HW: Motorhead

[M S Wright]

The occasion: An autumnal evening at the Brixton Academy, seeing a band
play in an attempt to to tide me over another month without a Hawkwind
gig.

So there we were, in the Beehive, drinking beer. And then we went to the
Academy, managing to avoid all these modern music support bands and
getting to the merchandising desk with plenty of time to make our wise
purchases. If I had one complaint about the evening it was this: Motorhead
coffee mugs. I fear that this is neither Rock nor Roll. I am looking
forward to the next tour's merchandise, fluffy slippers with the logo, a
deluxe limited edition set with leather soles? A pouch for your pipe
tobacco? Motorhead walking sticks? Hmmm....

As for the gig. I am of the opinion that trying to review a Motorhead gig
is like trying to find the chemical composition of various bits of lava
flying away from Krakatoa at supersonic speeds. You could try, but you
might as well just revel in the overall effect and magnitude of the event.
Because we arrived so late we were right at the back. This had some
advantages, we were near the bar, we could easily get to the toilets, our
eardrums did not explode.

A word on the volume, despite being as far away from the stage as it was
possible to be, and still see the stage, it was very loud. It was the
volume that allows the bass drum to wobble your clothes. About what you'd
expect from a Motorhead gig.

As for the stage setup. I have been to the Academy quite a few times, it
is a big stage and allows Hawkwind to fill it with dancers and fire
eaters. Motorhead have a minimal approach to stage design. three people,
three logos, some lights (mainly from behind) and lots of empty stage.
Well, that isn't entirely correct, some stage, but about half the usual
size of the Academy stage, the rest was full of speakers. Oh yes, and a
backline of Marshall stacks. Infact anything that wasn't full of speakers
or minimalist stage set was backline. And the lights, simple yet
effective. Lots of light (I guess to make the lighting crew feel as
important as the sound crew, both having excess of their chosen stuff).

The sound was sort of OK, in that I could hear what was going on, despite
the volume. I think Lemmy's vocals were completely indistinguishable,
which is as it should be. He did have bass problems, and did change in
Killed by Death, and then changed back, but I didn't notice. He also kept
tuning his bass, which I think is a nice touch.

As for the songs, I'm not sure about lots of them. I know they started off
with Bomber, and then No Class. After this I forgot the order, but it was
all top entertainment. After 20 minutes I went to the toilet, and
discovered that the vocals were clearer outside. I also discovered that I
had got a ringing in my ears.

I hadn't seen Micky Dee before, but he fits in well with the Motorhead
style. To my mind a Motorhead drummer should hit his entire kit as quickly
as possible all the time, apart from in Metropolis when he should hit most
of his kit very hard indeed, replacing speed by volume; he did this very
well.

The songs I can remember are Love for Sale (a subtle reworking of
Calvert's time for sale [no, not really]), maybe Don't Lie to Me, Civil
War, Over your Shoulder, Born to Raise Hell, I'm so bad (Baby I don't
Care), Going to Brazil (which is just so good, if you haven't got any
later Motorhead then this is one of the many superb songs you're missing
out on), Orgasmatron (a super fine song), Nothing up my Sleeve, Dead men
Tell no Tales, I got mine, Iron Fist, Ace of Spades, The Chase is better
than the Catch, Metropolis, Killed by Death. The Encore finished with
Overkill. There was something pure about the volume, speed and intensity
of finishing with this song.

Of course I could have made most of those titles up, but that is my
recollection. To sum up:

Volume, melody, rhythm and light, but mainly volume.

Cheers

Mike w