It is ten years since the world of hard rock, metal – and beyond! – mourned the passing (on December 28, 2015) of Lemmy, mercurial frontman of Motörhead and, before that, the thunderous bass that drove Hawkwind to never-again equalled heights.
Of course he has lived on in music and memory, and both Lemmy and Motörhead are, arguably, as beloved and inspirational today as they ever were at their peak. And Alan “Boomer” Davey – who followed Lemmy into Hawkwind in 1984 (nine years,and three bassists after Lemmy’s departure) – has done as much as any to perpetuate the legend.
The pair, after all, were close friends until the end of Lemmy’s life, with Davey crediting the bass solo in Hawkwind’s “Time We Left This World Today” with inspiring him to play bass in the first place.
“It’s got lots of note bending, growling bass chords and a bass/guitar solo element about it. I had no interest in music till I heard that.”
Hanging out together, Lemmy and Davey often jammed together and “Boomer,” as he is affectionately known, credits Lemmy’s example as the key influence upon his own playing style – an accolade borne out by Lemmy’s own love of Davey’s Motörhead tribute band, Ace of Spades.
“He said to me, ‘What’s this Ace of Spades band ya doing, Al, and why ya doing it?’
“I replied, ‘Cause I love the songs and I love playing them.’
“‘That’s good enough for me,’ said Lemmy. He gave me a hug and his blessing to carry on with it and use the name Ace of Spades.”
But there is more!
Davey has, over the years, led a number of bands and projects, among them Bedouin, the Psychedelic Warlords, Djinn and Pre-Med, alongside a string of solo projects. Closest to his heart, however, is Gunslinger – a resurrection of the band he led, alongside his cousin Nigel Potter, in the years before he first joined the Hawks.
“He got a guitar about the same time I got a bass, so we got together and started with a band called Stallion. Then it was Chainsaw and then onto Gunslinger. So Nigel and I stuck together from the start until I joined Hawkwind.” Potter, he adds, is also “one of the best songwriters the UK ever produced in my opinion.”
Indebted both to Motörhead and the newly-insurgent New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene, the original Gunslinger were very much a “local” band, chiefly gigging around their native East Anglia.
“We used to play the local scene, village halls, rock pubs, but we did some big gigs too, like Woodbridge Cinema and the Ipswich Corn Exchange (600 capacity).”
Gunslinger made its recording debut in 1981, after spotting a “demos wanted” ad placed by Neat Records. “It came down to two bands, Gunslinger and Raven. Unfortunately our drummer at the time left, and we couldn’t find another drummer in time to carry onto the next level, so Raven got the deal.”
Gunslinger’s repertoire would not be lost, however. The original line-up reformed for a one-off reunion show in Ipswich in 1985; and, in 2008, their debut album Earthquake in E Minor included material composed during the band’s original lifespan. Further early material appears on the live set, Unlawful Odds. Gunslinger broke up in 2014.
And now they’re back, with Amped Up, a triumphant new album that includes not one but two stunning tributes to Lemmy.
One, “The Ace,” Gunslinger’s last single, is a livid lyrical combination, as Alan puts it, of Lemmy’s own song titles with Davey’s experiences “hanging out with Lemmy at his house and out clubbing in London. What fun days they were!”
And now comes “Amped Up,” the new album’s volatile title track, originally written back in 1988, “after Lemmy asked me to write a song for a single we could release as a partnership.”
Alan made a quick demo which Lemmy loved. But the timing was off. Lemmy was also planning to relocate to the USA at that time and this, coupled with Motörhead’s exhaustive touring regimen, saw the project mothballed. Until now, and what a thrill it is to finally hear it, invoking the magic that the original collaboration would so effortlessly have cast.
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Elsewhere, too, Amped Up is gloriously infused with the spirit of Lemmy and Motörhead alike, an impression borne out too by the presence of that band’s original drummer, Lucas Fox on the sessions (Deep Purple’s Ian Paice, too, makes an appearance on “Amped Up” itself). And while the rest of the material is original, the elixir remains just as powerful, and just as rooted in Davey’s storied past.
“Black Glamdring,” for example, was the first song Gunslinger ever played together as a band,. “Luckily we had a boom box recording of it and it’s great to bring it back to life alongside four other songs that were among the songs Nigel and I ever wrote, in 1979-1980: Berlin Wall,’ ‘Stone Scared,’ ‘Smoke Wagon’ (originally titled ‘Draw’) and the classic ‘Living Like a Viking,’ all of which have been given the new lease of life they all deserve.”
Alan also credits Lemmy with the very sound and tone of Amped Up. It was Lemmy, after all, who encouraged the young musician’s own musical ambitions and style, which in turn allows Alan to proclaim, without an ounce of hyperbole, “the Motörhead sound still lives on through Gunslinger, Lem is still with us and always will be. I know 100% that Lemmy would’ve loved this album.
“We have that aggressive, high energy sound, but we have our own unique writing style… and that is a quote from a long time ago, from Lemmy himself!”
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DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/gunslinger_ampedup
Track listing
1. Sun Up
2. Berlin Wall
3. Stone Scared
4. Smoke Wagon
5. Living Like A Viking
6. Black Glamdring
7. The Ace
8. Someone’s Got You In The Gunsights
9. Like A Bullet
10. 20 Paces
11. Amped Up
12. Sundown
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