I can tell you that the very, very last place I expected to see Lemmy Kilmister, from the band Motorhead, was at CES 2013. However, the metal pioneer emerged from the chaos with his new line of headphones — Motorheadphones, that is — to sell to the masses.
Lemmy is definitely a man of few words. The press conference was a reminder of this. However, he did answer every question regarding the look and feel of the Motorheadphones and let his technology partners, Ulf Sandberg and Anders Nicklasson, field more of the technical aspects of the hardware.
So how are Lemmy’s headphones different from other headphones out there? For starters, they are less focused on deep bass, like hip hop headphones are, and more focused on the mid-range sound of rock and roll. This is not surprising considering Lemmy’s trademark mid-ranged Rickenbacker bass sound.
It’s a trend we are seeing a lot — rock and hip hop stars partnering to create new hardware with mobile appeal. Slash has his own guitar app, Dre has his own headphones… it’s a smart play for pro musicians in the mature part of their career to diversify their personal and professional brands with technology offerings. Indeed, there is money to be made.
I waited with several other writers for quite a while after the press conference to ask a few more questions. It was taking a long time until finally our own Eve Binder from sister publication Engadget, took one for the team and volunteered to let Lemmy “sign” her with a Sharpie marker. Amazingly, this sprung Lemmy into action and he re-emerged from the Motorheadphones tent once again and I was able to capture this video of him fielding questions. Thanks Eve!