Motörhead Frontman Lemmy: 'What Makes A Man...'

Motörhead Frontman Lemmy Tells Us What Makes A Man (It's A Very Short Philosophy)

Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister is one of the rare rock royals who's survived an entire career living with the amp cranked up to 11, yet pretty much looks the same as he's always done.

He's 68 - an age that defies belief when you take a look at him - and give or take a few changes (he had to swap his daily Jack Daniels for water and cigarettes for air after undergoing surgery for heart problems), he's still standing.

Not bad for a guy who thought he wouldn't make it past 30.

As he comes to the UK for the band's 35th anniversary tour (35!), we asked him some questions about THAT moustache and what he thinks makes a man for our newHuffPost UK Men section.





What do you think of the current younger generation of men, compared to when you were in your 20s?

I don’t really know, I mean, I know a lot of people that are that age and they’re all different like in my generation, some of them are clerks and some of them are rock ’n roll. I don’t think of anybody as a whole I think of individuals really.

You grew up on a farm in North Wales - which ain't exactly rock n roll central. How did you go from that to taking an interest in rock?

I heard Little Richard and Elvis and that was it, you know? Then I went to London because that’s where you had to be in Britain. You can’t do it from anywhere else really. Even the Beatles had to go to London.

What did music do for you, mentally or cathartically, when you first started out?

Oh, It was great you know, better than sex. Or better than the sex I was getting at the time.”

Why the noble mutton chop as a facial hairstyle of choice? Do you have to groom it and how long does it take?

Grooming it? I don’t groom it. I just cut it every now and again. Anyway it’s a fine style. I think more people should have’m.

We're hearing a lot of guff about young male musicians requesting peppermint tea and biscuits rather than Jack Daniels and strippers. Do you think the identity of the male rock star has changed?

It depends who you’re talking to really, doesn’t it. I mean some people are still wild, although it’s getting more and more difficult and uh… some people, you know, like the mineral water. I don’t know. I have to drink some of that shit now, but there ya go.

Tell us something about yourself that will completely surprise us?

One of my favorite bands is ABBA.

What advice would you have for your younger self?

That’s fucking ridiculous.

What do you like to do on a day off?

Day off? Listen. Most people get to clock out at the end of their days work. I’m Lemmy twenty four hours a day seven days a week. So, I don’t get to clock off. So I don’t have days off, I have days when less people are talking to me than others. (Ha ha ha).

What is a man?

A man is a guy with a dick and no tits.

Well, he's nothing if not honest.


Source: huffingtonpost.co.uk

Lemmy is "Getting Back There"

MOTÖRHEAD's LEMMY On His Health: 'I'm Getting Back There'

In a brand new interview with VH1.com, MOTÖRHEAD frontman Lemmy Kilmister spoke about his health more than a year after he suffered a haematoma (where blood collects outside of a blood vessel), causing the cancelation of a number of the band's European festival shows. Lemmy was also reporetedly fitted with a defibrillator because of heart problems.

"I'm getting back there," Lemmy told VH1.com. "We've just done two tours. It doesn't really matter what you do, it's how you do it and how you feel. I gave up smoking more or less. I have one now and again but that's about it. And I more or less gave up drinking or I switched to vodka instead of Jack Daniels, which is better for you apparently. If you're going to drink, that's the least harmful."

Asked what the worst injury was that he ever suffered on tour, Lemmy said: "Well, let's see. I once fell through a hole in the stage. I used to wear a bullet belt, right? It was chrome, you know, and I crushed two of the fucking bullets flat with my hip bone. That was an interesting half hour. Once we got on stage, by, like, the third song, I couldn't move at all from the waist down. But, you know, you have to go on 'cause there's three to four thousand people who have paid good money. You can't leave them just lying there, if you can help it. Any time we've ever canceled anything, it was because we couldn't actually physically do it."

Lemmy, who turned 68 years old in December, told Classic Rock he didn't expect to still be here at 30,

"I don't do regrets," he said. "Regrets are pointless. It's too late for regrets. You've already done it, haven't you? You've lived your life. No point wishing you could change it.

"There are a couple of things I might have done differently, but nothing major; nothing that would have made that much of a difference.

"I'm pretty happy with the way things have turned out. I like to think I've brought a lot of joy to a lot of people all over the world. I'm true to myself and I'm straight with people."

Asked if his illness last year has made him more aware of his own mortality, Lemmy said: "Death is an inevitability, isn't it? You become more aware of that when you get to my age. I don't worry about it. I'm ready for it. When I go, I want to go doing what I do best. If I died tomorrow, I couldn't complain. It's been good."

Source: vh1.com