While a few of Motörhead’s recent and upcoming shows were canceled after bassist and lead singer Lemmy Kilmister suffered a hematoma, the band’s website now happily reports they will be back in action very soon.
Motörhead first canceled their appearance at the See-Rock Festival in Graz, Austria on June 22nd, then their June 25th scheduled gig in Milan, Italy. Barley Arts Promotion, promoters for the Milan show, released a statement that Kilmister’s hematoma had made it impossible for him to go on stage.
Billboard recently reported that Kilmister had been set up with an implantable defibrillator to correct his irregular heartbeat, and the announcement from Barley Arts Promotion was the first indicator that the frontman was suffering from hematoma, a localized collection of blood outside of a blood vessel.
This was worrisome news from the unstoppable Motörhead camp, especially in light of their upcoming 21st studio album release, Aftershock. An update from the band’s news page on their website late today, however, has left many fans sighing a breath of relief:
UPDATE (7/4): The latest report from Motörhead is not as optimistic as before, as the band has now cancelled all upcoming shows on their tour, in response to frontman Lemmy Kilmister’s deteriorating health. Drummer Mikkey Dee has told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that Kilmister first suffered from falling and receiving “a nasty blow to his hip”, then soon after was forced to climb down multiple flights of stairs the night a fire alarm went off at a hotel he was staying at in London. This, added with the routine draining of fluid from Kilmister’s body, due to the hematoma, has left the singer in a perilous position and doctors advise he rest, rather than perform, Dee said.
Motörhead remains on track to release their album Aftershock this September, and Dee has said they still plan to embark on a major European tour this fall. To the fans the drummer says:
We’re really sorry. But we’re not canceling because of a cold and this is something we’ve put a lot of thought into.