Artist Travis Moore says he wanted to capture “a tough looking dude” when he was creating a statue to late Motorhead frontman Lemmy.
The bronze sculpture will be unveiled at the rock and metal icon’s favourite haunt, the Rainbow Bar & Grill, Los Angeles, tomorrow (August 24) after fans and friends contributed to a fundraising campaign following Lemmy’s death in December.
And Moore has hinted at what fans can expect to see when his work finally becomes available for the public to view – and he reveals that he and the team behind the campaign tried to find an image that typified Lemmy to base the statue on.
He tells Loudwire: “I know they were searching for that hat-coat combo. Photographer Robert John had taken so many good pictures of him and I think that was about the time that they were at the Grammys and Ace Of Spades was re-charting. There was really a resurgence for him and you can see that it was a happy time and he looks healthy and good.
“We just wanted to stay away from portraying him in a way that wouldn’t be proper, and he needed to be rocking, a tough looking dude with a full face and that was the idea.
“There was initially some debate about would he be with a guitar? Would he be sitting at the bar? Would he have a bottle of booze? There were a lot of different options and coincidentally, even the photo that Robert took, he’s standing there smoking a cigarette. We took that out, more of a liability reason, because someone could break that joker off or get caught on that.
“We don’t need lawsuits or anyone injured or definitely have the statue damaged on top of anything else. But there was a lot of consideration that went into this thing and everyone involved, their number one focus was honouring Lemmy.”
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Moore reports that he’s looking forward to seeing people’s reactions when the statue is unveiled – especially from his family members.
He continues: “It’s gonna feel so good – and it’s gonna feel good for a lot of people. I want to see my mom’s face, my families’ faces and my mom especially. They’ve supported me in every way in everything I’ve ever done and these last 10 years have been filled with ups and downs and they’ve been there for me.
“I want them to see that all that time and money they’ve invested in me since I was a little kid is paying off and that this is a project that’s a big deal.”
Moore says that Jack Daniel’s are dropping off “44 cases” of Lemmy’s favourite tipple for the event, which will also feature a DJ set from Katon De Pena who organised the crowdfunding campaign.
Meanwhile Quiet Riot’s Chuck Wright will hold a Tribute To Lemmy at his weekly Ultimate Jam Night tonight (August 23) at LA venue the Whisky A Go Go.
A host of guests including Rex Brown, Carla Harvey, Dug Pinnick, Simon Wright, Phil Varone, Carmine Appice and Frankie Babali will perform at the event.
Lemmy is laughing, and he’s proud of us, says Motorhead’s Mikkey Dee
