MOTÖRHEAD Guitarist Says LEMMY's 'Hard Persona' Makes It Difficult For Him To Let People In

During a brand new interview with Wales Online, MOTÖRHEAD guitarist Phil Campbell was asked about the health of the band's mainman, Lemmy Kilmister, two weeks after MOTÖRHEAD's European tour was postponed.

"Lem had a pacemaker fitted earlier in the year because he'd been suffering from irregular heartbeats, and then his diabetes started playing him up," Campbell said. "But his ticker's fine now and he's made sufficient changes to his lifestyle and diet in order to combat the diabetes, it's just that he felt he wasn't 100% ready to go back on the road just yet. "As a result, we put the dates back a little bit to enable him to build himself back up to full fitness."

He added: "Look, none of us are getting any younger, so Lemmy's condition didn't exactly come as a massive shock. But the older we get the more we tend to be there for one another and back each other up.

"The main problem is that he's displayed such a hard persona all his life that it makes it difficult for him to let people in. He's like the John Wayne of rock — always wanting to soldier on and handle things on his own, you know?"

Lemmy recently spoke to U.K.'s Classic Rock magazine about his health issues that have caused the band to cancel a number of European festival appearances this past summer — including shows in France, Germany and Russia. The dates were called off when doctors discovered an unspecified haematoma, a pool of leaked blood gathered in Lemmy's muscles. The legendary rocker is also suffering from Type 2 diabetes, diagnosed more than a decade ago, and has had a defibrillator fitted earlier this year to iron out the uneven bumps in his heart.

Lemmy takes two pills every day for his diabetes, which has affected the circulation in his legs. As a result, his legs stiffen and ache if he walks too far and his back hurts if he stands for too long. "But I can still stand at that mic every night and play my songs," he said. "I wouldn't know about the defibrillator if it wasn't for that fucking lump in my chest," he said. "I'm getting better."

Lemmy, who turns 68 years old in December, told Classic Rock he didn't expect to still be here at 30,

"I don't do regrets," he said. "Regrets are pointless. It's too late for regrets. You've already done it, haven't you? You've lived your life. No point wishing you could change it.

"There are a couple of things I might have done differently, but nothing major; nothing that would have made that much of a difference.

"I'm pretty happy with the way things have turned out. I like to think I've brought a lot of joy to a lot of people all over the world. I'm true to myself and I'm straight with people."

Asked if his illness this year has made him more aware of his own mortality, Lemmy said: "Death is an inevitability, isn't it? You become more aware of that when you get to my age. I don't worry about it. I'm ready for it. When I go, I want to go doing what I do best. If I died tomorrow, I couldn't complain. It's been good."