Motorhead, Remember me I’m Motorhead...
RIP Lemmy Kilmister
Motorheads music shaped my teenage years (along with Hawkwind). They were the second band I ever went to see, sometime in 89 I think. I attended Oakwood Park College, Maidstone, on the same campus where Lemmy went to Art College, and rumours have it that the first Motorhead skull was drawn on the walls in a local student house.
Later I was lucky enough to photograph Motorhead live in concert twice, and had the pleasure to see them at both Brixton and Hammersmith; legendary. In 99 I had the pleasure of meeting Lemmy in the Barfly @ The Falcon prior to Sevendusts premier UK gig. We chatted about many things from Motorhead to the Goonies and much in between. We talked so much so that I almost missed photographing the opening number of Sevendusts set. Lemmy was a top bloke with a great sense of humour, and it was an honour to meet him.
My favourite story came on the back of the single Bomber; on tour Motorhead took a moving light truss shaped like a bomber that lowered over the band during the song. At the time it was the world’s larges moving lighting truss. The tour finally reached Germany, and half way through the song in Berlin everything stopped and Lemmy yells, “I bet you haven’t seen one of these forkers for a few years”. Classic.
I am saddened by his passing; but he will live on in our vinyl collections, through his contributions to, and influences on heavy metal and in our hearts. Not many others have achieved so much, worked so hard or stayed so true to their selves. We could all learn a lot from Lemmy Kilmister.
