How Anvil’s Guitarist Settled His Differences With Lemmy
Anvil guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow discussed how he settled his differences with Lemmy Kilmister after refusing to join Motorhead in 1983.
The Canadian was at work on Anvil’s third album, Forged in Fire, when the call came, after “Fast” Eddie Clarke left the British group. Kudlow has spoken in the past about his decision to remain loyal to his band. His rejection of the offer led Kilmister to establish a new version of Motorhead featuring Phil Campbell, who remained until the frontman died in 2016.
“Lemmy at first was really, really pissed off at me,” Kudlow said in a recent interview with Made in Metal. “But once he fixed the problem, he realized, ‘How can I be pissed off at him? I would have said no if he asked me.’”
"When you ask somebody who’s in the midst of doing something to come join your band and they say no because [they’re] too busy, then it’s not because they don’t like what you're doing," Kudlow noted. "But he had a harder time understanding. ... What he actually said to me [was], ‘Did you realize what the opportunity was and what I could have done for your career?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I did – but at the same time, it would have been detrimental to my career because [Anvil] would have had no third album.”
You can watch the interview below.
Kudlow said he was glad the pair managed to “bury the hatchet” later. "I went and toured the U.K. with Lemmy," he said. "We had that discussion about everything that had happened. … Lemmy [was] sitting there in the hotel room: ‘You did the right thing, man, because you're Lips and I’m Lemmy. There’s two bands here, and that’s better than one band.’”
He said of refusing the invitation: “It’s just that you can’t abandon your responsibility. You signed your record contracts.” Adding that the situation would have descended into “lawsuits” and “people fucking angry with each other,” he said, “Where are you going, and what’s the end game? What's the fucking point? Is it going to make that much of a difference?”