“Lemmy’s the king of rock ’n’ roll. No one else comes close.” Dave Grohl, Ozzy Osbourne, Slash and more to contribute to new illustrated book about Lemmy Kilmister

Photos of Dave Grohl, Lemmy and Ozzy Osbourne
(Image credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images | Mick Hutson/Redferns | Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)

A new illustrated book telling the true stories of Dave Grohl, Slash, Ozzy Osbourne and more’s interactions with Motörhead lynchpin Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister will be released this year.

No Remorse: The Illustrated True Stories Of Lemmy Kilmister And Motörhead will come out this summer via Z2 Comics.

The 176-page book will feature anecdotes from 25 of Lemmy’s well-known friends and bandmates. Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters will pen the foreword, while an afterword will come courtesy of Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne.

Other stories will be told by the likes of Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Slash of Guns ’N’ Roses, Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction, Girlschool’s Kim McAuliffe, Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, famed fantasy author Neil Gaiman, Lita Ford, WWE wrestlers Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Corey Graves, and two former Motörhead bandmates: Mikkey Dee (drums) and Phil Campbell (guitars).

Slim Jim Phantom, who performed with Lemmy in the rockabilly supergroup The Head Cat, and filmmaker Penelope Spheeris – director of the documentary The Decline Of Western Civilization Part 2, featuring Lemmy – will also contribute.

The tales will be illustrated by comic book artists including Dave Chisholm, Bob Fingerman, Jay Jay Jackson and Jim Mahfood. Ed Repka, famed among metalheads for painting classic album covers for Megadeth and Death, will also illustrate.

Z2 president and co-editor/designer of No Remorse Josh Bernstein comments: “Anyone who ever crossed paths with Lemmy Kilmister left with a very unique experience and stories to share for a lifetime. The outpouring of those stories from his friends and family, paired with some of underground art’s greatest illustrators, brings Lemmy and Motörhead roaring back to life on every page.”

Dave Grohl also comments, reflecting on his first meeting with Lemmy: “Until then I’d never met what I’d call a real rock ’n’ roll hero before. Fuck Elvis and Keith Richards, Lemmy’s the king of rock ’n’ roll. A living, breathing, drinking, snorting, fucking legend. No one else comes close.”

A number of special editions of the book will be available upon release, including one which comes with a double LP version of Motörhead’s 1984 compilation album, No Remorse.

No Remorse… is available to preorder now from the Z2 website. According to the site, copies are “expected to begin shipping in July 2024”.

Lemmy formed Motörhead in 1975, following his firing from space rockers Hawkwind. He was the sole constant member of the band for their 40-year history and made 22 studio albums with them. The singer/bassist passed away aged 70 on December 28, 2015, two days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and remaining members Dee and Campbell quickly dissolved the band.

Plans to erect a 2.2m (7ft 2in) statue of Lemmy in his birthplace of Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent, were approved last month.

Matt Mills
Contributing Editor, Metal Hammer

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Prog and Metal Hammer, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, NME, Guitar and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.