The

Interview

As the mutton-chopped brains

behind Motörhead, Lemmy has

always rocked — and lived — by

the credo “Everything louder

than everything else.” “Once, at

soundcheck,” he says, “this guy rang

up from four miles away and said he

couldn’t hear his TV.” Do tell…

By Matt Diehl

Photograph by Kenneth Cappello

PROP ST YLING BY AN TONIO BALLATORE

F“Lemmy’s the king of rock’n’roll.” And on this sunny L.A. February afternoon, the king is holding court. From his black cowboy hat and Civil War–reenactor duds to his sunken eyes, corpselike pallor, and questionable oral hygiene, Lemmy suggests the last of a dying breed. As the singer-bassist of Motörhead—one of the few bands worshipped by both punks and metalheads—he is a true UCK ELVIS AND KEITH RICHARDS,” Dave Grohl has said.

legend, who, besides appearing in the new Guitar Hero Metallica, has recently seen four of his band’s classic albums (Ace of Spades, Bomber, Iron Fist, and Overkill) get the deluxe reissue treatment.

A glass of Jack Daniel’s fused to his fingers, in person the man born Ian Michael Kilmister in 1945 comes off as a consummately polite, older English gentleman. He generously answers nearly any question, no matter how outrageous, but when the conversation dives too far into an uncomfortable zone, he’s quick to set one straight with a withering gaze. “Man, do you think can we stop talking about drugs?” he spits in his trademark guttural rasp. “I don’t want to talk myself into being arrested. It’s a very real risk, you know.” Indeed, Lemmy hardly seems to be mellowing with age. “I’m only interested in my band—never cared about anybody else,” he growls. “Still don’t. Everybody else can go fuck off!”

FOR MORE FROM LEMMY, GO TO SPIN.COM / APRIL 2009 67