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Words by: Kristyn Clarke
Photos by: Ken Schuler
Another country, another town, another place, the greatest road
warriors in rock have once again bled their sweat all over another
stage. A sold-out crowd roars their approval. Here we go: Lemmy
steps up to the mike…
"WE ARE MOTÖRHEAD ! . . . AND WE PLAY ROCK'N‘ROLL !"
In celebration of their 35 years on the road, on January 24th
Motörhead Music/UDR was proud to present: The Wörld
Is Ours-Vol 1 - Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else,
a blistering DVD containing some of the finest moments from the
tour, including the entire performance from Chile's Teatro Caupolican,
shot and filmed in classic black and white by Banger Films and
Sam Dunn (Iron Maiden Flight 666, Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage).
Mixed by the band's long-time producer Cameron Webb.
On January 26, Motörhead make their return to the U.S. and
Canada on the multi-bill festival, GIGANTOUR, with Megadeth, Volbeat
and Lacuna Coil. Gigantour is a chance to tour with like-minded
artists 'that play heavy music in a high-energy environment,"
says Dave Mustaine. The tour will kick off on Jan. 26 in Camden,
NJ and run through Feb. 28 in Denver, and will include stops in
NY (Jan. 28) and Los Angeles (Feb. 24).
Kristyn Clarke was able to catch up with legendary Motorhead
drummer Mikkey Dee at the kick-off tour stop for Gigantour 2012
in Camden, NJ! Read the interview below to see what is coming
up for Motorhead, expectations for Gigantour, and more!
Also
be sure to read PCM's concert review for Gigantour 2012!
Q: With this being the kick-off of Gigantour, what are your
expectations for the tour?
Mikkey Dee: We pretty much do a proper U.S. tour every
year, at least we try to do that, we tour so much that it is a
little crazy. This tour has a good bill, I love every single band
that is on here and it's not every tour that you do that to tell
you the truth or at least we don't..this time it is a good package.
I believe that it is going to do very well, hopefully people will
come out and see this tour.
Q: You guys are certainly road warriors! Do you have break
coming up anytime soon or are you going to keep things going once
Gigantour is over?
MD: Actually we are going to try to slow things down this
year a little bit with the touring; we can't continue the way
we have been going for the last five to eight years. It has been
too brutal really on the road. I don't exactly know what we are
doing right after this, we are going to have a little bit of a
break for sure. We have been touring for a year now.
Q: Exactly and you guys are used to putting out an album every
other year or every two years.
MD: Every two years and we usually start writing about
now by the end of January so obviously we are on this tour so
that is what I can't say what the hell we are going to be doing
because I think Phil and I are going to be headed out to LA to
try and get some writing done after this tour.
Q: You just released the live DVD The World Is Ours Vol.
1: Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else. What led to the
decision to focus on the show in Chile? Was it hard to choose?
MD: Yeah it was, but it's the way it came out I thought
the recording in New York was a bit of a disappointment, personally
I would hope this whole DVD was from that particular show.
Q: New York had a part in the DVD though, correct? Are you
going to do another DVD?
MD: Yeah, Yeah, Part 2 is coming. The recording [in New
York] didn't turn out as good as we thought, it actually turned
out quite crappy to tell you the truth so we were a bit disappointed
about that. Sound-wise it wasn't that good, performance-wise it
wasn't that well either for some reason, it was a good show but
there were a lot of stupid mistakes. Things we never really ever
do and they just happened that night. Things broke, I broke stuff
I never break and the amp went out, it just wasn't the night.
Looking back through the footage we decided it wasn't good enough.
Chile was magic, Manchester was okay so we just thought we would
use most of the footage from Chile and make it black and white;
the crowd was absolutely crazy down there.
Q: They always are from what I hear.
MD: They are insane! Actually we are talking about giving
the U.S. a whole DVD because the first one was in England, the
second one in Germany, and I said what could be better than giving
the U.S. one and I think we should choose maybe New York or Chicago
or Detroit, or some more metal town than anywhere else.
Q: What would you say is the best market for you, here in
The States? Does it vary?
MD: It is about the same everywhere. It is just the vibe
and when we play New York it is always crazy, it could really
be Philly or DC or anywhere or Boston you know…
Q: Philly fans are pretty crazy (laughs)
MD: It is easy for companies to fly straight into New
York, it's more of a vibe when you do play up there so that's
the thoughts right now.
Q: How do you feel about the overall evolution of Motorhead's
music?
MD: I'm happy. (laughs) I don't know what you expect me
to say to that? I think we walk steady forward and I'm happy.
We are taking small steps ahead all the time and I am actually
very thankful for that I hate those big movements in any direction
even if it is for the better or the worse. I would much rather
be just one step ahead on each record because we have a really
tight little frame work we can work within to make an album sound
exactly like the old s**t but still new and it's very hard.
Q: You have some many new bands out there throwing in a lot
of electronic elements and I am wondering sometimes where the
solid rock n' roll music disappeared to? (laughs)
MD: (laughs) Don't get me wrong! All three of us like
to experiment and we like to do different things but we have to
move and do that on our own because Motorhead stuff is very within
a frame. We can be trying bits and pieces yes, but it still has
to be Motorhead at the end of the day. It has to sound Motorhead.
We could write a Motorhead record that would make people say 'Oh,
god, what is this?' and it could be the best album we have ever
done but it's not the Motorhead sound, so we have to be a little
careful there.
Q: What would be one of the most surprising influences for
you personally?
MD: I don't think anyone would be that surprised to hear
that I like a lot of jazz fusion, funk, and soul, pop rock, I
mean I am a very wide music lover because to me I have played
a lot of different types of music in my career and to me to become
more of a complete drummer you really do have to be inspired by
all kinds of music. I was just at the NAMM show and listened to
some of the most amazing jazz people and it was incredible and
it makes me want to play that right now but unfortunately I can't
right now (laughs)
(Continued On Page 2)
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