Lemmy thrashes things out

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister grew up on a farm in North Wales wanting to breed horses. Instead, he became the fierce bridle of the heavy metal movement.

Lemmy is the 65-year-old founding member of Motorhead, the world’s fastest metal band. Motorhead is to headbangers what Dick Butkus was to football.

“I was going to breed stallions when I was 13,” Lemmy said in a conversation from his Los Angeles apartment. “But I heard rock ’n’ roll and it was over. Rock ’n’ roll became my new farm. Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis started it. Without them, none of us would be here.”

Motorhead has the devil’s moxie of Jerry Lee, the speed of Jimi Hendrix and the dark ethic of Hank Williams.

Lemmy was a roadie for Hendrix, for whom he used to score acid. Lemmy has claimed to have slept with more than 1,000 women by the age of 63. He lives in a rent-controlled apartment off the Sunset Strip. He pays $1,000 a month. The apartment is packed with collectibles such as Lemmy action figures and Nazi paraphernalia.

All of this is in the excellent documentary “Lemmy” (tag line: 49% motherf**ker, 51% son of a bitch”), which debuts Thursday night at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. The sound should be loud, but if that’s not your bag, the documentary also airs at 10:30 p.m. Friday as part of the VH1 Rock Doc series.

Then, at 10 p.m. Feb. 19, Motorhead headlines the beautiful Congress Theater. Valient Thorr opens, featuring a frontman who is reportedly “part James Brown/part hesher overlord.”

In the documentary, every major metal rocker pays homage to Lemmy, often eulogizing the Rickenbacker bassist. There’s commentary from Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Slash, Henry Rollins, Joan Jett and many more. Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction says, “Motorhead transcends movement.”

“People can’t believe I’m still alive,” Lemmy said of the tributes. “They imagine it’s not going to be long, anyway.”

Lemmy has diabetes and high blood pressure. He laughed and added, “I hope to prove them wrong.”

Call it ‘heavy rock’

Motorhead has released 24 records in 35 years. The band is named after the last song Lemmy wrote and recorded before getting kicked out of Hawkwind after a 1975 bust for amphetamines. Hawkwind left Lemmy on the side of the road in Niles, Mich. Motorhead’s current album is “The World Is Yours,” but their best sellers in the U.S. include 1982’s “Iron Fist” and 1986’s “Orgasmatron.” Expect Motorhead to mix new with old, including the classic “Ace of Spades” at the Congress.

Before a 1984 show at Metro, I pondered the band’s 50,000-watt sound level with Lemmy and his former drummer Philthy Animal Taylor in the Motorhead tour bus.

Lemmy said then, “If this band moved in next door to you, your lawn would die.”

“Lemmy” underscores the loyalty metal fans have for their music. Country is the only other musical genre that commands such fierce connections.

“Carrie Underwood is good,” Lemmy said. “And so is Kelly Clarkson. When women sing country, it’s the best song you’ve heard in your life. They’re the best singers, and Nashville has great musicians.” Lemmy once dueted with the late Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics on Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man.” Motorhead guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke produced the track but became so frustrated with Lemmy’s country diversion, he quit the band entirely.

Lemmy continued, “None of the pundits admit metal is even music. Its always frowned upon, which is f---ing stupid. Some of the best musicians in the world are playing heavy metal. I call it heavy rock. The guitars are made of wood. That’s not metal, is it?”

Motorhead has always been faster than heavy metal.

“We were more like the punks,” Lemmy said. “And the punks always liked us. We were the only long-haired band who made it through that.”

Lemmy has precious memories of playing Chicago. He has spot-on recall of venues and opening acts, like when the Cro-Mags opened for Motorhead on Halloween 1986 at the Aragon. The Cro-Mags were a five-man thrash band from New York City that featured three non-smoking, non-drinking Hare Krishnas. “John [‘Bloodclot’ McGowan, lead singer] went to the top of the PA and jumped in the crowd,” he said. “They caught him. He was lucky. It could have gone either way.”

His eclectic ‘stuff’

Lemmy is also an avid reader. He was a quarter way through the Keith Richards autobiography and has found it “quite funny.” He added, “I’m reading [thriller novelist] James Patterson.”

The documentary points out how Lemmy is a keen student of World War II.

“I was born the year World War II ended,” he said. “It’s close to my psyche. The Nazis? They knew how to put on a parade, I’ll give them that. It was the last pompous-marching, cartwheels, whistles-and-bells regime. They were the last to wear daggers and swords in social gatherings. It must have been amazing to wear those uniforms. They were made out of wool. They were great-looking uniforms for the wrong reasons. But that’s not my fault. Like I said in the movie, if the Israeli army made the best uniforms, I would collect them.”

Lemmy gets his military gear from Manion’s auction house and his knives from Dagger catalog.

“I have a couple hundred daggers and swords,” he said. He also has a Billy Bass singing fish in his bathroom. In the documentary, Lemmy says he “likes stuff because stuff is what happens.”

The militaria stuff does not inform Motorhead’s music. “Except I sing anti-war quite a bit,” he said. “War is f---ing stupid. Even if you win, the people you beat still think the same. I learned that fighting in school. Just because you knock the guy down doesn’t mean he thinks you’re right. He just has a black eye.”

Camera around every corner

“Lemmy” is the debut effort from American filmmakers Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver.

Lemmy was proud to point out that in December, “Lemmy” won Best Documentary at the Edit Film Festival in Santiago, Chile.

“Wes and Greg just showed up,” Lemmy said. “They seemed keen, so we told them to come on for a week and we did a pilot. It was f---ing good, so we said go ahead. Little did I know they would follow me around for almost three years. It was f---ing murder. Every time I came around a corner, there would be a camera. But they had to put up with us, too. They were fans. They knew what they were doing. If it was just two television people, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

One of the ‘gotcha’ moments of the documentary is when Lemmy pays homage to his son Paul. The filmmakers catch Lemmy with his roguish guard down.

“My son produces and manages a band called the Janks,” Lemmy said. “We’ve been in touch since he was 6 when I first got to know him. He’s a good kid. We’ve swapped girlfriends twice. The reason I haven’t gotten in touch with my other son is because I don’t know if he knows I’m his father. He might think his stepparents are his father and mother. I don’t want to screw his life up and I don’t have the right to do that.”

Lemmy has never been married. In the documentary, he reflects, “Security means you have to give up everything that might be a risk. That’s why I’m not married.”

Lemmy turned 65 on Christmas Eve. He did not go to the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Los Angeles, his favorite hangout for Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola, video trivia and spicy chicken strips.

He went to Las Vegas alone.

“It’s become a tradition over the past five years,” he said. “I go to Vegas in case anybody throws me a surprise party. That happened one year, so the next year I went to Vegas. There’s nothing worse than surprise parties when you don’t feel like it, and everyone goes, ‘HEYYY!’

“Aw, f--- off.”