It's not a well-known fact that Lemmy liked to party, heck the man slept with over 1,000 women in his life. He drank so much Jack & Coke that a drinking magazine officially christened that combo a "Lemmy." Needless to say, partying with Lemmy was a trip.
In 1983, Anvil frontman Lips was invited to hang out with Lemmy on tour for what he thought was a little bit of drinking. Which is weird, considering "a little bit of drinking" and "Lemmy" don't seem like they belong in the same sentence in the first place, but we all make mistakes. Lips recalls the story in a recent interview with The Rockpit, though it's actually incredible he remembers any of this at all.
"Probably in 1983, while we were on tour with him, he invited me up to his hotel room, and he says, 'Come up and have a couple of drinks.' So I said, 'Sure, man. Fucking great!' So we sat down and he pulled out a forty-ounce bottle of vodka and a couple of crates of orange juice and these big tall glasses that probably hold twenty ounces of fluid. So he fills it up with about ten ounces of vodka and then tops it off with orange juice, and then we start drinking. Of course, I get about three or four shots in, and I'm fucking wasted because I'm not a drinker. So he goes, 'You're starting to look a little buzzed there, Lips.' So he pulls out a little leather pouch and a pocket knife and dips his pocket knife into this white powder, and it's fucking amphetamines; it's fucking speed. And he sticks it right under my nose and he goes, 'Fucking sniff, right!' And it's like [I consumed] no alcohol. I'm straight as a fucking judge! 'Wow! Okay, this is cool!' We keep going and keep going, and the next thing I know, there's a knock on the fucking door and it's the tour manager. And he goes, 'Time to go to the gig, guys.' And it was supposed to be our day off. And I'm, like, 'We're on our day off. What do you mean go to the gig?' And he goes, 'Guys, you've been sitting in here for 24 fucking hours. Get your shit together and let's go!' 'What happened?' [Laughs] So I get to the gig and I can barely fucking walk, I'm so fucked up. And Lemmy walks in and takes a look at me and goes, 'You're looking fucking knackered, mate. Maybe you oughta try one of these.' He pulls out a little plastic bag and it's filled with little black capsules, and he says, 'These are called black bombers. Take two.' And I go, 'You know what, Lemmy? After last night, I'm only taking one!' Well I ate the pill, and fuck, I did the gig! I could have done five! [Laughs] All my hair stood on end. And I go, 'Holy fuck!'"
Lemmy may be gone, but I feel like we'll be hearing brand new stories like this for a long, long time to come. Of course, the partying did eventually take a toll on Lem, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
