Motorhead History

Lemmy was fired from Hawkwind in May 1975 for, as he says, "doing the wrong drugs". He was arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine at the Canadian border and spent five days in prison causing the band to cancel some of their North America tour dates.Now on his own, Lemmy decided to form a new band, originally to be called 'Bastard'. Douglas Smith, the band's manager, advised him that, "It's unlikely that we're going to get on Top of the Pops with a name like 'Bastard'". Lemmy concurred and decided to call the band 'Motörhead', inspired by the final song he had written for Hawkwind.The name of the song "Motorhead" is an American slang term for a speed-freak.

Lemmy's stated aim was to "concentrate on very basic music: loud, fast, city, raucous, arrogant,
paranoid, speedfreak rock n roll... it will be so dirty that if we move in next door to you, your lawn will die". On the recommendation of Mick Farren, he recruited Larry Wallis (ex-Pink Fairies) on electric guitar and Lucas Fox on drums. According to Lemmy, the band's first practice was in a furniture store in Chelsea, England in 1975. Kilmister has said they used to steal equipment, as the band was short on gear. Their first gig was supporting Greenslade at The Roundhouse, London on 20 July 1975. On 19 October, having played 10 gigs, they became the supporting act to Blue Oyster Cult at the Hammersmith Odeon.

The band were contracted to United Artists by Andrew Lauder, the A&R man for Lemmy's previous band Hawkwind.They recorded sessions at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth with producer Dave Edmunds, during which Fox proved to be unreliable and was replaced by drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, a casual acquaintance of Lemmy's. Their record label was dissatisfied with the material and refused to release it, although it was subsequently issued as On Parole in 1979 after the band had established some success.

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