MOTÖRHEAD PHIL CAMPBELL: LEMMY “did it his way right to the end, which I'm really proud of”
05-01-2024
In a recent interview with “Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern”, former MOTÖRHEAD guitarist Phil Campbell reflected on the final days of the band’s leader Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister who passed away in December 2015 at the age of 70, shortly after learning he had been diagnosed with cancer. Phil said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We got a call, ‘You’d better come over, better fly over to see Lem. He’s not doing too well.’ But we never got a chance. So we never managed to say goodbye, unfortunately. But it’s like any other… when someone passes away, it’s not good. But we rocked, and Lem rocked till the end, till he could do no more. ‘Cause we were trying to get him to take a rest, but he wouldn’t listen to us. He did it — right to the end, he did it his way, which I’m really proud of. I’m glad did it like that as well.”
Phil added: “He said years ago that’s all he wanted to do, was create an unforgettable rock and roll band. So I think he definitely managed that. So, he can sleep upstairs or downstairs, wherever he is now, a happy man.”
Almost a year ago, Campbell was asked by Robert Cavuoto of Myglobalmind if he and his then-MOTÖRHEAD bandmates knew “things were not going well” when they were forced to cancel a number of shows due to Lemmy‘s declining health in the months leading up to his death. Phil responded: “Yeah, we knew, but Lem wanted to just carry on then. I know the last tour in Germany, I think one or two shows were canceled ’cause I ended up in hospital. And I came back out and we finished the tour. And that was the last tour then; the last show was in Berlin. So the last week of MOTÖRHEAD, actually I was the one in bloody hospital. But we never thought — when we parted at the end of the tour, we never thought that would be the last time we’d see each other. We didn’t have a chance to say goodbye, me or Mikkey (Dee, MOTÖRHEAD drummer), or nothing. I couldn’t even go over to the funeral, ’cause my doctor advised me not to, ’cause I was pretty ill myself in them days.”
In March 2023, Dee told Sonic Perspectives that Lemmy didn’t have any idea he was dying in the months leading up to his December 2015 passing. “I don’t think that he had those — I know he didn’t have these thoughts at all,” Mikkey said. “But he did struggle with his health, and that was a pain in the ass for Lemmy, because he wanted to live his normal life so much. But he had some good days and bad days. And ’15 was a tough year for Lemmy, and for all of us, obviously. But I know for a fact that he had no idea that he would actually pass away — I mean, die — by the end of that year; he had no clue about that.”
MOTÖRHEAD had to cancel a number of shows in 2015 because of Lemmy‘s poor health, although the band did manage to complete the aforementioned European tour a couple of weeks before his death.
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