Brace yourselves – THE original Brit heavy metal outfit MOTÖRHEAD are coming to rock you! Just as the metal Gods intended it – this power trio’s brand of fast, obnoxious, aggressive rock & roll, says drummer MIKKEY DEE, will leave even the “hard old bastards” pale and white. CHRIS DRIVER shuts up and pays attention.

As a young misfit, the 1975 version of lead singer and the only constant member of one of the world’s most notorious bands, Lemmy Kilmister, sought to create a rock & roll band that were as filthy as they were aggressive, and named it after the lovers of his favourite drug, affectionately known as Motörheads. More than three decades later, heavy music in all its manifestations owes so much to him. The longevity of Motörhead is testament to the universal accessibility of those raspy, manic vocals and thumping guitar riffs, something drummer Mikkey Dee – who was 12 when Kilmister birthed the idea for the band, but has clocked up 15 years since joining in his late 20s – affirms will be the cornerstone of their Australian shows when they arrive in Brisbane next week.   

 “Motörhead is Motörhead,” he says. “There’s no two ways about it.

 “The set is well worked out. It’s a mix of the new and old songs. The hardest thing we can do is put a set together that’s going to get through to everyone – even the old bastards that want to hear Ace Of Spades twenty times. We want them all to leave the venue going, ‘That was a great fucking set’.”

 The visits from these British stalwarts – though Dee has recently returned to live in his native Sweden – have been few and far between. Though Australian fans experienced the full wrath of the Motörhead malice when the boys toured with US veterans Motley Crue a few years back, they spent ten years without a stopover. Regardless, this will be the first tour in support of a studio record for more than 15 years, according to Dee.

“It’s going to be fantastic to come back to Australia because we haven’t done much there at all,” tells the seasoned Swede, who sums up his move away from California, where he lived for more than a decade, with “Thank God for that!”

“It’s good to come back on Kiss Of Death and do these shows now. Last time, it was a very short set – like a 35 or 40 minute set. We weren’t there to promote any record so we just slammed through as much of our hard songs as we could and [the audience] looked white by the end of it.”

Though Dee might have plenty rock & roll kick left in him at the tender age of 46, Kilmister, at 60, could be forgiven for slowing down. Though, even with the father of metal’s famous facial hair now adorned with plenty of silver streaks, Dee is adamant Motörhead aren’t finished yet.

“The simple fact is that we have no other choice,” he explains. “This is what we do and we love it.”

Motörhead play the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on Wednesday October 3, supported by Rose Tattoo. Better Motörhead Than Dead: Live At Hammersmith is available now through SPV.

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