Posts Tagged ‘lemmy’
Lemmy.
December 28, 2015. That’s the day that Lemmy died.
Official Motorhead posted that he learned of an “aggressive cancer” on the 26th of December and passed on 2 days later. I’ve felt for well over a year of seeing him in photos and videos that he’d been suffering through it for quite some time. The weight loss and frailness reminded me of my gramps who had pancreatic cancer and that’s my guess as well. Not important, really. He’s left us.
I read somewhere yesterday that most people have a Lemmy story. I’m fortunate to have a handful of them, and all of them good. You never really heard unkind words about Lemmy, even from people who weren’t Motorhead fans.
To say we were friends or even mere acquaintances would be a pretty big stretch of the truth, but the last few times I saw him face to face, he did recognize me and always made the joke, “How many times have I told you that you should have picked a better album cover?” referring to the Another Perfect Day tattoo on my back. One of those times being at The Rainbow. I’ll hold on to that.
I’m glad I got to see them 9 times since 1992 and I’m pretty sure some hearing loss is because of a few of the shows.
There will never be another one like him, you can count on that.
Odin Live @ The Whisky 8/27/11
What a weekend! As has been discussed on this site ad nauseum, I am a huge Odin fan. I love their debut Don’t Take No For An Answer and the subsequent albums all had some killer tunes on them. When I found out in the Spring that Odin was doing a show, I had to go. I’ve wanted to see them since 1986. I had a chance to see them 3 or 4 years ago but stuff came up and I couldn’t go. It almost happened again this time too. I had purchased my concert ticket right as they went on sale but waited on buying my plane tickets as right around the time of the show announcement, I was told that I’d be getting laid off soon. So I held off as I didn’t want to spend the extra money. Fortunately I was only out of work for a month and was living on the severance pay that my former company had given me. As soon as I got a new job I booked my flight to LA.
Twenty-five years is a long wait to see a band. Sit tight, this post may take a while. Maybe not.
The original plan was to stay with a good friend out there but with my flight getting delayed because of Hurricane Irene and some other 
unavoidable happenstances, I just decided to get a hotel in Hollywood. Good move. As soon as I landed in Burbank, I got my rental car and headed straight to Hollywood and my hotel on Santa Monica Blvd. I checked in, freshened up a bit and headed out for the night. It was about 10:15PM or so when I hailed a cab and headed straight for the Rainbow Bar and Grill. Again, good move. As I was having a few drinks at the inside bar, the guy next to me was talking to the bartender about Hurricane playing at Key Club just a few doors down. Hurricane! I always liked the song Hurricane and a few others of theirs. While they were a pretty boy type of band, they were definitely a cut above bands like Poison, Warrant and much of the other terrible glammy sleaze that plagued LA (and the world) in the late 80s.
I used to own Take Want You Want and one shaped EP on vinyl. In the late 1990s I started selling off my record collection. They were listed on eBay and Kelly Hansen, the singer for Hurricane, had gotten in touch with me to work a trade for those records. Of course I
Robert Sarzo – Hurricane
was skeptical, but after he called me and we talked, I knew it was legit. In trade, he sent me some unopened tapes and CDs and signed one of them for me. Hard to believe that some bands don’t have their own material…same thing happened one other time with Frankie Banali. I had a WASP EP that he didn’t have from the Headless Children album. I had 2 so I gave him one.
OK, let’s get back on track here. The dude at the bar was the show promoter. He gave me his card and told me to hand it to the door guy and I’d get in for free. I offered to pay my way in but he insisted. Cool! I finished my drink and went right over to Key Club as Hurricane was getting ready to go on. I go in with no troubles, grab a beer and hit the floor. Hurricane comes on and they open with Hurricane. Sarzo and Cavazo were still in the band and I think Kelly’s brother was on drums. Of course Kelly sings for Foreigner now. The new singer is Andrew Freeman who used to play guitar for theOffspring. He sounded great and played some guitar as well. I was really impressed with them overall. I caught a little more than half of the set and then made my way back over to the Rainbow. Luckily for me Lemmy was there (of course). I got to say hi again. He remembered me from Austin. We only spoke for a minute as he was only taking a short break from the video game machine. I love the Rainbow. Such a cool place with so much history.
Being almost 2AM California time, it was almost 4AM my time, so I was pretty worn out. I grabbed a cab and went back to the hotel. I watched the weather channel’s coverage of the hurricane until I fell asleep.
After only about 4 or maybe 5 hours of sleep, I got up and muddled around town for a bit before driving out to San Bernardino to meet an old friend for lunch. It was great to see her and the Thai food was tasty. From there I headed back into Hollywood to catch Odin’s 
soundcheck and to get Randy O and Aaron Samson to sign the book. I got to watch them do 2 or three songs, got my signatures and hung out with Shawn and Jeff Duncan for a little bit before they left to go back home. I became friends with them a few years back when their band DC4 played here in Austin. What a band and a great bunch of guys! I really wanted to have dinner with Shawn and his fiance but I was so wiped out and just wanted to go take a nap. So we parted ways and I headed back for an all-too-short nap.
When I originally bought my ticket, I went ahead and bought a spare as I figured a friend from Austin or someone I know in LA would want to go. Luckily I happened to meet Regina in Austin a few weeks prior to the show through some good friends of mine and I mentioned that I’d be out there for the show. I asked her to go and she graciously said yes. So after waking up from my nap, I took a quick shower and grabbed a cab for the Rainbow again. I wanted some of their pizza. It’s my favorite ever. I get there and the door guy remembered me from the night before. He waived the cover and gave me 2 drink tickets. SCORE! It was still a little early so seating was pretty wide open. I sat at the outside bar as it was a nice evening. The bartender remembered me and even what I had been drinking the night before and automatically poured one for me. Peroni on draft by the way. I ordered a small pizza and it came out pretty quickly. The small is huge. I met a few people while waiting for my food and we were having a great time talking shit. They were super fun and luckily helped me eat the pizza. After the beers and pizza were done, I paid out and headed over to The Whisky 
to see the reason I made this trip…ODIN. Regina met up with me shortly after and we went in. I ran into some folks that I knew, mainly the other DC4 guys, Matt Duncan and Rowan Robertson. I love Rowan. He’s such a nice guy and we always have a great time hanging out. (Your arrow, siiiir.) Saw a few other folks that I knew and we hung out upstairs until Odin was about to come on. Luckily Regina didn’t mind getting in the crowd. We were about 2 or 3 people from the stage in the center.
The lights go down and Odin comes out to a loud roar from fans, including me. This show definitely brought out something in me that doesn’t happen that often. I see a lot of shows…A LOT. But very few bands actually get me “juiced”. Iron Maiden, Testament, Motorhead and a few others do. Odin did. The music nerd in me came out completely. Poor Regina. haha. Odin opened with 12 O’Clock High. It was great. Their setlist was great and Randy’s voice was in good shape. A lot of the guys who used to hit those high notes back in the old days can’t do it now. Randy hit a lot of his. And the ones he knew he couldn’t hit, he didn’t try. While they played most of the EP, The Writer and Solar Eye weren’t played. Well, a piece of Solar Eye was played which gave Jeff some solo time.
It was a great show. They were awesomely tight. I really can’t put into words what it meant to see them. It was a very special night for 
sure.
I love California, or at least SoCal. Never been that far north, but the LA/Hollywood area sets me right every time I am there. It’s beautiful. I almost moved there in 1997 and still do the “what if…” game sometimes.
After the show, Regina and I head back over to the Rainbow for a final drink. It was fun closing it down. The valet brought her car around and we drove around and foraged for food around town. We grabbed some fast food and headed back to my hotel. She dropped me off, I went to my room and went straight to bed, completely wiped out again.
The next morning was checkout, a drive around Hollywood for a bit and then off to the airport. Absolutely one of the best weekends I have had in a long time thanks to Odin, DC4, Hollywood, and my LA friends, new and old. Good times. If/when Odin plays again, I’ll try to be there for sure.
Last view before hitting the airport.
Hurricane setlist
Andrew Freeman – Hurricane/theOffspring
Odin Setlist
Shawn Duncan
The Odin Guitar!
The Odin bass!
!
Thank you and goodnight!
Motörhead Concert Review March 8, 2011 – Motörhead Day!
We are Motörhead and we don’t have no class!
As many of my lovely readers may have heard from my previous post or via Blabbermouth, yesterday (March 8, 2011) was declared Motörhead Day in Austin, TX by our mayor. Read yesterday’s post to get the precursor for this one.
I got off work and rushed home to get things together for potentially meeting Motörhead before their show. I’m waiting on Dave and his son in front of Stubb’s and see awesome photog Jay West. I tell him what’s going on and said I’d try to get him back there with us to get a photo of those guys with the Motörhead Day Proclamation (click for photo). Dave and his son walk up and I send a message to my pal who works security for Motörhead. He finds us outside and escorts to the “backstage” area of Stubb’s where Lemmy, Mikkey and some of the crew were hanging out. This was right after their soundcheck.
Lemmy’s sitting at the door flipping through a food magazine and Mikkey stands up to greet us. Phil was nowhere to be found, unfortunately. Mikkey reads it then Dave tells me to give it to Lemmy for a read. I explained what it was and he sat and read the whole thing. He stood up and said something like, “This is neat. I love playing Austin. Thank you very much” We shake hands and Jay snaps a few quick photos. I mentioned to Lemmy about meeting him after the movie premier last year and mentioned my Another Perfect Day tattoo backpiece. He said, “Ah yes, I told you that you should have picked a better album, right?” haha. “Yes sir, you did.” Lemmy seemed tired and later that evening during the set, Phil mentioned on mic that he wasn’t feeling well, so Phil did much of the talking between songs. Also, if you’ve seen the movie, read interviews or ever met Lemmy, he’s pretty much indifferent about stuff like this, but it was great that he and Mikkey allowed us to come back for a few minutes and share our joy with them. Added bonus for me was getting Lemmy and Mikkey’s signatures in my book. FINALLY!
So that was that. Mikkey gave Dave’s son, Kameron, a can of Coca-Cola as we were leaving and he says, “I’m never opening this can…ever.” Awesome. I understand that sentiment as I still have an unopened bottle Heineken that Nicko McBrain signed for me in 1988.
Good times. All of us were elated after this. It was fun and glad that it all worked out for all of us. I ran the book home and went to dinner with some friends. I had no interest in seeing Valient Thorr again or in seeing Clutch. I got back to the venue with about 4 Clutch songs left. BORING. I hadn’t listened to them in years and remembered why last night. Oh well. It was Motörhead Day and all I cared about was seeing Lemmy and the boys tear it up like they always do.
They hit the stage right at 9PM. Lemmy opens by saying, “We’re Motörhead…and we play rock and roll.” Then they go
Photo by Jay West
right into a great version of We Are Motörhead. Great song to open with! The band was tight throughout the whole show. Phil was more animated than I had seen in the last few shows. Lemmy’s tone and playing were awesome. He’s very unique. If you’ve seen the Lemmy movie DVD there’s a bonus section in there about how he plays his bass. He’s usually playing power chords and it just gives his sound that much more grind. At 60+, the man can still kick ass. His voice sounded better than last year as well. Then there’s Mikkey. All you see is hair and hands and cymbals moving. He was awesome as always. Easily in my top 5 drummers of all time. Motörhead rules live, period.
The highlight of their set for me was I Got Mine. It’s from my favorite Motörhead album and it’s just a great song. Of course they closed the main part of their set with Ace of Spades and Overkill was the encore.
Metal Dave from 2Fast2Die said before they went on, “What a crusty looking crowd.” Definitely. Motörhead draws folks from a lot of different crowds. They are also one of the bands where it seems to be ok to wear their shirts when you go see them live. It’s always been stated (right or wrong, silly really) that you shouldn’t wear the shirt for the band you are going to see. Motörhead and Maiden seem to be exceptions to that rule. I saw some nice vintage shirts there as well.
It was a great show and I’m glad it sold out. Lem’s not getting any younger and no telling when his juice is going to run out…hopefully never! Go see this tour!
There was one major thing missing…Their front of house sound engineer Hobbs! Where was he? Talk about a crusty old bastard. He rules!
Setlist as I remember it and a bit out of order:
- We Are Motörhead
- Stay Clean
- Get Back In Line
- Metropolis
- I Got Mine
- Over The Top
- The Chase Is Better Than The Catch
- Rock Out
- I Know How to Die
- In The Name of Tragedy
- Just Cos You Got The Power
- Killed By Death
- Going To Brazil
- Ace of Spades
- Overkill
All photos below by Jay West Photography. Click to enlarge.
Kameron, Dave, Lemmy, me, Mikkey (holding Motorhead Day Proclamation)
Phil and Lemmy
Lemmy and his signature Rickenbacker 4004LK Bass.
Lemmy
Phil Campbell
Motorhead Concert Review – 3/16/10
March 16, 2010
Motorhead
Live at Stubb’s, Austin, TX
I’ve been in Austin since November 2006 and this is my 4th time seeing Motorhead. Three times have been at Stubb’s and the other time was in
Photo by Jay West
San Antonio. This was my 7th show overall since 1993. Today I am tired. The SxSW music festival gets into full swing today and there are thousands upon thousands of visitors here.
I don’t like to miss Motorhead when they play. All of their shows are pretty consistent and every now and then they throw a few older gems into the setlist. When I saw them last year, it was the first time I was ever even slightly disappointed in their show. They had Matt Sorum on drums and it gave such a completely different vibe. Last night it was great to have Mikkey Dee back behind the kit. The dude is awesome.
When I got home from work I just sat down to decompress for a little bit. Then I heard Motorhead soundchecking. I opened my window and could hear Cradle to the Grave clearly. Sounded great. I was excited that it was going to be in the setlist!
An hour later I went to the venue and met up with some friends and hung outside while Year Long Disaster played. I couldn’t really tell whether I liked them or not. I couldn’t hear the crowd cheer after any songs either. Weird. We went in as The Sword started. I’ve seen them before and I’m not a big fan. I did think it was cool that their second to last song was Thin Lizzy’s Cold Sweat. They did a good version but it was weird hearing it played tuned down.
Motorhead came on and did a great show. They were steady, not overly fast…tight. Lemmy was funny and it was nice to see Phil active on stage. Last year he looked terrible. He stated that he was sick last time, so that made sense to his previous performance. Lemmy did his typical “this song came out before most of you were born” line. His statement was very true. Lots of younger folk in attendance these days thanks to VH-1 Classic, Rockband, Guitar Hero, etc. It’s really put metal and classic metal back in the forefront. That’s a good thing.
In the last show I saw in Virginia, Lemmy said, “Don’t forget us” before starting their final song, Overkill. He’s done it consistently since then. It always makes me feel like he’s on his last leg saying, “It’s almost over…don’t forget us when we’re gone.” He’s no spring chicken these days but he still seem to be pretty mobile. His brain is certainly still sharp.
Overall it was a great show. Here’s the setlist:
Iron Fist
Stay Clean
Be My Baby
Rock Out (I think it was this song…it was from Motorizer)
Metropolis
Over The Top
One Night Stand
I Got Mine
1000 Names of God
Cradle to the Grave (!)
In the Name of Tragedy
Just Cos You Got the Power
Going To Brazil
Killed By Death
Whorehouse Blues
Ace of Spades
Overkill
I think I am missing a song between Tragedy and Power.
March 16, 2010
Motorhead
Live at Stubb’s, Austin, TX
I’ve been in Austin since November 2006 and this is my 4th time seeing Motorhead. Three times have been at Stubb’s and the other time was in San Antonio. This was my 7th show overall since 1993. Today I am tired. The SxSW music festival gets into full swing today and there are thousands upon thousands of visitors here.
I don’t like to miss Motorhead when they play. All of their shows are pretty consistent and every now and then they throw a few older gems into the setlist. When I saw them last year, it was the first time I was ever even slightly disappointed in their show. They had Matt Sorum on drums and it gave such a completely different vibe. Last night it was great to have Mikkey Dee back behind the kit. The dude is awesome.
When I got home from work I just sat down to decompress for a little bit. Then I heard Motorhead soundchecking. I opened my window and could hear Cradle to the Grave clearly. Sounded great. I was excited that it was going to be in the setlist!
An hour later I went to the venue and met up with some friends and hung outside while Year Long Disaster played. I couldn’t really tell whether I liked them or not. I couldn’t hear the crowd cheer after any songs either. Weird. We went in as The Sword started. I’ve seen them before and I’m not a big fan. I did think it was cool that their second to last song was Thin Lizzy’s Cold Sweat. They did a good version but it was weird hearing it played tuned down.
Motorhead came on and did a great show. They were steady, not overly fast…tight. Lemmy was funny and it was nice to see Phil active on stage. Last year he looked terrible. He stated that he was sick last time, so that made sense to his previous performance. Lemmy did his typical “this song came out before most of you were born” line. His statement was very true. Lots of younger folk in attendance these days thanks to VH-1 Classic, Rockband, Guitar Hero, etc. It’s really put metal and classic metal back in the forefront. That’s a good thing.
In the last show I saw in Virginia, Lemmy said, “Don’t forget us” before starting their final song, Overkill. He’s done it consistently since then. It always makes me feel like he’s on his last leg saying, “It’s almost over…don’t forget us when we’re gone.” He’s no spring chicken these days but he still seem to be pretty mobile. His brain is certainly still sharp.
Overall it was a great show. Here’s the setlist:
Iron Fist
Stay Clean
Be My Baby
Rock Out (I think it was this song…it was from Motorizer)
Metropolis
Over The Top
One Night Stand
I Got Mine
1000 Names of God
Cradle to the Grave (!)
In the Name of Tragedy
Just Cos You Got the Power
Going To Brazil
Killed By Death
Whorehouse Blues
Ace of Spades
Overkill
I think I am missing a song between Tragedy and Power.
Lemmy: The Movie – A Review Of Sorts
Let’s go back to Norfolk, Virginia 2004. My friend Jeanne introduced me to Marco who had been doing some tattoo work on her. She kept telling me, “You should meet this guy. He’s big into Maiden and Motorhead like you are.” So at some random show we were introduced and just started talking about music. When the conversation turned to Motorhead, we both stated that our favorite was the Another Perfect Day album. That album seems to one that many people love to hate. I think it’s flawless. Marco said, “If I could find someone who’d let me put that cover on their back, I’d do it for free.” Instantly my compulsive side kicked in and I said I’d do it.
So in April 2004 we started work on this major backpiece. I clearly remember during the first session, which lasted 6 hours, Marco said he ultimately would love to get a pic of my back, him and Lemmy together. After 88 hours of work over the course of about a year and a half, we finished it. There were some pretty brutal sessions for both of us.
I moved to Austin, TX in 2006 and after tonight I will have seen Motorhead 4 times since I moved here. We tried to get this photo with Lemmy 2 years ago and didn’t get it as I was balled up on the floor of my bathroom from a kidney stone. Marco was at a titty bar with Lemmy trying to call me…no go. Last year we got backstage at the Motorhead/Rev. Horton Heat show and I thought I’d get the photo done, this time without Marco being in town. Again, no go. Lemmy was elusive once again.
So last summer the producer of the The Lemmy Movie emailed me and asked my tribute band to do Ace of Spades to potentially be in the movie. Of course we obliged. The producers, Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoshi, was going to piece together a bunch of the tribute bands doing Ace.
A month or so ago I found out that the movie was doing the world premier at Austin’s SxSW Movie Festival. Sweet! The theater was 4 blocks from my house. I called Greg to ask if we made the final cut and he said he had to trim the tribute band stuff out due to time constraints but that it may make the DVD version in the extras or something. No worries.
So with the movie premiering here, Marco booked a flight to come in to see it and the concert. Film Festival passes range from $500 and up. I had no inclination to buy one of those. The theater released some tickets for $12 with no guarantee of admission. Festival badge holders had first come first serve right to see all films, but I figured if we got in line early enough, we may still get in. We got in line at 4pm for the 6:45PM screening. We were 4th and 5th in line. The faithful! The badge line was getting really long, going around the block and I was getting worried that we wouldn’t get in.
Lemmy, the band and the movie producers rolled up in a limo and did some interviews out front on the red carpet and then the SxSW folks let in the badge holders. We were told that they thought everyone who wanted in would get in. As the movie started and to the end there were still some vacant seats. I was a bit surprised.
The movie itself was quite enjoyable. It wasn’t so much of a chronicle of Lemmy’s life but more of the last 3 years, however there were some good flash backs to the Rocking Vicars and Hawkwind. Lots of good cameo interviews, especially from Dave Grohl and Billy Bob Thornton. There were a few moments when Lemmy was sitting with his son that were quite personal and nice to see. Scott Ian has some really good stuff to add. It was nice to see Fast Eddie and unfortunately there wasn’t a Philthy interview.
There were a few moments where you saw some emotion come from Lemmy. It was cool to see it. It was captured well. The movie really shows his awesome and witty sense of humor. When you see it, just remember, “Don’t worry, be happy.” One of the funniest things I have ever seen.
It was also verycool to see his apartment. It’s small, unassuming and simple. Full of his WWI/WWII collectibles and just stuff. Lemmy has a lot of stuff.
The only thing that I can say that I didn’t like about it was all of the Metallica footage. I completely understand why it was there, but my long-running dislike for that band just makes me cringe when I see them talk or perform. But…they are huge fans of Motorhead and have always been vocal about it for as long as I can remember.
So after the movie they did a quick Q&A with the producers and the band. You could see how excited that Greg and Wes were, as they should be. They’ve worked on this for 3 years and things like this become a labor of love. Good work, guys!
After the Q&A, Marco and I just hung out in the theater to see if we could get the photo that we have been trying to get for years. I was getting nervous. I’ve been told that I “may” have backstage access for tonight’s show, but it’s not guaranteed. I caught up with Greg and asked if he could set it up really quickly. He told us to hit the side exit o the alley as that’s where the band was. Security had already stopped a few folks from exiting through that door…but we made it.
The band was standing in the alley just talking and making a few jokes about the movie and Marco and I just stood a few feet from them. Their conversation stopped and I looked at Lemmy and said, “Lem, I’ve got Another Perfect Day tattooed on my back and this is the guy who did the work. Can we get a photo or 2?” Thankfully he obliged. I removed my shirt and he said, “Motherfucker. That had to fucking hurt. Looks great.” We snapped 2 photos, thanked him then headed back to a bar to do a celebratory drink.
I was elated. It felt like a weight was lifted off of both of our shoulders. Both Marco and I endured a lot in doing this tattoo and in trying to get this photo done…and finally…por fin…done. Boom.
So tonight…Motorhead at Stubb’s. Can’t wait!
The Metal Files 
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