Larry Wallis, former performer with Motorhead, has passed away at age 70.
Wallis played on the Motorhead album before their first record On Parole. The album went unreleased until 1979 when the label decided to finally put it out based on the success of the first three albums.
Wallis left Motorhead in 1976, a year before the debut album (without him) was released. However he was represented on the first album as co-writer of the song ‘Vibrator’.
He’d been a veteran of the British progressive and metal scenes by the time he joined Motorhead, having gotten his start in 1970 as a member of Shagrat, a band founded by Steve Peregrin Took after he left Tyrannosaurus Rex. From there, he moved on to Blodwyn Pig, which was followed by a stint in UFO that lasted about eight months in 1972. He also spent a few years fronting the Pink Fairies, during which time they recorded Kings of Oblivion.
After the breakup of the Pink Fairies, Wallis got together with Lemmy Kilmister, whom he knew from when the Pink Fairies played on the same billed as Lemmy’s former band, Hawkwind. They formed Motorhead with drummer Lucas Fox, signed with United Artists and recorded On Parole, with Wallis penning the title track and co-writing three others. But Fox left during the sessions, and they hired the late Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor as his replacement.
However, the label wasn’t thrilled with the end result and refused to release it. Then Motorhead brought in a second guitarist, “Fast” Eddie Clarke, and Larry Wallis, dissatisfied, left the band. On Parole eventually came out in 1979, after the band had had some commercial success.
Larry Wallis went on to become a record producer at new punk and new wave label Stiff Records. He recorded a song single ‘Police Car/On Parole’ for Stiff. The single was produced by Nick Lowe. ‘Police Car’ was later covered by The Members.
The Wreckless Eric albums A Louder Silence and Wreckless Eric were also produced by Wallis.
