A few short months before his untimely death in January 2018, MOTÖRHEAD guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke gave one of his most revealing interviews ever to Rock Candy magazine editor Howard Johnson. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of MOTÖRHEAD‘s fifth studio album, “Iron Fist”, Rock Candy brings you the whole of that interview, covering every aspect of Eddie‘s life and career in rock.
Over the course of a two-hour conversation, Eddie spoke openly and honestly about all aspects of his long journey in rock. Explaining how he joined MOTÖRHEAD, Clarke said, “Phil Taylor [drums] phoned me up and said, ‘Do you fancy playing in my band?’ I wasn’t doing anything, so I said I’d consider anything just to play. Phil told me he was in a group called MOTÖRHEAD. I’d heard about MOTÖRHEAD because there’d been a piece about them in a national newspaper with that famous quote, ‘If we move in next door to you, your lawn will die.’ I decided to give it a go.”
Eddie was perfectly aware that the band he had joined had a fearsome reputation…
“MOTÖRHEAD had the ‘we don’t give a sh*t’ attitude and that made everybody scared of us,” he explained. “All they saw was leather jackets, studs, long hair, and bad language.”
Eddie also addressed the painful loss of Lemmy and Phil in 2015 and the legacy the Three Amigos have left behind.
“I always thought we had unfinished business,” he explained. “They were my greatest friends and everything I ever got in my life came out of MOTÖRHEAD; it was all thanks to those six years. I still get people coming up to me all the time saying the best thing ever was MOTÖRHEAD.”
In addition to the 12-page Eddie Clarke feature, issue 34 of Rock Candy includes an exclusive interview with “Iron Fist” co-producer Will Reid Dick, offering a fascinating new perspective on the recording of the album.
You can read the 16-page MOTÖRHEAD special, together with many other fascinating stories, including Billy Sheehan, Richie Kotzen, THE CULT and Rory Gallagher, in the latest issue of Rock Candy.
For more details, visit www.rockcandymag.com.
Clarke died after a battle with pneumonia. He was 67 years old.
Clarke was a member of MOTÖRHEAD from 1976 until 1982. He was one-third of the band’s classic lineup, which also included Taylor, who died in November 2015 of liver failure. Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister succumbed to cancer the following month.
Clarke, Taylor and Lemmy appeared on five albums together: MOTÖRHEAD‘s 1977 self-titled debut, 1979’s “Overkill” and “Bomber”, 1980’s “Ace Of Spades” and 1982’s “Iron Fist”.
Photo by Allan Ballard