““Ne v e r a na l y s e
r o c k ‘n ’ r o l l. Y ou s houl d jus t g e t t hat line u p yo u r s pi n e f r o m h e a ri n g i t ”.” LEMMY
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The making of the new Motรถrhead album Aftershock: in the words of Lemmy, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee.
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we’ve got a different feel and vibe. It’s automatically going to be a different thing, you know?
When Motörhead make an album, there is no Plan B. In fact, there isn’t even a Plan A. Lemmy: We never have a plan for an album. Never do, never have and never will! Our stuff all happens by accident. When it’s time to do an album we book a rehearsal studio for five or six weeks and see what the fuck happens. Phil: We just wanted to make a fucking brilliant record. And we did. Mikkey: We never really approach any record in a specific way. We just start writing. That’s one of the strengths of this band – it’s very spontaneous and a very unique way of writing. I don’t know any other band it would work for. And before we started on this record, we already knew that it was going to come out very different. It’s a different time, and
A Motörhead song will begin with an idea from Phil and Mikkey, then Lemmy tells them if it’s shit or not. Lemmy: The other two do most of the riffs, then I come in and mess them about and ruin them. Mikkey: It’s basically me and Phil that try to get musically as far as we can, really. We get most done if me and Phil can be left alone a little bit and just start it off, and Lemmy concentrates on getting lyrics and melody ideas. So we piece it together like that and of course we make changes here and there. Lemmy: Sometimes we write by jamming. On the new album, we wrote Dust And Glass that way, and Queen Of The Damned. But mostly, Phil and Mikkey will come up with something and then I come in and say, “I can’t sing to that! The verses are different lengths!”
“The other two do most of the riffs, then I come in and mess them about and ruin them.” LEMMY
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Mikkey: Sometimes Lemmy will say, “What the fuck are you writing here? What do you want me to do? Write to this shit?” So maybe we’ll change that. Sometimes he says that and we say, you know, “Fucking write your melodies better because this is the best riff we ever had!” Then he has to go home and redo it. So it’s back and forth. In the end it’s all three of us, really. Lemmy: I work any time the inspiration comes to me. It’s not like clocking in and out. You can’t write songs like that. Mikkey: This time we went back and wrote some more songs in the studio and recorded them on the spot. We had written two or three songs we thought were a little bit iffy. We weren’t happy with them so me and Phil flew over and we wrote another four or five really good songs so we had a few to choose from. Lemmy: There’s a lot of sounds I like. I don’t write for a particular sound. When we play, it ends up like that sound because it’s Motörhead. It’s like Status Quo got clobbered for playing the same song all the time, and we did too, but it’s not that – it’s just a very distinctive sound. Too bad if you don’t like it. Listen to something else! You’ve got a volume control. Mikkey: The angle on these new songs is a little different than we’ve done before. It’s not going to be punk rock and it’s not going to be a new ABBA song or anything like that; it’s going to be Motörhead songs. But there are a few slower, bluesier songs. There’s a few fast ones; there’s a few mid-tempos, a shuffle, and a lot of rock’n’roll.
And on Aftershock, Lemmy became fixated with one phrase… Lemmy: I write all the lyrics. On the first Motörhead album I wrote two lyrics with Mick Farren, but since then it’s been me. Mikkey: Sometimes I can read one of Lemmy’s lyrics and say, “You think this is good?” He might say, “No, I don’t know. I wasn’t too happy with it myself.” He needs input too, of course. But he’s such an insanely capable man with words, that I’m not even worthy of mentioning much there because he’s so good. It’s useless to try to interrupt there. Lemmy: If you get on a roll you can write four songs in one go. But then I’ve changed four or five of the new songs beyond recognition – I’ve changed the words. On this album I seem to have this fixation with ‘crossing the line’. I had four songs with that phrase on them, so I took it out of three of them. The good thing is, lyrics don’t have to make sense.
To get the Motörhead sound just right, you have to find the right studio. Phil: We recorded at three different studios in Los Angeles. First at Sunset Sound, and then we got a lot of stuff done at NRG Studios. And then at Paramount. It all depends on availability, and if we have to go out and do some shows in the meantime. Mikkey: It’s all done in different places. For a drummer, NRG is the best, but the others might not like to record their stuff there. Most of it was recorded at NRG this time. Lemmy: Getting the right studio makes more difference than you’d think. The band’s the same, but when you’re recording, some CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 5
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49% Motherfucker. 51% Son of a Bitch. 100% Rock ’n’ roll. LEMMY has lived and breathed Motörhead 24/7 since 1975. He never did get around to settling down and raising horses…
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Words: Mörat
n the dimly lit control room of Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California, sits a man dressed in black, his black cowboy hat nodding to music that cranks from several speakers. He has a drink in each hand – red wine in one, Jack and Coke in the other, the Jack apparently to disguise the taste of the wine. Some of the vast array of buttons and dials on the mixing desk move about on their own as if dancing to the music, and the man leans forward and turns the volume up. Somewhere in California, seismologists exchange worried glances. Motörhead have a new album. The man in question is, of course, Lemmy Kilmister – vocalist, bassist and living legend – and the rumours of his demise have clearly been greatly exaggerated. True, he’s slowed down, finally showing
signs of age. But it’s easy to believe that the silvertipped cane he now carries is as much for show as to assist his walking. And there’s a 50/50 chance it was made in Germany and has a dagger inside. Motörhead has been your life for almost 40 years now. Yeah. I am Motörhead all the time. When you work in a factory you get to clock out, but I don’t. I’m Motörhead 24 hours a day, so I think like that. I think Motörhead. That’s all I am to a very large extent. I know intellectually that there was a time when I wasn’t in Motörhead, but I can’t actually remember what it felt like. You’ve led Motörhead through good times and bad. What are the challenges of being the band’s leader?
“I’m Motörhead 24 hours a day. That’s all I am to a very large extent.” LEMMY CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 7
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For almost 30 years, guitarist Phil Campbell has been Lemmy’s right-hand man in Motörhead. Not bad for a guy who started out as a drummer in a cabaret band playing on bingo nights…
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n February 2014, Phil Campbell celebrates 30 years as Motörhead’s guitarist. Those three decades have seen the modest Welshman with the rampaging guitar and deep-as-the-valleys voice go from a freshfaced upstart tasked with the Herculean challenge of filling Fast Eddie Clarke’s boots – albeit alongside fellow six-stringer/partnerin-crime, the late and very lamented Michael ‘Würzel’ Burston – to the second-longest serving member of the band and Lemmy’s right-hand man. It’s a landmark anniversary, but one that he’s keen to play down. “I’m not big on making a fuss about things,” he says. Phil clearly isn’t one for nostalgia. “The past,” he says, “has already been well documented.” He’s infinitely keener to talk about Motörhead’s 21st album. “Aftershock is a brilliant record, even if
I say so myself,” he says proudly. “So what do you want to know about it?” How do you know when it’s time to make a new Motörhead record? Who calls who? When we get fed up of touring, that’s when. We start doing stuff in soundchecks, working up ideas and things, and it kind of grows from there. The record label actually wanted us to record last year, but we said, “No, we’re not ready.” We actually put our foot down for once. When did you start working on Aftershock? We did start working on some ideas last year, when we were touring – doing stuff in soundchecks, that sort of thing. And then we went into a rehearsal place earlier this year and did some more writing. It’s not like we’ve done in the past. Before, we’ve gone
“We write for ourselves and ourselves only. It means it’s pure.” Phil 8 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
KEVIN NIXON
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When Mikkey Dee joined Motörhead in 1992, some fans were appalled by his big hair. But the power of his drumming soon won them over, and he’s been kicking ass ever since.
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aised on the not particularly mean streets of Gothenburg, the teenage Micael Delaoglou abandoned a promising career as an ice hockey player when the allure of being a full-time rocker proved too intoxicating. This exuberant young man took the more drummerish name of Mikkey Dee and perfected his skills in a succession of local bands before finding infamy in the 80s with Denmark’s pro-Satan metallers King Diamond. He then joined Motörhead in 1992. Over the course of an entertaining conversation, Lemmy’s partner in hard rhythm will address the rumour that he wears a wig. It transpires that
Mikkey Dee’s hair is very much like the music he makes with Motörhead: reassuringly eternal in style and, above all, the genuine article. When did you first hear of Motörhead? I had a friend who called me over when he bought the first Motörhead album. I remember coming into his room. He was playing guitar on a tennis racquet and just going mental, jumping up and down. Did you pick up a racquet and join him? No – I said, “What the hell is this?” It was something you hadn’t really heard before. I was way more into Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and the Blue Öyster Cult and Rush. Whatever I listened to after that day, it felt like something was missing. You couldn’t get the brutality that Motörhead brought out. It was unique.
“These fans had seen Motörhead since day one and they did not accept me. I felt like shit.” MIKKEY CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 11
FRANK WHITE
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THE BIRTH OF MOTÖRHEAD. BY MICK WALL
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WAR-PIG, THE ICON.
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THE GOLDEN YEARS. BY DAVE EVERLEY
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GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES. BY STEFFAN CHIRAZI
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WHO KILLED BAMBI?
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SURVIVORS. BY DAVE LING
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THE BIRTHDAY PARTY: METALLICA HONOUR LEMMY
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THE MODERN ERA. BY DOM LAWSON
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Between 1979 and 1981, Motörhead were transformed from no-hopers into major stars via four classic albums: Overkill, Bomber, Ace Of Spades and the chart-topping No Sleep ’Til Hammersmith. For Lemmy, Philthy and Fast Eddie, these were the golden years. Words: Dave Everley CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 17
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In 1981, Motörhead seemed unstoppable. But in the following year, a bitter internal power struggle would lead to the departure of Fast Eddie Clarke – and plunge the band into chaos. Words: Steffan Chirazi
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THE AFTERSHOCK FANPACK
EXCLUSIVE FANPACK EDITION INCLUDES THE NEW ALBUM, 132-PAGE MAGAZINE, CAR STICKER AND GIANT DOUBLE-SIDED MOTÖRHEAD POSTER ON SALE 21 OCTOBER 2013. ORDER AT: WWW.MYFAVOURITEMAGAZINES.CO.UK/MOTÖRHEAD