Good Music Lives Forever With PHIL CAMPBELL

Interview by Kris Peters
Phil Cambpell was, and always will be, primarily known for being
one-third of the legendary metal outfit Motorhead. For more than 30
years Campbell stood side by side on the biggest stages in the
world alongside his brother Lemmy, recording 16 albums and having a
major role in Motorhead classics like Orgasmatron, Killed by Death,
Going to Brazil, Eat the Rich, Stone Deaf in the USA, Rock 'n' Roll
and more.
While the music world at large mourned Lemmy's passing, those
closest to him were left with a gaping chasm in their lives; a
musical and personal void which would be impossible to replace. But
Campbell was lucky in the respect he had his family to fall back on
and not just emotionally.
Within one year of Lemmy's passing, Campbell's three boys - Todd,
Tyla and Dane - had rallied around their father, uniting to form
their own band aptly named Phil Campbell & The Bastard
Sons.
Whether the band was started to fill the void or as a form of
comfort or for any other reason in the Metal Gods playbook, they
are still going strong almost ten years later and are about to make
their maiden voyage as a band to Australia in September for a run
of shows that promises to be one of the must-see live shows of
2025.
Not only will The Bastard Sons be playing material from their three
albums, but Campbell has also promised an equal portion of
Motorhead tunes not seen or heard in this country since before
2015. But to make sure that wasn't just a vicious rumour, HEAVY
tracked Phil down to make sure things were on track.
Amongst the general chit-chat we asked Phil if he is comfortable
playing Motorhead songs without Lemmy there with him, in
particularly how it felt the first few times he performed after
Lemmy left us.
"It's never going to be Motorhead, obviously, without Lem," he
sighed, "but we give it a good shot. It'll be the only chance for
especially younger Australians to have heard some of the Motorhead
stuff with a band member playing them. We get a lot of youngsters
come to our shows anyway if we're playing Motörhead stuff or our
own stuff. We get older Motörhead fans bringing their young
children to the shows. Basically they're just turning them on to
good live music because there's so much crap about these days with
autotuned voices and all that. We're the real deal, which is the
way it should be."
We nod in agreement before asking if having his boys by his side
made things easier.
"I spent a lot of the boy's formative years away from them when I
was so busy with Motörhead," he replied. "So it's great to be able
to give something back, you know, and spend time with them and
still go around the world in another kick-ass rock and roll band.
You know, they deserve it. They're great players. The band is as
tight as hell that we have now. So they deserve it. They deserve to
tread the boards. It's a lot of fun, yeah. I enjoy it."
In the full interview, Phil spoke more about what we can expect
from the show and coming up with a list of Motorhead songs to
appease the masses. He highlighted the difficulties in choosing
songs from the vast Motörhead repertoire and expressed excitement
about performing with his sons. He also underscored the
significance of creativity in the songwriting for Phil Campbell
& The Bastard Sons, encouraging experimentation without rigid
constraints.
Phil spoke about his love of rock n roll and how forming The
Bastards came at the perfect time for him, introduced us to the new
(ish) singer Joel Peters and explained how he fits in with plans
moving forward, hinted at new music and more.

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