Ladies, gentlemen, and heathens, it is
Motorhead week here in San Francisco.
It is Motorhead week because the trio itself (consisting, as it long has, of bassist/singer Lemmy Kilmister and a rotating set of guitarists and drummers), is playing
the Warfield tomorrow night. This is a chance to see one of the defining acts of heavy music, a band that birthed several subgenres out of its aggressively propulsive guitar rock. Motorhead is like the Darth Vader of metal -- it helped take the sonic force explored by Sabbath and Zeppelin and morph it into something big and evil
and yet fun -- not incidentally dark, but gleefully so. ("
Killed By Death," anyone?) We should also point out how much a lot of great punk music owes to the lightning-quick, linear attack of Motorhead. So even if landmark albums like
Overkill and
Ace of Spades are now decades in the past -- and the band's more recent work isn't so thrilling -- seeing Motorhead live is still something to get excited about.
It is also Motorhead week in S.F. because the newly nonprofit
Roxie Theater is currently screening the nearly two-hour documentary
Lemmy, which
examines the legendary bandleader's life, predilections, and considerable influence. (After the jump, read one reviewer's take on that film, which screens twice every night this week at the Roxie.)
Lastly, it is Motorhead week because we just fucking want it to be.