Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has recalled on a podcast the first time he met Motörhead’s Lemmy, and how badly his attempt to drink with him turned out.
“`He told the story to Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, on the podcast «The Magnificent Others».
It was 1985, when Ian and singer Joey Belladonna were in London for interviews ahead of Anthrax’s second album, «Spreading The Disease». After the last interview for Kerrang!, the journalist and the photographer took them for a drink at the St. Moritz club in Soho, where Lemmy was already there.
Ian had no intention of approaching him, until after three beers Xavier Russell of Kerrang! gave him a push. He offered to buy him a drink. Lemmy replied: «You are in my town. I will get this. What are you drinking?»
Ian had not drunk in five or six years, since a poisoning in his mid-teens. He said he would drink whatever Lemmy was drinking. Two Jack and cokes arrived and, as the staff knew Lemmy, every empty glass was replaced straight away.
After six or seven drinks he realised he was in trouble. The last thing he remembers is running out of the club; the rest he learned the next morning, when manager Jonny Zazula woke him for the flight to Munich.
Zazula told him he had vomited in his sleep and that he had spent the night turning him over so he would not choke. He had followed him outside and pulled him out of a pile of rubbish.
Six months later, Anthrax returned to London for a show at the Hammersmith Palais. Lemmy came to the dressing rooms and asked him how he was feeling. When Ian apologised, he replied: «You were fine — until you stopped speaking English».
«Spreading The Disease» was released in October 1985 via Megaforce and Island and was Anthrax’s first album with Belladonna and bassist Frank Bello. Zazula died in 2022 and Lemmy in December 2015, aged 70.
See also: Duff McKagan: how he became an honorary member of Motörhead and Anthrax: Derek Roddy replaces Charlie Benante in Mexico City.
Source: https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/anthrax-scott-ian-recalls-the-night-he-first-met-lemmy-from-motorhead
