Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi pays tribute to his friend Lemmy Kilmister Motörhead! who died today, after being diagnosed with cancer on Boxing Day – Tony heard the news when his bandmate Ozzy Osbourne called him first thing this morning from America.
Posted by BBC Midlands Today on Tuesday, December 29, 2015
The greats of rock and metal keep heaping their praises upon late Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. Black Sabbath legend and frequent tour mate of Lemmy’s, Tony Iommi, shared his memories of Kilmister in an interview with BBC Midlands Today.
“I think Lemmy is the epitome of rock and roll,” Iommi declares. “He’s always lived a wild lifestyle. It’s the whole thing: sex, drugs and rock and roll. And he really lived that life, and he loved it … There was never any food (on Motorhead’s rider); it was always two bottles of Jack Daniels, two bottles of vodka, a couple of cases of beer. And that was them; that’s the way they were. And they didn’t pull any punches; people knew how they lived. And they really did live that lifestyle.”
Iommi knew Lemmy from back in his Hawkwind days, later becoming good friends from touring together so often when Lemmy fronted Motorhead. “In all the different incarnations of Sabbath — from the Ozzy [Osbourne] period, Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan — it was always Motorhead with us,” Iommi remembers fondly. “Which was great. I mean, they were really a fun bunch and a really nice gang of… really nice band, you know.”
Though it was extremely sudden, Lemmy’s death came from cancer, which Tony Iommi has been fighting since 2012. “Every time one of my friends go, and it’s that. It’s, ‘Oh, God!’ You don’t know how far away you are from it. But you just plod on. And I’m still here. And, unfortunately, he was saying that not long back — that he’s still here and all ready to go out and tour. And that’s the thing with him. He’ll tour even when… When we were on tour, I never saw Lemmy ever cancel a show — except once, when we were in Los Angeles and they were on tour with us. He was that ill that they had to cancel the show. Otherwise, never … He was a real trooper.” [via Blabbermouth]
Further tributes to Lemmy Kilmister have been released by friends like Ozzy Osbourne, Corey Taylor, Kirk Hammett, Tom Morello, Lars Ulrich and many others.
Rockers We’ve Lost in 2015
10 Unforgettable Lemmy Kilmister Moments
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