LEMMY: 'If I Do Die Sooner Rather Than Later, I'll Be Satisfied With What I've Done'

Nick Duerden of the U.K.'s The Independent recently conducted an interview with legendary MOTÖRHEAD frontman Lemmy Kilmister. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On mortality:

Lemmy: "In your twenties, you think you are immortal. In your thirties, you hope you are immortal. In your forties, you just pray it doesn't hurt too much, and by the time you reach my age, you become convinced that, well, it could be just around the corner. Do I think about death a lot? It's difficult not to when you're 65, son."

"If I do die sooner rather than later, I'll be satisfied with what I've done. I've had a good life, I've been around the world, met all kinds of people. I've made people laugh, I've fucked chicks of every color, shape, religion and persuasion. I've had a whale of a time out of rock 'n' roll, and rock 'n' roll has had a whale of a time out of me. That'll do."

On the possibility of retirement:

Lemmy: "Can't see that happening, can you? This is how my life was always meant to take place: in the back of a tour bus somewhere, a girl I've never met before in my lap, and who will be gone by morning. It's how I live. It suits me."

On women:

Lemmy: "Girls always did loom large in my life. Every summer, these families would arrive from places like Manchester for their summer holidays. They'd come for a week, and their daughters were always up for a good time. They kept me very busy."

On being labeled a "heavy metal" band:

Lemmy: "We were not heavy metal. We were a rock 'n' roll band. Still are. Everyone always describes us as heavy metal even when I tell them otherwise. Why won't people listen?"

On whether he was looking for love during his endless conquests:

Lemmy: "Doesn't everybody? But falling in love is terrible. It makes you act foolish, like an idiot. You sign your life over when you fall in love, and it's awful, it's torture. You end up walking past their house at night and looking up longingly at their window... Who wants to live like that?"

On whether he has had his heart broken:

Lemmy: "Oh, many times. Women always left me because I wouldn't commit, but then nothing changes a relationship like commitment. If you move in with someone, you lose all respect for them. All them dirty knickers on the towel rail, all that snorting and farting. Does that appeal to you? Because it doesn't to me. When you first start dating someone, it's all about being on your best behavior, and that initial magic. I never wanted the magic to stop."

On living in his two-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood alone:

Lemmy: "So what? I've always been alone. I grew up alone. I like it that way. Even when I'm in an arena surrounded by 10,000 people, I'm alone in my head. It's a state of mind, isn't it?"

On his one particular friend, Scotty, whom he regularly meets for drinks at West Hollywood's infamous Rainbow:

Lemmy: "But that won't last for very much longer. [Scotty is engaged to be married.] And so that will be him gone — for a couple of years at least, until the novelty wears out, heh heh."

On whether he would consider being involved a reality-TV series:

Lemmy: "No, I would not. I didn't like what they did to Ozzy on that show. They made him look like a victim."

On being an enthusiastic collector of Nazi memorabilia for a number of years now:

Lemmy: "Look, as I've always said, it's not my fault the bad guys had the best shit. But by collecting Nazi memorabilia, it doesn't mean I'm a fascist, or a skinhead. I'm not. I just liked the clobber. And let me tell you, the kind of people who do collect this stuff, they aren't yobbos either. They are people with Masters [degrees], they are doctors, professors. I've always liked a good uniform, and throughout history, it's always been the bad guy who dressed the best: Napoleon, the Confederates, the Nazis. If we had a good uniform, I'd collect ours as well, but what does the British Army have? Khaki. Makes them look like a fucking swamp frog..."

Read the entire interview from The Independent.