The bassist, singer and songwriter Lemmy Kilmister started his musical career still in the 60s as a member of The Rockin’ Vickers and then as the bassist of Hawkwind. But everything really changed after he formed Motörhead in 1975, which became one of the most influential Heavy Rock bands of all time. The original guitarist of the band was Larry Wallis, but one year later they decided it was necessary to have two guitar players. So the drummer Phil “Animal” Taylor suggested a friend called “Fast” Eddie Clarke. But not long after the audition, Wallis quit the band and they continued as a trio.
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Due to creative differences, Clarke decided to leave the band in 1982 and formed Fastway. The band was named using Clarke’s nickname and the surname of the bassist Pete Way, known for being a member of UFO. But what was Lemmy’s opinion on the band formed by Clarke after leaving Motörhead.
What was Lemmy Kilmister’s opinion on Fastway
In an interview with Ram Samudrala back in 1996, when Motörhead was releasing the album “Overnight Sensation”, Lemmy was asked about Fastway. He replied, saying: “They’re gone a long time. The band was alright. I didn’t think the album was very good. They had a lousy singer. But Eddie’s has always been a good player.”
Besides Fast “Eddie” Clarke and Pete Way, the band’s original line-up also had the vocalist Dave King and Jerry Shirley. The band was active from 1982 to 1991 and reunited in 1998. Then they were active again from 2007 to 2018, when Clarke died at the age of 67. Pete Way was a member of the band only in the first year (1982).
During their career, Fastway released seven studio albums, but the most famous one ended up being the debut record. Especially because that album had their most famous tracks “Say What You Will” and “Easy Livin'”.
Their final studio album was “Eat Dog Eat”, released in 2011. Although there were creative differences between Eddie and Lemmy in the final moments of the guitarist in Motörhead, there was no bad blood between them after a while.
They even did interviews together back in the 80s. Also as can be seen in Lemmy’s statement, he really respected Clarke as a guitar player. Eddie played with Motörhead in some special occasions, like in a show in 1990 and another one in 2001.
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