James Hetfield, the lead singer of Metallica, has revealed a new tattoo honoring the late musician Lemmy, without whom he said “there would be NO Metallica.”
A picture of the black spade tattoo on his middle finger was posted by Hetfield, 60, who disclosed that it was made with black ink combined “with a pinch of his cremation ashes that were so graciously given to me.”
According to the heavy metal singer, “he can still fly the bird at the world now.”
Hetfield gave credit for the piece to well-known tattoo artist Corey Miller, who is featured on the reality show LA Ink and owns the tattoo parlor Six Feed Under in Upland, California.
Lemmy, whose real name was Ian Fraser Kilmister, played with the British space-rock group Hawkwind from 1971 until his dismissal in 1975. He was notorious for leading a hard-living lifestyle that included heavy drug and alcohol use, as well as chain smoking.
He formed Motörhead, named after the final song he wrote for his previous band, after being expelled from Hawkwind (after being arrested for drug possession while the band was crossing the US-Canada border).
Hawkwind frontman Dave Brock stated in a recent interview that Lemmy was “aghast” to be let go, although he went on to have the most success with Motörhead.
He added, “He was flown back to EnglaHe stated, “I did enjoy being in Hawkwind, and I think I would still be playing with them today if I hadn’t been expelled.” Onstage, it was enjoyable, but offstage, not so much. They were unwilling to get along with me. In terms of music, I adored the guitarist and drummer. The band was fantastic.
According to Brock, he and Lemmy were on “great terms” until the rock star passed away in 2015, not long after receiving a cancer diagnosis.