SCOTT “WINO” WEINRICH Explains Why He Never Got Into MOTÖRHEAD Past No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith

In a new interview with Veil Of Sound, legendary U.S. doom and heavy metal figure Scott “Wino” Weinrich — the voice behind The Obsessed, Saint Vitus, and Spirit Caravan — looked back on his complicated appreciation for Motörhead, particularly their earliest material.

Wino explained that his first encounter with Motörhead came long before the band’s reputation preceded them, and that it was Lemmy‘s sheer presence that sealed the deal: “Here’s what I like about Motörhead. Before I knew who Motörhead was — I’d never heard of ’em before in my life — I was at the mall, and I was pretty young. I was thumbing through the records, and I was in the ‘M’ section, and I pulled out On Parole.

“On the cover of the American version of On Parole, it’s just Lemmy standing there, playing his bass, with the big Maltese cross on it. And I was like, ‘Wow, look at that motherfucker.’ I bought that record sight unseen just because of the way he looked.”

Musically, however, Wino admitted the album didn’t fully connect with him — save for one standout track: “I didn’t like anything on the whole record except for that version of ‘Iron Horse’ / ‘Born To Lose’ — that slow, bluesy version of ‘Iron Horse’.”

For Wino, Motörhead‘s power was never about technical perfection, but about raw emotion and attitude — something he directly compared to his own band Saint Vitus: “Motörhead is sort of like Saint Vitus. It’s more about a feeling. It’s a feeling. The music is there, it’s raw, it’s great. The early shit was great.”

That said, Wino was candid about where his enthusiasm for the band faded. While acknowledging drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor and later replacement Mikkey Dee, he drew a firm line after the band’s classic live record: “To be honest with you, I never bought anything after No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith. After that it became too much of the same shit.”

He also didn’t mince words when discussing Motörhead‘s guitarists, particularly “Fast” Eddie Clarke: “I wasn’t the biggest ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke fan, really, of his style or his stuff at all. I think he was pretty limited.”

As for Lemmy‘s later-era songwriting, Wino was equally blunt: “Lemmy was so rich and stuff, but after a certain point… I can’t listen to any of that ‘Hellraiser’ shit. My wife likes a lot of that shit, but I can’t listen to any of that shit, man.”

Still, Wino did single out one post-Hammersmith track as a personal favorite: “The only song I like from the newer stuff after No Sleep — it’s not on Ace Of Spades — it’s ‘Just ‘Cos You Got the Power’. Two guitars, man.”

That praise led into an unexpected comparison between Motörhead‘s later guitarists: “Würzel — honestly, I think Würzel was a better guitar player than Phil Campbell. I spent some time with Phil Campbell personally, driving around, trying to score speed for him and shit, getting high with him. And he was really jealous of Würzel, man. That was funny.”