Motorhead Cofounder Larry Wallis Revisits 'Leather Forever'

02-21-2023

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(Glass Onyon) Cleopatra Records announce the dynamic return of Larry Wallis, the legendary co-founder of Motorhead and a former member of UFO, in the shape of two dramatic fresh remixes of one of his most beloved compositions, the metal anthem "Leather Forever."

A savage reminder of one of British metal's true unsung heroes, "Leather Forever" spotlights not only the excoriating guitar that was Wallis's trademark, but also the songwriting that underpinned the very best of early Motorhead. In fact, it's not hard to imagine "Leather Forever" lining up alongside any of them. Talking a few years before his death in 2019, Larry remembered writing it "around the same time" that he was a member of Motorhead, before recording it in late 1977 as a possible follow-up to his solo hit "Police Car."

Even before then, however, Larry was regarded among the heaviest guitar players around, as he emerged from the same London underground scene that birthed Hawkwind and more, to join UFO in 1972.

His stay was relatively brief before he left to lead the resurgent Pink Fairies (he was ultimately replaced by Michael Schenker). But the mark Larry made on UFO remains indelible - helping the band as it shifted away from the space rock of their earliest albums and towards the reborn hard blues-rock of Phenomenon.

Three years later, after Lemmy was sacked from Hawkwind, Larry was the first guitarist he called as he pieced together the original Motorhead, the most primal of all that band's incarnations.

With Motorhead swiftly grasping the title of "the dirtiest rock'n'roll band in the world" ("If we moved in next door, your lawn would die," as Lemmy put it), this original line-up didn't last long - a dozen or so gigs, and the still-exhilarating On Parole album (titled after one of Larry's songs).

But even within that too-brief period, Larry planted the sonic seeds that would soon be blossoming across such albums as Bomber and Overkill, and writing some of their best loved early numbers, too - "On Parole" was joined on the album by "City Kids," "Vibrator" and "Fools." Had the line-up only lasted a little longer, "Leather Forever" would effortlessly have taken its place alongside them.

Now it's back, as two of today's most incendiary remixers - Jurgen Engler of Die Krupps, and Rene D La Muerte of The Brains - re-imagine it in full metal motorcycle jacket, and set one of Larry's most electrifying riffs, and most compulsive battlecries loose on the streets once again.

Your ears have been warned.