As you said, there are a few bands coming around these days that are rediscovering that ethic. Do you think that approach has any traction in the near future?
That it will be like this?
If you feel that this approach that you’ve had for 30 years might finally catch on.
Maybe they’ll finally get the bloody point (laughs). To be honest with you, it is not as easy as I might make it to sound like. Why it’s not happening here—and it’s only here I’m talking, in the States—is because of the industry. A young band—you have to picture yourself as a young band that has never done a record— can sound very, very unique and great. But if they’re not playing and creating what’s on the dinner table here for this quarter, the flavor of the year if you will, then they ain’t gonna get any radio play, they ain’t going to get a record deal, they are not going to get any media attention. And they can continue struggling and hopefully they survive for several years. And maybe they have such a strong following that they just have to be picked up, basically, in some shape or form. These are the guys that stick up once in a while, but overall, if you’re not playing what’s on the dinner table, you don’t have a shot here.
In Europe and in Asia and maybe in South America, it’s okay to like Kid Rock and Uriah Heep the same day, you know what I mean? You can like Valient Thorr and you can like Deep Purple. It does not matter, and record labels sign a variety of musical hard bands. Maybe the focus would be on more upcoming and modern stuff, but overall they still have a catalog with a lot of different types of hard rock. That’s my point. Same goes for radio stations. They play Saxon. The next song is some brand new band from Oklahoma or something, that plays absolutely what the campus wants to hear today, and that’s okay too. That makes it so much more interesting, and I think the U.S. is actually turning toward the better way now, with the Internet and YouTube. Kids today that grow up, they’ve seen and heard a lot, lot more than an old bag like myself for instance. Or a previous generation. Today they have access to so much more than you had 15 years ago, 10 years ago. I think they just refuse to accept, pretty much.
When we toured here 10 years ago, everything that was out there was one type of band and one type of band only, and the only thing that came to Europe was one type of band. We almost laughed. As easy as you can see an American walk on European streets with his Dockers pants and his cellphone in a pouch. That’s an American (laughs). That’s what I mean, same thing. You can see it; that’s an American band right there. They look the same, they sound the same, and they’ve got the same ideas. But today it’s starting to change.
Motörizer is available now through SPV. Motörhead will be performing on the Volcom Tour with the Misfits, Valient Thorr, Airbourne and Year Long Disaster at Philadelphia’s Electric Factory on Sept. 19, Roseland Ballroom in NYC on Sept. 20 and the Stone Pony in Asbury Park on Sept. 21. For more info, visit imotorhead.com or volcom.com.
