Lemmy’s ‘unlikely’ health regime

Motorhead icon Lemmy has admitted that his lifestyle finally caught up with him during his recent bout of ill-health – and he’s got himself an exercise bike in a bid to return to full health.

His band were forced to postpone a European tour in support of latest album Aftershock, due to commence in early November, after he realised he hadn’t got over the illnesses that saw him spend three weeks in hospital over the summer.

Speaking on RockLine Radio earlier this week, Lemmy says with a laugh: “It’s my lifestyle catching up. It was bound to catch up sooner or later – I shouldn’t have slowed down.

“I have an exercise bike, and that should say enough. Everyone that knows me knows how unlikely that is. I’m getting better slowly.”

He admits he was suffering while Motorhead recorded Aftershock, particularly during vocal sessions. “My health was rotten,” he says. “I wanted to get through it quick and go home.”

But the frontman, who’ll be 68 in December, retains plenty of his infamously uncompromising attitude. Asked what he thinks of the album’s positive reviews, he replies: “We’ve been around so long they have to give us a good review now – they can’t think of anything bad to say.”

And on the subject of whether it’s been difficult to act so furiously independently since forming the band in 1975, he says: “No, it’s been really simple. It’s a lot simpler than trying to change all the time to please everybody. It’s dead easy: you just say ‘no!’ Learn that word. Learn ‘no’. If they want you to cut your hair, dye it pink and play that beautiful song – ‘no’.”