In a new interview with Kerrang!, Alice Cooper was asked what his personal tribute to MOTÖRHEAD frontman Lemmy would be.
He responded: “If he were alive, Lemmy would certainly be a Vampire. He’d probably be our bass player. All of us knew Lemmy, on different levels, because he played with us so many times — everyone in the band had done tours with Lemmy. He was sort of a journeyman.
He continued: “I quit drinking 37 years ago, but he came to me once and said, ‘Alice, I quit drinking. And he had a drink in his hand. I was sitting there going, ‘That’s great — and that must be Coca-Cola?’ He said, ‘No, there’s a little whiskey in there.’ His idea of not drinking was not drinking a bottle of whiskey each night. Maybe just five or six drinks.”
Alice also gave advice to emerging musicians who are pressured by a youth culture that has grown used to seeing outrageous, excessive behavior.
“I mean, I stopped drinking 37 years ago, because I got up one morning and threw up blood. I knew that it’s not smart to join the 27 Club, but my doctor said, ‘If you really want to join them, just keep doing what you’re doing.’ I got the point. If you look at guys like Steven Tyler and Iggy [Pop] and myself — all the guys that are still here touring — it’s all because we got a hold of our addictions and decided we’d rather make 20 more albums than be in a cold grave somewhere.”
Lemmy passed away on 28 December 2015, four days after his 70th birthday, from prostate cancer, cardiac arrhythmia and congestive heart failure. According to the band, his cancer had only been diagnosed two days prior to his death.
