THE FIRST DRUMMER

In 1975, behind the kit was Lucas Fox, who bonded with Lemmy over Monty Python and MC5, speed and Special Brew.

- 

I was introduced to Lemmy by Motorcycle Irene, my good friend, soul buddy and occasional fuck buddy, at the Speakeasy in August 1974. Lemmy was still in Hawkwind, and I was relieved that he didn’t want to talk about space-rock. Instead we chatted about a shared love of The Pretty Things, The Easybeats, The Byrds and The Beatles. We got on like a house on fire from the word go. I had a similar obsession as he did with the Second World War. Both of us loved Monty Python and The Goon Show. I bred horses, and he really liked those too.

"I was useful to Lemmy because I had a car. Although he was gregarious, he was a loner, and we were quite happy sitting in silence together while I drove.

"Lemmy was more surprised than I was when Hawkwind kicked him out. When he went AWOL after a few days without sleep, their office would call asking if I knew where was. They felt he was unreliable. There was also jealousy. Nobody had wanted him to sing on Hawkwind’s Silver Machine, but he was the only one that could do it. And of course it became a massive hit. Suddenly the spotlight was on Lemmy and not Dave Brock. Journalists wanted to interview Lemmy because he was funnier. Lem blamed his sacking on ‘taking the wrong drugs’, which was true — he was on speed when everyone else took acid — but there was far more to it. Whenever I was within the Hawkwind circle it was pretty poisonous.