Cleopatra Records announce the dynamic return of Larry Wallis, the legendary co-founder of Mot\u00f6rhead and a former member of UFO, in the shape of two dramatic fresh remixes of one of his most beloved compositions, the metal anthem \u201cLeather Forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A savage reminder of one of British metal\u2019s true unsung heroes, \u201cLeather Forever\u201d spotlights not only the excoriating guitar that was Wallis\u2019s trademark, but also the songwriting that underpinned the very best of early Mot\u00f6rhead. In fact, it\u2019s not hard to imagine \u201cLeather Forever\u201d lining up alongside any of them. Talking a few years before his death in 2019, Larry remembered writing it \u201caround the same time\u201d that he was a member of Mot\u00f6rhead, before recording it in late 1977 as a possible follow-up to his solo hit \u201cPolice Car.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three years later, after Lemmy was sacked from Hawkwind, Larry was the first guitarist he called as he pieced together the original Mot\u00f6rhead, the most primal of all that band\u2019s incarnations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With Mot\u00f6rhead swiftly grasping the title of \u201cthe dirtiest rock\u2019n\u2019roll band in the world\u201d (\u201cIf we moved in next door, your lawn would die,\u201d as Lemmy put it), this original line-up didn\u2019t last long – a dozen or so gigs, and the still-exhilarating On Parole<\/em> album (titled after one of Larry\u2019s songs). <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 – \u201cOn Parole\u201d was joined on the album by \u201cCity Kids,\u201d \u201cVibrator\u201d and \u201cFools.\u201d Had the line-up only lasted a little longer, \u201cLeather Forever\u201d would effortlessly have taken its place alongside them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now it\u2019s back, as two of today\u2019s 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\u2019s most electrifying riffs, and most compulsive battlecries loose on the streets once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your ears have been warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n