The City of Los Angeles has honored British rock band Motörhead for 40 years of badassery.
Lemmy and the boys were on hand yesterday for a City Council hearing, in which the city honored the iconic band during its presentations and proclamations segment for decades of service to rock and roll. It’s also a nice bit of promotion for new album Bad Magic, which drops tomorrow via UDR GmbH. Though born in England back in 1945, Lemmy has lived in the LA area for 25 years.
Councilmember José Huizar conducted the ceremony, and had plenty of nice things to say about the band.
“This year signals the 40th year of Motörhead’s triumphant existence, something which will be celebrated throughout the rest of 2015 and 2016,” Huizar says, via Blabbermouth transcription. “They will tour the world once more and show that if it’s too loud, you’re too old. Throughout the 40 years, this is a band that stuck to its artistic guns and has never been interested in musical fads and trends, the kind that happen in every generation.”
He adds: “Motörhead has chosen to lose themselves in their music… Lemmy and company have stayed true to their own vision and execution of incredibly mesmerizing and thundering, feel-it-in-your-gut rock and roll… Lemmy lives here in Los Angeles, and the band has recorded a number of albums here. He’s an Angelino; he calls Los Angeles home. And they will be releasing their latest album, Bad Magic, which comes out this Friday. We’re all looking forward to it, right? …[T]hat’s why we’re here: to honor a band that continues to make brilliant music while inspiring other musicians here in Los Angeles and all over the world to play well, to play hard and to honor their own visions and rock and roll, just like Motörhead has done for 40 years.”
Says Lemmy: “Well said. As none of us are from Los Angeles, this is a very great honor. [Drummer Mikkey Dee is] Swedish, [guitarist Phil Campbell is] Welsh and I’m English. So… I came over here years ago, and I love it over here, so it’s a great honor for me. Thank you.”
Watch the whole thing below…