Röadkill – Motörhead

After being sacked from Hawkwind in 1975, supposedly for “doing the wrong drugs,” Lemmy Kilmister decided to form a new band, originally to be called Bastard. Realizing that this would preclude them from commercial acceptance, he eventually settled on Motörhead, after a song he had written for Hawkwind. His stated aim was for the outfit to be “the dirtiest rock n’ roll band in the world”. The name Motörhead was derived from a slang term for an amphetamine user.

While the band are typically classified as heavy metal or speed metal, Kilmister has refused such labels, preferring to describe Motorhead’s style simply as “rock and roll.” Motörhead’s lyrics cover such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance abuse, and “life on the road”. Motörhead’s approach has remained the same over the band’s career and still does about 150 shows every year. They are widely recognized as progenitors of thrash metal, a fusion of heavy metal and what was soon to become hardcore punk. Consequently they influenced countless rock, punk rock, and heavy metal bands that followed.

The actual band members are: Lemmy Kilmister – Bass and vocals, Phil Campbell – Lead guitar and Backup vocals and Mikkey Dee at the Drums.

Pep Bonet has been documenting their life on the road during 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Photographs, Video & Narration: Pep Bonet | NOOR Music, Sound Design & Multimedia: José Bautista | KanseiSounds