae, I hate it. It's like nothing to me, it's not even music to me, you know, it starts and it goes along and it stops, so what, you know. And they say they write relevant lyrics, no more relevant than mine, and we have real music behind ours. So what the fuck is wrong with you people, can't you listen? I'm sorry everybody, I hate fucking HipHop, and I can't tell you nothing else, because I do. I tried to like it, I listened to a lot of it, and I thought: "Well, man, I was right the first time, it's crap", so there you go.

R13: How comes it´s such a mass phenomenon then?
L: Well, good luck, I mean, you're quite entitled to like it if you want, but don't ask me to like it, because I don't. But there's room for everything, you know, any music can be played, there's plenty of room. There's millions of people out there that enjoy music, you know, rap fans, Rock'n'Roll fans, there's gotta be all kinds of music for everybody to listen to something. But I don't like rap myself, which is the question you asked me, right?

R13: You got your first bass from Heathrow airport, is that true?
L: Yeah, a Hopf, a German bass. Dell from Hawkwind got it at an auction of stuff people left on planes. Yeah, and how do you forget that, right? They must have gotten nicked in at the airport or something and didn't collect. But whatever, I got it for 17 quid off him, but I never did pay him for it. I still owe him for it. That was a good bass that, and I liked it. In fact if anybody has it, and they know it's mine, can I buy it back of you? I'd like to have that back, it's a nice bass.

R13: Ever tried another auction?
L: No, I mean, people leave stuff on planes, stuff gets lost, you know, and they don't bother to claim it or they claim it once and then it doesn't show up till two weeks later and it just gets in the auction. There's all kinds of shit in there, you know - children... (laughs) Female basses anyway.

R13: It was Hawkwind who made you change from a guitar player to a bass player, or?
L: They didn't make me. There wasn't a job as a guitar player, so I switched to bass to get the job quick, and I got it. I'd never played the bass before in my life, the bass, but I think probably I was always supposed to play the bass, because it was easy. I got straight into it, you know, 'cause I was a terrible fucking guitarist. Yeah, I sucked on guitar. I was a good rhythm guitarist.

R13: So the bass was meant to be?
L: I think so, yeah, if anything is. It's just luck, you know, anyway. Everything in your life is just luck, being in the right place at the right time, that's the whole thing. If you're in the wrong place at the right time you won't even hear about it, right?

R13: There is an article in MOJO with a picture from the Rocking Vicars. You look very young in that one.
L: Well, I was very young one in that one, that explains that. Yeah, the Rocking Vicars was a great band, we were kind of like The Who really, we used to smash all the equipment up at the end of the show, you know. But I was a rotten guitarist for them, too, I couldn't do it. I never played lead, you know, I was no good at it. Bass is much better for me. I mean, I've become a well-known bass player, the only thing I would have become well-known for on the guitar was how many fucking notes I missed. (laughs)

R13: Are you still angry with Hawkwind for sacking you?
L: No, long time, you know. I don't think like that. I don't have revenge in my heart. It takes too long, and it makes you twisted and bitter, and I don't wanna be twisted and bitter. I don't need revenge, I'm doing what I do, and I'm happy doing it and that's it. That's all there is.

R13: Is it true you tried to teach Sid Vicious how to play the bass?
L: Yeah. It was all uphill. And he still couldn't play bass when he died, I mean, fucking hell. Well, and everybody knows that, just listen to the Sex Pistols record that he was on, you know, you can tell it's Steve standing in for him. In fact I'm not sure if Sid was ever on the record, I think it was Steve who played bass.

R13: Are you still in touch with Steve?
L: Yeah, I see Steve now and again. He does a thing called "Camp Freddy", which is like a bunch of people get together and play shows, Dave Navarro and the drummer from the Chilli Peppers, and the bass player from the Chilli Peppers, too, I think, Flea, now and again and all kinds of people. And Steve Jones does that, too. I went out a couple of times with him and did "God Save The Queen", you know, and we did some early Presley and did two Pat Benetar songs. Juliette Lewis has been up a couple of times with her band, you know, it's a fun thing, just fun, and people get in for free, it's great.

R13: Where do they play? Is it always the same location?
L: No, it's just different clubs. They played most at the Palace, and most at the Key Club. I played on both of those, but they had other shows, one in Vegas I didn't play on that one. There was Scott Weiland who did that one.

R13: Honestly: Is "Ace of Spades" both - a curse and a blessing?
L: It's a curse and a blessing, because it's a good song and you get tired of playing it, but it's still a good song. We got lucky, we could have got famous for a turkey, couldn't we?

R13: Do you still collect 3rd Reich stuff? Where do you find that?
L: In America, that's where it all is. The Americans took it all home with them. One guy, right, was in the American army and they took over Rechlin Air force Base, and he got a Fokker Wolf 190, and dismantled it and sent it home in parcels bit by bit and re-assembled it back in America, numbers on the parcels, you know, and a map with numbers on it. Shipped it all back to the States and re-built it. He has the only fucking Wolf 190 in perfect condition, right, with all the original parts, he has it sitting on his deck in Pennsylvania. (laughs) That's the ultimate war trophy, right, a fucking fighter plane.

R13: What's your biggest treasure?
L: Probably a Luftwaffe sword with a Damascus blade. Damascus steel, you know, layered, a nice piece. I got Hitler's autograph about three or four times, but there's so many forgeries and there's an auto-pen version they used on documents anyway, you can never tell if it's real or not, but I have one saying "Happy New Year and Merry Christmas from Adolf Hitler", you know, that's one. I got that from Ozzy, too, so double whammy. I should have gotten Ozzy to sign the back of it, right, Ozzy and Hitler on the same piece. (laughs)

R13: Are you ever gonna put that on display?
L: Maybe. I left my collection to the German people, but you have to display or you can't have it. (laughs) Yeah, because it's part of history, you know, you can't change that, right?

R13: What do you think about Bush and his war on Iraq?
L: It's a mess, George's Vietnam, and now he's about to go into Iran, too, I think, so there'll be two Vietnams, three with Afghanistan, and I don't think America can cope with even one, never mind three. It's a claustrofuck, you know, it's a war you can't win.

R13: And the irony is that they could have closed the chapter during Operation desert storm?
L: They wouldn't have closed the chapter, it would be the same as it is now then. They would have just been going on for longer like this, that's all. You can not fight a guerrilla war with ordinary troops, it's been demonstrated 1000s of times. The Germans in World War II couldn't do it in Russia, the fucking Vietnamese beat them again, you know the Americans. Lebanon, the other one. You can't find guerrillas who can hide in the hills and come out and stab you. You can't fight them people because there will always be more of them and everyone you kill is a martyr, right, there is no way you can win. And of course, the Pentagon loves it, because they can get more helicopters, but it's still true, you can't win.

R13: Is that the motivation: Producing even more weapons?
L: Believe me, it's a very large part of it, the arms industry has a very large lobby in Washington. How much do you think Bell Helicopters made out of Vietnam? (laughs) Fuckin´ joking...

R13: Do you think the Americans realised that by now?
L: Oh yeah, even the most gung-ho Americans, when your boy comes home in a fucking body bag then it changes your outlook, you know. And of course there's girl soldiers out there now, too, right, and they're getting slaughtered, too, it's even worse for the family.

R13: You´re touring Germany soon. How many new songs are you actually gonna play?
L: Probably three of them, you can't really play more than three, 'cause they wanna hear the old stuff, too, you know, so you have to try and balance it. We'll be doing two at least or three, I'd like to do three and keep the two from "Inferno" in there, you know.

R13: Will you bring out the legendary Bomber?
L: Only if they pay extra. It costs a lot to bring it, you know, it's a whole truckload by itself, it's an 18 wheeler by itself.

R13: How much would that be per ticket?
L: I have no idea. I don't even know how much without the bomber. I know it's a fair price compared with everybody else. I know we're keeping it a fair price, and the merchandise, I have to always go at the beginning of every tour and cut the price on the fucking merchandising, because they always try and sell you nothing for everything.

R13: So you have an eye on that?
L: Oh yeah, you wouldn't believe how many fights I have with the fucking quality of the merchandise and the price of the merchandise. You have to have an eye on everything, man, because they just fuck it up otherwise. Always. You have to watch everything. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

Motorhead are out on tour through November, check out the dates on their website: http://www.imotorhead.com/ .