Lemmy's death stuns Kiwi fans

Motorhead bassist Lemmy Kilmister performing on the Pyramid stage during Glastonbury Music Festival. Photo / AP

The death of Motorhead frontman and bassist Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister has left his Kiwi fans in disbelief.

Kilmister's agent Andrew Goodfriend confirmed the rocker died yesterday in Los Angeles after a brief battle with aggressive cancer.

At the Wellington Rock Shop, staff responded to the news by playing Motorhead all afternoon, and store manager Hayden Okey said the tributes would keep playing today.

Born Ian Fraser Kilmister, 70-year-old Lemmy was remembered for his influence on countless musicians, and for his raucous, hard-living exploits.

Mr Okey said Motorhead's New Zealand gigs attained legendary status, and local bands covering the group's hits also earned a touch of infamy.

Mr Okey said his former band Regrowth used to cover Ace of Spades and Killed by Death at New Plymouth's White Hart Hotel.

"Every time we did that, there was always a riotous end to the evening, that's for sure."

Mr Okey said customers and his colleagues in the industry were despondent about Lemmy's death.

Former Motorhead drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor died last month, and Lemmy's passing marked the end of an era, Mr Okey said.

"Everyone's pretty sad, because I mean he was basically like a legend. You've got Keith Richards, but you've also got Lemmy, who's done it just as hard and just as long, if not slightly harder at times.

"You never thought it would happen," he added. "Lemmy was always around."

Mr Okey said Lemmy and Motorhead's "faster, harder edge" massively influenced many rock, heavy metal and punk bands in New Zealand and abroad.

He said only a potent illness, such as aggressive cancer, could have killed Lemmy because the rock star had "the constitution of a bloody draught horse".

Lemmy reportedly drank a bottle of Jack Daniel's a day during his career.

Los Angeles-based sound engineer Mark Dearnley, who has worked with Motorhead both in LA and London, told the Herald last night of his sadness at Lemmy's passing.

"He was, without a doubt, one of nature's gentlemen and it was a privilege to know and work with him."

That was despite being presented with a photo inscribed "LOUDER You Bastard!" because "my studio monitoring levels never came close to Lemmy's preferred volume".

"I remember clearly when Lemmy came in to hear how the mix was progressing in the hands of a junior engineer - he listened for a few minutes then told me: 'It's no good, I can still hear all the instruments'."

Dearnley worked with Lemmy and Motorhead at London's Roundhouse Studios in the early 1980s and again in LA in the late 1990s on their Snake Bite Love album.

Herald columnist and former Deja Voodoo guitarist and singer Matt Heath said "there will never be another Lemmy."

He vividly recalled his introduction to Lemmy.

"The first time I saw him was on The Young Ones [TV show] doing Ace of Spades. It was like nothing I'd ever heard before or seen before.

"Singing up into his mic, strumming the bass furiously like a guitar, weird growth on his face. I went and got that album the next day. It was so energetic. I couldn't handle it. It took a dozen listens before I could get my head around it."

Mr Heath said Lemmy was a legendary "loose unit" he was lucky enough to see live twice - most recently at Auckland's St James Theatre in 2005 where the frontman "was looking pretty good" for an old guy.

"Not that he ever looked great."

Heavy Metal icon Lemmy from Motorhead rocks the St James Theatre in Auckland. Photo / Richard Robinson

Former Herald reviewer and writer Scott Kara said Lemmy would be remembered for "fun, entertaining, thrilling" music.

"I interviewed him. It was really cool. It was sort of like a bucket list, in terms of interviews, to get Lemmy on the phone ... it was quite daunting, because he's pretty straight-up."

Mr Kara said there'd be plenty of Kiwis, himself included, playing Motorhead songs this New Year's Eve.

Overseas, superstars including Metallica, Ice-T, Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol and Brian May quickly paid tribute to Lemmy on social media.

In an obituary, the Guardian said Lemmy's hell-raiser reputation sometimes overshadowed his influence as a musician and songwriter.

"The Motorhead frontman's reputation as one of rock's most infamous hell-raisers belied his keen intelligence and interest in social and political issues."

A newspaper clipping purportedly showing an interview with Lemmy just before the birth of Motorhead in 1975 also surfaced on social media.

"They'll be the dirtiest rock and roll band in the world," Lemmy reportedly said. "If we moved in next door, your lawn would die."

- Additional reporting by Mathew Dearnaley