“I was a huge fan of Motörhead’s, and of Lemmy’s. Anthrax did many tours with them over the years, and at their soundchecks, I liked to stand on the side of the stage, right behind the monitor mixer, just watching what Lemmy did, staring at him like a kid. I was just such a fan and wanted to learn.
“One day, I was onstage during their soundcheck and at the end, Lemmy looks over at me, he says, ‘C'mere.’ I went over to him and he took his bass off and put it on me and said, 'Go for it.' I didn’t know it at the time, but he had turned the volume up, way up – I didn't realise how loud he played onstage. When I played the first note, the force of power and air literally threw me back almost on my ass! Lemmy started laughing – he had set me up. And I loved every second of it.
“We ended up hanging out, talking about the bass, growing up, rock’n’roll, stuff like that. He was a good man, and it seemed that he lived every day the way he wanted to. He was Lemmy. I was so fortunate to be around him on so many tours that Anthrax and Motörhead did together, and he knew that I was a big fan.
“One day at their soundcheck, he was going through his gear. He looked over at me – standing behind the monitor mixer, as always – and waved me over to him. On top of his monitor, there was a line of ‘Lemmy’ picks. He motioned to them, then dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a different pick and said, ‘This is the pick I play with.’ And then he gave it to me. I still have that pick. Lemmy was the real deal, and always will be.”