When it comes to guitar legends, it doesn’t get much better than Phil Campbell. The Motorhead axe man was on the road earlier this year, as part of perhaps one of the best touring packages to cross the UK so far in 2023.
Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons hit the road with touring counterparts, Michael Monroe and Black Star Riders. An unbeatable bill bringing together these iconic artists. Speaking about the tour, Phil said: “The lineup is great. Everyone’s just a little bit different. And we’re all having so much fun. Michael [Monroe] is a total star on stage. Everyone’s looking out for everyone else and the music’s fantastic,” he says. “A lot of people don’t want the tour to end.”
Joining Black Star Riders on their current run is talismanic guitarist Scott Gorham. Of course, the Thin Lizzy guitar slinger took a break from Black Star Riders, but couldn’t resist the opportunity to share the stage with the band during their latest UK tour. Thin Lizzy was an important band for Phil Campbell. “I’m a huge fan. I’ve got all of their albums. It was Whiskey in the Jar first, of course. And then all the way through. You’ve got to be into Lizzy if you are into rock music,” he says.
Tickets up for grabs for Hard Rock Hell 16 where Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons will be joining Yngwie Malmsteen, Tyketto & MANY MORE for November 2023! Click here to enter!
Throughout the tour, Phil sat in with Black Star Riders as a special guest for one track each night. “It’s a great buzz for me being up there, especially with Scott playing Don’t Believe A Word with him.”
Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons recently unveiled their new live album titled Live In The North. The concert album was recorded during an intimate show in Sunderland. Recollecting that night, Phil said: “It was an intense small clubs show and we kind of brutalized it. We had a lot of fun doing it. And we listened back to the recordings, and we thought this is cool, so we will whack this one out. Then we’ve got a studio album coming out this year. It’s all finished and mixed.”
Speaking about the band’s upcoming studio release, Phil shared a few insights.
“We’ve been working on it for about a year, the songwriting. Todd comes in with a lot of songs. We all contribute, and I come up with song ideas, and Todd comes in with three or four complete songs. So, we all muck in. Todd is one of the main guys. Todd produced it as well. And Soren Anderson, who is Glenn Hughes’ guitar player. He’s mixed We Are The Bastards and he’s mixing this one. This is really heavy.”
In January 2022, the band announced that Joel Peters had been made a permanent member of the band. But how has the vocalist been settling in so far?
“Great, he’s been with us for about a year now. In between Neil and Joel, we had Andrew Hunt. He helped us out one summer for some shows. Andrew did a fantastic job. But Joel got interested and we did some stuff. He’s been fantastic. He’s just like another family member. He’s a good guy,” confirms Phil.
Of course, Motorhead was regarded as one of the loudest bands on the planet. Recollecting auditioning for the band, Phil said: “When Lemm plugged in his bass it was the loudest thing. It was in a small rehearsal room in Sinclair Road.” But did Phil want to take the ethos of being the loudest band into the Bastard Sons? “We’ve always played quite loud. My band before Motorhead I always had a Marshall stack. I prefer it a little bit quieter now on stage. They tell me it’s loud out front. But on stage in Motorhead it used to be just as loud as it was out front. That’s partly because of my deafness now, which comes with a job,” he says. “It’s a bit more toned down with the Bastard Sons on stage. It still pumps it out.”
Now with his own band going full steam ahead, does Phil still enjoy performing Motorhead tracks live? “People want it, don’t they? And I don’t mind playing the occasional song or two. I’m not going to be in any Motorhead tribute band. Even though we do occasional festivals, with Motorhead sets, and we did the one special tour. Just because people requested it. But no, I like this band to stand on his own two feet. There’s no harm in doing some cool Motorhead songs.”
The group is presently celebrating the fifth anniversary of their debut full-length album The Age of Absurdity. “We were together as a fun band for two years before Motorhead stopped. I think we were Phil Campbell’s All-Star Band. It had the same members in it and my kids and Neil. And when sadly, Motorhead we decided to call it a day and Lemm passed away. I took it a bit more seriously then and changed the name to the Bastard Sons. We did some of that album in Rockfield. We did the drums and things in Rockfield for three days, it was the first time I’d recorded there so it was good,” he says. “We had debut album of the year for one of the magazines. And we had Album of the Year for another website for the second one. So, it would be nice to get something for the third one.”
As we hurtle towards the festival season, Phil enjoys performing, but travelling can be challenging. “Last summer, we were so busy. I remember there were three-hour queues outside Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam before you even got in, and things like that. It’s just flying. I can’t stand the airports. And then you’ve got to get in a van to get to the festivals. In Europe and the UK, we get the luxury of a bus. Sometimes we might be in Holland one day, and Portugal the next day. So, we can’t bus it everywhere. It’s all good, fun festivals.”
Moving forward, the band’s plans for the year are still developing. “We might try and jump on somebody else’s tour if anything is going out. But if not, we will do the rounds again. So, we’re still looking into it the offers and things at the moment. We are pretty busy up to the end of summer.”
Live Up North by Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons is out now. The group will perform at HRH 16 in Great Yarmouth between the 2nd and 5th of November, 2023. For ticket information and further details, please visit https://hardrockhell.com/.
Words & Photo Credit: Adam Kennedy
