Lemmy Kilmister's funeral in Los Angeles this past Sunday (Jan. 10) had one notable absences: Motorhead members Phil Campbell. Campbell, who has been the band's guitarist since 1984, has now spoken out about why he skipped the funeral on social media, and it turns out the reasons were less personal and more techinical.
Based on his posts, Campbell was unable to attend under doctor's orders, though he was able to attend in his own way.
Amazing service for Lem the other day, everyone there spoke beautifully. I really wanted to attend but I wasn't able to make it...
— Phil Campbell (@MotorheadPhil) January 11, 2016
...unfortunately I was advised on doctors orders not to fly on such a long haul flight due to my recent hospitalisation... — Phil Campbell (@MotorheadPhil) January 11, 2016
...I'm doing well though and I managed to watch the whole service via the online stream so thanks to the Motörhead team for organising that — Phil Campbell (@MotorheadPhil) January 11, 2016
Campbell, of course, was not the only musician saddened by Kilmister's passing on Dec. 28 from cancer. Some notable names who reached out to social media to pay tribute were Slipknot, Dave Navarro, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne, Flea, Dave Navarro, Gene Simmons and Nikki Sixx.
Slash and Dave Grohl even gave touching eulogies at Kilmister's funeral.
The news of the Motorhead frontman's death was first announced by radio DJ Eddie Trunk and then followed up on by the Osbournes. The official statement on his death read that he died from "an extremely aggressive cancer." He was 70 years old.
Kilmister was the original founding member of Motorhead and pushed the band to release 22 studio studio albums over the course of their decades spanning career. The most recent album being Bad Magic, which was released this past August. At the time of Kilmister's death, Motorhead had just finished the last leg of a European tour, where the frontman was reportedly often ill on the road. Kilmister had also been suffering from a hemotoma when he died and had been using an implantable defibrillator.
