Motörhead leader Lemmy Kilmister once got so upset about losing an argument that he rammed a cheeseburger into a studio desk.
Guitarist Phil Campbell, who played in Motörhead alongside Kilmister for 32 years, makes the revelation in a new interview with Metal Hammer.
The falling-out was between Motörhead’s then-members – Kilmister, Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee – and happened at Los Angeles recording facility A&M Studios, with producer Howard Benson present.
“Me, Lem and Mikkey ended up arguing about something,” Campbell remembers. “Howard said, ‘I can settle this for you now, I’ve been recording the last 20 minutes.’ It turns out Lem was wrong.”
The singer/bassist didn’t take his loss very well.
“He was eating this cheeseburger,” Campbell continues, “and he suddenly rammed it into the mixing desk, getting all this cheese and lettuce gummed up into this $2,000,000 [£1,535,010] desk. Poor Howard, he had to call out and say, ‘Can we get a repair man? Lemmy from Motörhead’s just trashed our desk with a cheeseburger.’”
Campbell tells Hammer that Kilmister, who founded Motörhead in 1975 and passed away in 2015, was “always very polite to people” but didn’t suffer fools gladly.
“He was a gentleman 99% of the time,” he says, “until something pissed him off and then he’d fight for his rights. You could only push him so far. He couldn’t stand to be surrounded by idiots.”
Dee goes a step further when talking about his ex-bandmate’s temper, saying, “Sometimes he was a little fuckin’ girl, if he was screaming at us about nothing.”
He adds: “But we would scream right back! We had great arguments, in such a friendly way. Like a family should have. There was never any pissing or moaning – there was never trash talk behind anyone’s back.”
Kilmister died on December 28, 2015: four days after his 70th birthday and two after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Campbell and Dee announced shortly afterwards that Motörhead would not continue without the band’s founder. Campbell went on to launch Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons, while Dee joined German hard rockers Scorpions.
This May, a statue of Kilmister was erected in his birthplace of Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent. Stoke-On-Trent Lord Mayor Lyn Sharpe appeared at the unveiling and said, “Lemmy was one of us.”
A punk rock Motörhead tribute album, Killed By Deaf, came out last week. Rancid, Anti-Nowhere League, GBH and Pennywise are among the bands who appear.
