Triple H Interview 2
For a Professional wrestler, entrance music is
everything. The right song captures the combatant at their best,
the spirit of their character and the essence of their attack
melded musically as they enter the ring. The right song becomes
synonymous with their style, from the historic Road Warriors and
their use of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", to Hulk
Hogan's "Real American" in the heat of the Russian Cold
War. In the ranks of today's grapplers, the shattering of glass
ignites the crowd in frenzied anticipation of "Stone
Cold" Steve Austin's instrumental entrance, a blaring alarm
lights a Rage Against the Machine-inspired path for
"Y2J" Chris Jericho, The Undertaker rides a motorcycle
down the ramp to Limp Bizkit's "Rollin", and Rob
Zombie's "Never Gonna Stop" was recently adopted by
Edge. As thrilling as they all are, they pale in comparison to
the entrance music of one of the World Wrestling Federation's
biggest stars, Triple H. He's called The Game, and his music of
the same name was slammed to life by metal legends Motorhead.
"I sing about pain and death and unrequited love,"
says Motorhead front man Lemmy Kilmister of his
quarter-century-plus of lyrics, and while the imagery may seem a
bit extreme for one of the WWF's marquee names, the intensity of
The Game's personality couldn't have a more fitting match.
Recently returning to the ring after an injury that saw him
sidelined for six months (I know it was 8, but the article says
6), Triple H has re-emerged as one of the most imposing physical
presences in the ring, and one of the sport's most dominating
characters. He's a hands-down favorite to win the World Wrestling
Federation championship at this month's WrestleMania Pay-Per-View
event, and Motorhead's "The Game" will be the
hell-raising soundtrack.
A year since Triple H unveiled his new theme music, the superstar
joined Motorhead - Lemmy, guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer
Mickey Dee - in the studio to lay down vocals for new release
Hammered, expected in stores April 9. With the unprecedented
success of "The Game" - which helped muscle WWF: The
Music, Vol. 5 to a gold sales in America - Triple H hopes to help
Motorhead attain a level of commercial success long overdue in
America. Lemmy just hopes the curse of Motorhead doesn't take
it's toll on The Game. Only moments after the two layed down some
of the most sinister sound bytes of the band's history, Metal
Edge sat down for an inside look at the partnership that is
turning The World Wrestling Federation on end...
<<I am the blackened nightmare, I bring a light so bright
to illuminate the path to take, I show the way all hearts break,
and I will see the old world's back be broken, as we descend into
the awful, howling night!>>
Lemmy Kilmister: Fun for the whole family, isn't it? There's sort
of a post-nuclear ambience! That's a spoken word-performance art
piece that opens the album, and triple H speaks it with me...
Metal Edge: How did the whole connection with Triple H happen?
LK: Apparently the WWF already had the song, and they were
looking for someone to record it. Triple H was a fan of ours, and
he said that we were the guys that he wanted...After we recorded
his song, they flew us down to the Houston Astrodome to play it
at WrestleMania [last year], and that was a crowd of like 68,000.
The funny thing is, after we played his intro he got beat!
Motorhead luck again! We were the first metal band to go on The
Tonight Show, and we were probably the only band who's sales ever
went down after being on it!
ME: Did you have an idea of what was going to be happening when
you came to the studio today?
LK: He had no fucking idea!
Triple H: I didn't have a fucking clue! [laughing] No, I had a
general idea - we had talked about it a little bit before hand
and I knew he had written a really cool vocal piece that he
wanted me to do with him...I was just thrilled to do anything, I
just wanted an excuse to come into the studio and see him record
some shit!
ME: So you didn't think you'd be singing?
Triple H: I hoped to hell not! Not if they wanted to sell!
LM: Who knows, you could be a great singer! I can't fucking sing,
I learned to sing fucking doing it!
Triple H: I sing in the car, that's about it. I've been singing
Motorhead songs for years...
LK: In the shower...
Triple H: No, mostly in the car - I try not to think about Lemmy
when I'm in the shower!
LK: That would be counter-productive!
Triple H: Yeah, when I'm naked, you're not on my mind!
LK: I'm really glad about that! [laughing]. Believe me, I don't
think I could fight you off...
ME: I don't know, I think you might find it in you! I think I'd
have a lot of fight in me, considering the option!
Triple H: You might find what in you? [laughing]
ME: You recently returned from an injury, and it seems The Game
is even bigger now...
Triple H: The song they did for me was so cool, and their image
and mine are such a great mix, that as I came back we knew we
were going to keep them in the mix. That makes it more exciting
for me, more exciting for the fans, and more exciting for them,
because they've got their new album coming out in the spring.
Lemmy might do a few run-ins, box a few people with a bass
guitar...You never know when you'll see Motorhead. I think
Motorhead's sound is so cool, it's so bad-ass, and it's so our
image, that it's great to have them working with us.
LK: Because we're the only band that makes you feel like you're
wrestling when you listen to us!
ME: Was it a struggle to get the WWF to let you work with
Motorhead?
Triple H: No, because I kept telling them the sound I wanted for
the song, and the kind of sound that I wanted was pretty much
describing Motorhead. One of our show's producers said to me,
"So, what you're trying to tell me is, you want something
that pretty much sounds like Motorhead?" "Yeah, exactly
like Motorhead!" Then he said, "Why don't we just have
Motorhead do it?" I didn't even know that was an option, so
he made some phone calls, and a week later he told me that they
were on board. I was just thrilled to death because I've been
listening to them for years and they're one of my favorite bands.
So to be able to have them do the music for me, and just to be
around them, was great. One of the biggest thrills of my career
was to be standing in the Houston Astrodome and have them playing
a song that was just for me in front of 68,000 people. It
couldn't have been any cooler for me...
LK: It could have been louder, though!
ME: If you look at the bands that have been involved with
wrestling so far, it's a much younger demographic that they're
targeting - Saliva, Disturbed, Limp Bizkit...
LK: What do you mean, there aren't any young kids at our shows?
It's wholesome, family entertainment!
Triple H: It's such a carnival-like atmosphere at Motorhead
shows!
ME: That's right, I remember the teddy bear booths at the last
Motorhead show I went to!
Triple H: Yeah, teddy bears with razor blades and shit!
[laughing]
LK: Motorhead teddy bears - I never thought of that! With little
razors and fish hooks!
Triple H: You mention those bands, and it is a different
demographic, but name one of them that wasn't growing up
listening to Motorhead and influenced by them - Why should I get
the imitators when I can get the original? I've got the man...
ME: I want to see a battle royal of all the bands...
Triple H: Lemmy will whip Rob Zombie's ass! [laughing]
LK: Can I borrow your hammer? [laughing]
Triple H: That's the deal to me - I think there are a lot of kids
out there that are going to listen to Motorhead for the first
time and realize that it's bad-ass shit.
ME: Chris Jericho has his Fozzy band, The Rock has been known to
sing a song or two, are you next? Is this just the beginning?
Triple H: Shit no! I just talked on that thing! If he asked me to
sing something, I might only if I thought they could digitally
fix it so it sounds semi-normal...
LK: You'd have no problems with Pro-Tools!
Triple H: No, I have no musical career aspirations, but then
again, I don't think that The Rock should, either! Actually,
Jericho's not bad, he's actually got a decent voice...
LK: You always hate your own voice, though - The first time you
hear just your voice singing, it's fucking horrifying! There are
very few things that are worse than that for humiliation!
Triple H: But once you make a few nickels off it, you realize
you're pretty good!
ME: What was your impression of what you had to record today?
Triple H: Literally, the first time I heard it I had chills it
was so bad-ass. Then I got chills again when I actually did it
with him.
ME: Chris Jericho is like family here at Metal Edge - Now that
you're back, do we have to worry about you trying to take his
championship belts away from him?
Triple H: I'll grab one of 'em...I'll probably take all of 'em! I
beat his ass all the time! [laughing]
ME: Well, since you brought it up...What happened to your leg
when you got hurt?
Triple H: Well...I was in a match with Jericho, that bastard, and
when I went to hit him, I planted my left leg and heard a loud
pop and felt a burn, and completely detached a muscle in my left
thigh. We kept wrestling, we went another six or seven minutes,
then I went straight to the hospital...
ME: Were you able to stand up again when it happened?
Triple H: I stood up, then Jericho put me in [his finishing move]
The Walls of Jericho. I knew I had torn my quad and was fucked,
but I was the one who told him to put it on me, because that's
what was next. So he did it, I gutted through it, and then I got
helped out of the ring, because at that point I couldn't put any
weight on it. I had an MRI done that night, the next day I went
to Birmingham, AL, and the day after that I had my surgery done
by Dr. Jim Andrews. I've been there for more than six months
since then doing rehab.
ME: Was he able to put the move on you without applying the
normal amount of pressure?
Triple H: No - Believe me, it was brutal! It literally lasted
about 20 seconds, but it felt like it lasted about an hour. It
probably made it worse, but at that point I figured I was fucked
anyway, so it couldn't get much worse!
LK: It could have been both legs!
Triple H: Yeah, that's true! So I've been rehabbing for six
months, and it actually worked out really cool timing-wise with
Motorhead.
LK: I bet you weren't thinking that in the hospital!
Triple H: No, at the time I wasn't thinking that! "God damn,
this hurts, but Lemmy's got an album coming out in spring!"
LK: Actually, this is kind of fortunate!
Triple H: Exactly!
ME: Is it tough stepping back into the ring after that?
Triple H: I actually got back into the ring for the first time
yesterday, just to hit the ropes a little bit, and it was pretty
tough. It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but I'll get
through it, and once I get it in my head that I'm strong again,
I'll be good to go. I'm just gonna come back and start kicking
ass, and I don't care who's ass it is!
LK: Just not mine, please...