In a hilarious new interview with Metal Hammer, Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell shared a story that perfectly captured the legendary temper and stubbornness of his late bandmate, Lemmy Kilmister.
The incident, according to Campbell, took place at A&M Studios in Los Angeles while the band was working with producer Howard Benson. An argument broke out between Lemmy, Campbell, and drummer Mikkey Dee.
“Me, Lem and Mikkey ended up arguing about something,” Campbell remembered. “Howard said, ‘I can settle this for you now, I’ve been recording the last 20 minutes.’ It turns out Lem was wrong.”
Lemmy, who was not accustomed to losing an argument, reacted in the most Lemmy way possible.
“He was eating this cheeseburger,” Campbell continued, “and he suddenly rammed it into the mixing desk, getting all this cheese and lettuce gummed up into this $2,000,000 desk.”
The act left the producer in a panicked and bizarre situation. “Poor Howard, he had to call out and say, ‘Can we get a repair man? Lemmy from Motörhead’s just trashed our desk with a cheeseburger.’”
Campbell, who played with Lemmy for 23 years, clarified that while Lemmy was “a gentleman 99% of the time,” he did not tolerate being crossed.
“He was always very polite to people,” Campbell said, “until something pissed him off and then he’d fight for his rights. You could only push him so far. He couldn’t stand to be surrounded by idiots.”
Drummer Mikkey Dee, also part of the interview, had a slightly different take on Lemmy‘s temper.
“Sometimes he was a little f**kin’ girl, if he was screaming at us about nothing,” Dee stated bluntly.
However, Dee explained that these blow-ups were part of their family-like dynamic and never personal. “But we would scream right back! We had great arguments, in such a friendly way. Like a family should have… there was never trash talk behind anyone’s back.”
Following Lemmy Kilmister‘s death in 2015, Campbell and Dee announced that Motörhead would not continue. Dee went on to join Scorpions, while Campbell fronts Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons.
