MASTER Mainman: 'I Truly Hope That LEMMY And MOTÖRHEAD Will Live Forever'

MASTER mainman Paul Speckmann has posted the following message on the band's MySpace page:

"Lemmy Kilmister, aka God, was and still is my biggest influence from the early days when I began in WARCRY. There is no doubt that punk had a great influence on DEATHSTRIKE and MASTER in the beginning, but after hearing my first MOTÖRHEAD release called 'Ace Of Spades' in 1981, my life was forever changed. I had the pleasure of seeing Lemmy with one of his first lineups featuring Fast Eddie Clark as well as the legendary Philthy Animal Taylor at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago while they were supporting Ozzy on his first solo tour. This was just shortly after the 'No Sleep Til Hammersmith' album was released. It was evident at the time that the Chicago fans were still in the dark about MOTÖRHEAD, as only the first eight rows of fans were on their feet, the rest were sitting and waiting for the Prince Of Darkness. Up until this moment I had always regarded bassists that used a pick as real wimps. Lemmy changed my opinion on that particular evening. Before this, I was trying to emulate the skills of Steve Harris and really concentrated on my chops. After seeing Lemmy take the stage, I realized that image plays an important part of the show. Lemmy just had a strong image and attitude on this particular evening. I laugh at the bands today as the metal scene has been invaded by short-haired wimps. I mean, you look back at the early Seventies when the long-haired freaks like SABBATH and DEEP PURPLE reigned supreme, and you have to wonder what happened to image. Today, a bunch of short-haired sissies reign supreme. Of course, even the punk rockers have always had some sort of image. I remember seeing Wattie Buchan from THE EXPLOITED in Chicago in the early days, with spit trickling down his face and hanging from his mohawk. Wattie had an attitude as well. Today the record companies just support trendy bullshit. It's a bunch of rich kids that don't know the struggles of life and hard work. I went out and bought 'Bomber' and 'Overkill' shortly afterward. I went and saw many MOTÖRHEAD concerts after this first time during the beginnings of my various bands. I would see Lemmy again on tour with MERCYFUL FATE and the opener called EXCITER a few years later, and Mr. Kilmister would take the stage and talk negatively about KING DIAMOND, the makeup, and the Satanic bullshit, as he called it, right on the stage. What I liked about this was that Lemmy wasn't afraid to speak his mind, even right there on the stage. I have always felt that free speech is an important freedom and it should be practiced wherever and whenever necessary. At this time, I agreed with Lemmy, but I went to the after-show party on that very evening and spoke for an hour with the King over a bottle of wine, and years later began to appreciate King Diamond. My attitude has changed over the years regarding many bands. Some music is like a fine wine, and appreciates with age as do people sometimes. I would learn another aspect of professionalism from Lemmy once again. I walked into the Aragon Ballroom just before the recording of 'Another Perfect Day', and I would see this funny-looking red-haired goofball take the stage alongside Philthy and Lemmy. This comedian was dressed in a white jogging outfit and proceeded to fuck up about fifty percent of the set. I would watch Lemmy as he whispered in Brian Robertson's ear at the time when the change came. MOTÖRHEAD played old rock'n'roll songs as it was evident that Brian Robertson didn't know very many MOTÖRHEAD tracks and more than once fucked the ones up that he knew. Lemmy completely played it cool during this fiasco. A true professional was seen on this difficult evening. I have had some similar experiences in the past and learned from Lemmy that it's best to be cool or more mistakes will happen and the nightmare will continue. 'Another Perfect Day' was a killer album for me anyway, but opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. Many of the German critics have said that MASTER are the MOTÖRHEAD of death metal, and I have to smile at this. Could it be the bullets? I think not. I suppose it's the opinion that less is more. What I have always appreciated about Lemmy and MOTÖRHEAD is the ability to write simplistic, aggressive, heavy riffs with cool changes tying them together. In today's world, everyone is trying to be the fastest and most technical. The energy is lost among many of today's heavyweights of the metal genre. It's sort of like a technical ballet and the energy is lost. We live in a crazy chaotic world with problems stemming from idiots that run governments and control our destinies. This is not time for a ballet. True, honest music is what I am all about and MOTÖRHEAD is true honest music for me.

"I used to work at a company in Los Angeles called Load, Lock 'N' Roll, and MOTÖRHEAD stored their gear at the storage part of the moving company. I remember meeting Philthy for the first time. He got on the caretaker Rich Sneider's phone with Lemmy and they were arguing about the original drum cases that Philthy wanted back. Needless too say, Lemmy won the argument. I tried to convince the 35-kilo strung-out drummer to go upstairs with me and jam on Mikkey Dee's drumset, but he would have no part of it. Even the second time when he visited, when I mentioned the name MOTÖRHEAD, he left the building. I would go to see MOTÖRHEAD in Los Angeles the same year and my friend would smoke a joint mixed with tobacco and leave me at the venue. I went backstage with roadie Pap, and Lemmy would tell me that Rich left. Lemmy was totally cool with the situation where many others would have had an attitude about me bugging them backstage. I also met Mikkey Dee at a concert in Chicago once and asked him about his silly stint with DOKKEN as he was pissing in the urinal next too me. He exploded and said that DOKKEN was the best band he'd ever played with, and that he'd learned more from DOKKEN than from KING DIAMOND or MOTÖRHEAD. I left with a smile. I have too say that I have had the pleasure of seeing Lemmy and the boys numerous times in their history and respect is the key word here. I have nothing but the utmost respect for these legends called MOTÖRHEAD.

"I truly hope that Lemmy and MOTÖRHEAD will live forever."