Official Lemmy statue to be unveiled - and you can be there

An artist's impression of the Lemmy statue (Image credit: Stoke-On-Trent City Council)

The much-heralded statue hometown statue of late Motörhead founder Lemmy will be officially unveiled during a ceremony in Burslem, Staffordshire, next week.

The statue, which got the go-ahead from Stoke City Council last year and was paid for by Motöhead's management, will be unveiled during the Lemmy Forever ceremony on May 9. The event will be attended by Motöhead guitarist Phil Campbell, who will place some of Lemmy's ashes in the statue.

“Lemmy was a personal hero to me,” sculptor Andy Edwards tells the BBC. "The reason for making this statue is to give other people that pleasure that I’ve had in thinking back, those memories at Victoria Hall, Bingley Hall and Vale Park."

The statue shows Lemmy as he appeared at the Heavy Metal Holocaust in Port Vale, a few miles north of Stoke, in 1981, and includes his iconic Rickenbacker 4001 bass.

“I put those details in because if you don’t, people sense there’s something not quite right and they don’t hang around as long," says Edwards. “You want people to hang about because you want people to go back in time and get their imaginations going."

The ceremony will commence in Burslem town centre at approximately 4pm on May 9.

Proceeding will continue with a celebration at Grumpy's Bar that includes an auction of items supplied by Motörhead’s record label and merchandise company, and a performance by Motörhead tribute band Motörwrecked. Tickets are £10 and can be purchased at The Old Post Office Bar.

The day will be rounded off with a performance by another Motörhead tribute band, Motörheadache, at the Mitchell Arts Centre in Hanley. Tickets are on sale now.

Lemmy’s ashes have also been scattered at the German metal festival Wacken Open Air, and enshrined at the Rainbow Bar & Grill in Los Angeles earlier this year.

In addition, ashes are held at Rock City in Nottingham and at the Stringfellows adult entertainment club in London. They will also be displayed at the Bloodstock Festival annually.

The head of the Lemmy statue — Work in progress: Andy Edwards' Lemmy statue (Image credit: Andy Edwards)

Artists

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.