CROWBAR's KIRK WINDSTEIN On LEMMY's Death: It Was 'One Of The Saddest Days'

CROWBAR frontman Kirk Windstein says that the day Lemmy Kilmister died was "one of the saddest days" of his life. Kirk told Hellbound.ca that he first heard about Lemmy's passing through his one-time DOWN bandmate Philip Anselmo. "I actually got the e-mail, it was at 6:06 Central Time. I happened to look at my phone — we had just got home — and it was from Phil, and he said, 'Lemmy died,' and another friend of ours had passed away, he said, 'So did Trey.' He said, 'This month sucks.' And I was, like, 'Oh, Jesus!' I told my wife and I just started crying."

Windstein also recalled first getting into MOTÖRHEAD's music when he was 16 years old. "I bought my first MOTÖRHEAD ‎record in '81, which was, I think, 'No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith'," he said. "I read one of the infamous articles where I'm reading the magazine… I'd heard of MOTÖRHEAD and everything and I was in high school — I graduated high school in '83 — so I was in high school and I had a Circus magazine or one of those, and they happened to have a little article on MOTÖRHEAD and they were voted the worst band, or called the worst band in the world, and Lemmy's quote was, like, 'We are the band that if we moved next door to you, your lawn would die,' or something along those lines. And I'm, like, 'These dudes have got to be heavy.' And my dad, believe it or not, he's 77, JUDAS PRIEST is his favorite band, he loves IRON MAIDEN, he loves TWISTED SISTER, SAXON, he loves MOTÖRHEAD. But he's always been just a clean-cut, three-piece-suit business guy. But he's driven us to PRIEST shows, he came and saw KISS and W.A.S.P. and whatever — he loves metal. But I remember getting 'No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith' and it was so raw. And I'm, like, 'Is it too heavy?' And he's, like, 'I don't know if it's too heavy, but it's really noisy for lack of a better word.' 'Cause, you know, it's MOTÖRHEAD — it's the most raw, rock and roll thing ever. And we were listening to it together. And then, when 'Iron Horse' came on, that was the first one that really caught me. I mean, I had heard 'Ace Of Spades'. And then he was, like, 'Oh, this band kicks ass.' And I'm, like, 'You know what? You're right.'"

Lemmy, who celebrated his 70th birthday on December 24, 2015, learned two days later that he was afflicted with an aggressive form of cancer. He died two days later, on December 28, 2015, at his home in Los Angeles.

CROWBAR is continuing to tour in support of its 11th album, "The Serpent Only Lies", which was released in October 2016.