MOTÖRHEAD's LEMMY Slams 'Greedy' Labels Who Re-Release Albums With Bonus Material

MOTÖRHEAD is featured on the cover of the September 2008 issue of Metal Maniacs. The magazine features an extended interview with bassist/vocalist Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister in which he speaks about a wide range of topics, including the band's 24th album, "Motörizer", C.C. DeVille of POISON, SEX PISTOLS, the upcoming "Lemmy" documentary and much more. Excerpts follow:

Metal Maniacs: Bronze Records in Japan just released a series of nine MOTÖRHEAD albums, complete with cardboard sleeves and 24-bit remastering. Do you feel that in some cases the remastering and/or remixing process pisses the soul out of the music, and dulls the bite of the original recordings?

Lemmy: Well, why's it necessary in the first bloody place? If they're worth re-releasing because they're out of print or something, fine, but why not put them out as they were when they first came out? Oh yeah, because some record company guy wants to give a family member a job or something equally ridiculous! And then these greedy fucking labels add bonus tracks or live songs, and totally piss on what the album was at the beginning. If it was good enough to get the band a deal and be released the first time as it was, why add all these bullshit extras? Most of the time the bonus tracks are from different albums, or the live tracks are from a different lineup, it just takes a piss on the original and the people that were involved in the record the first time around. Every time I think about it, I just wanna grab a sword and impale the guy whose idea it was — 18 years later, "hey! Remember me?!" Actually, an axe would probably be better. People tend to fear an axe more than a sword, don't they?

Metal Maniacs: It's the blunt force, I think, instead of something sharp that's gonna take your head off clean.

Lemmy: Yeah, so cleave the desk in half, then the axe is only gonna take your head half-off, [laughs] so it's laying on your shoulder and you're still aware, just running around all panic-stricken… So yeah, an axe is better.

Metal Maniacs: You recently played a show with ALICE COOPER in Birmingham where anything metal, studded or potentially dangerous was banned from the audience, which struck me as silly. Sure, take away the wallet chains, but let the bands play at a billion decibels, and just decimate everyone's eardrums, that's fine!

Lemmy: There are a lot of people like that, but the English seem to be the funniest when it comes to asinine requests. I remember one place we played awhile back, we were advised that "in case of a fire, the phrase 'Mr. Brown is in the garden' will be broadcast over the P.A." Excuse me, but what the fuck? What if I misheard it and suddenly I'm trapped in the exit tunnel with a thousand other idiots who didn't know that Mr. Brown was actually in the garden the whole time!

The September issue of Metal Maniacs is on sale now.

For more information, check out www.metalmaniacs.com.