Campbell and the Bastard Sons will perform a special set in May

In 2019, Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons announced that they were going to bring a very special Motörhead set to major festivals across Europe. Unfortunately, the pandemic prevented those special shows from happening until now. The band has announced that the special sets will be performed for 11 dates throughout the UK in May.

The legendary Motörhead guitarist of over 30 years will rekindle the spirit of his old band, and bring the songs back to life alongside his three sons and newly recruited honorary Bastard lead vocalist Joel Peters.

“Looking forward to SLAMMING out some Motörhead classics to make your ears bleed one more time,” Campbell shares.

Phil Campbell and the Bastards Sons — Plays Motörhead kicks off May 7th in Merthyl Tydfil with stops in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Leeds, Derby, Manchester, London and others before wrapping May 21st in Bradford. Tickets can be purchased through Campbell’s website.

Motörhead disbanded after frontman Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister died due to a short battle with an aggressive form of cancer at age 70 in December 2015. Lemmy was such a huge part of what had made Motörhead such an enormous success that the surviving band members didn’t feel it would be right to continue to play as Motorhead without the iconic character of Lemmy by their side.

Lemmy founded Motörhead in 1975 after being fired from the Space Rock band Hawkwind. Lemmy played bass for Hawkwind despite having no previous experience as a bass guitarist as well as handling vocal duties on several of their songs. In later years Lemmy would speak passionately about his former bandmates and said that he had thoroughly enjoyed playing as part of Hawkwind.

The musician was arrested for drug possession whilst on a North American tour in 1975. It was a slight misunderstanding – the substance he was carrying was incorrectly identified at the time of his arrest. He was later released without charge, but Hawkwind’s management decided it was time for him to go anyway.

The band changed their name to Motörhead after their manager pointed out that the name Bastard was certain to hold them back, particularly with getting a slot on the hit Thursday-night UK television show Top of the Pops.

In 2016, the band agreed to create an online slot in honor of their fallen member who was an avid slot player. The game, simply titled Motörhead, was created by NetEnt and can be found at the 32red mobile casino. It’s a fun, medium variance online slot that features several of the band’s best-known songs as part of its rock and roll inspired user interface.

Lemmy was the only continuous member of Motörhead since its inception in 1975 through his passing in late 2015, but it’s hard to picture them today without guitarist Phil Campbell. Campbell joined the band in 1984 when auditions were held to find a new guitarist to replace departing member Brian Robertson.

Campbell was a naturally gifted musician who began playing semi-professionally in a cabaret act when he was just 13 years of age. The musician has been quoted saying that he was inspired by Lemmy and had watched him play with Hawkwind as a present for his 12th birthday. The two even met that day as Campbell had begged his older peer for an autograph at the end of the concert. It’s said that Lemmy only intended to hire one new guitarist at the time the Motörhead auditions were held, but instead hired both Campbell and Michael “Würzel” Burston after hearing the two men play together. Würzel played with the group between 1984 and 1995, but Campbell would continue to work alongside Lemmy as part of Motörhead until Lemmy’s death.

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons – plays Motörhead 2022 Tour Dates:

May 7 – Merthyr Tydfil – Redhouse Cymru
May 8 – Blackpool – Waterloo Music Bar
May 10 – Newcastle – Cluny
May 11 – Edinburgh – La Belle Angele
May 12 – Leeds – Key Club
May 13 – Stoke – Sugarmill
May 16 – Derby – Hairy Dog
May 17 – Manchester – Club Academy
May 18 – London – 02 Academy Islington
May 20 – Oxford – 02 Academy 2
May 21 – Bradford – Nightrain