"On the 28th of December 2015, I was having a cocktail in Los Angeles waiting for the first of three Motley Crue farewell shows to start, when my phone exploded. News had got out that legendary Motorhead frontman, Lemmy Kilmister, had passed at the age of 70. It was no secret what a huge fan I was, so I instantly started receiving messages from friends, family, collectors and fans. I was devastated, it felt like losing a family member.
Almost immediately I started thinking of a way to memorialize him in the only way I can, with a painting. Of course, I had already done a Lem tribute piece, but I felt like I needed something with more of a memorial feel than a standard portrait tribute. Over the next year many ideas came to me, but nothing was really punching me in mouth, so to speak. That all changed in November 2016. I heard a rumour that Metallica had written a tribute to Lem for there upcoming album Hardwired to Self Destruct. On the day of the album release my eyes raced down the track listing until I saw it… “Murder One”. Knowing that Murder One was the name affectionately given to Lem’s amplifier, I knew this was the tribute and immediately pushed play. There it was, my inspiration was handed to me by the boys in Metallica.
I couldn’t think of a better way to immortalize Lem than to portray the thing that help make them the loudest band in the world. Motorhead live was an all-out assault to your senses and this amp played a large part in that.
The tribute by Metallica is brilliant, therefore, this is the only piece in my catalog that is titled from the tribute song and not an actual Motorhead lyric. The lyric “Still hear your thunder” was too fitting to pass up." -Stickman
