Ex-Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell recalled the final years of Lemmy Kilmister on the road in an interview with CatTales Podcast. Lemmy died of cardiac insufficiency in 2016 and according to his ex-bandmate, the last years of the bassist and singer were “difficult to watch”.
About the last years of Lemmy Kilmister, Phil Campbell said:
“Towards the last couple of years, Lem wasn’t quite himself. He just wanted to carry on. You could see Lemmy aging a little bit more, ’cause he was a fair amount older than the rest of us.
“But he was doing fine – he was playing fine. We just carried on. We kind of slowed it down a little bit, but it was still full-on touring compared to what other bands do. Us slowing down was just like full-on touring for many other bands.
“So we’d still go on tour for two months anywhere where they would have us… But Lem played basically like he wanted to do as long as he possibly could. But it was difficult to watch sometimes at the very end.”
About his life after Motörhead, Campbell said:
“For 30 years, it was like my routine, basically. Traveling on a bus and meeting at airports and soundchecks and having a laugh and watching TV and all the stuff day after day after day after day after day. All of a sudden, it just stops. But, great memories. We made some great music for people to still rock out to, so that’s great.”
The Welsh guitarist was born in Pontypridd, May 7, 1961. He was part of the band since 1984, remaining until the death of vocalist Lemmy and consequently closing the band’s activities. Phil started playing guitar at age 10, inspired by guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi, Jimmy Page, Jan Akkerman, Michael Schenker and Todd Rundgren. At age 12, Phil got an autograph from Lemmy at a Hawkwind concert.