The FADER’s transgender charity covers compilation FADER & Friends Volume 1 is out now, available exclusively on Bandcamp until December 1, 2023. 100% of the proceeds go towards the Transgender Law Center, Mermaids, and Rainbow Railroad. Throughout the month of November, we’re speaking to the artists who contributed to the 44-song collection about the songs they covered.
Motörhead’s “Killed By Death” has endured since its 1984 release thanks to its sheer intensity: every one of its four minutes and 40 seconds sounds as though it were composed in the moments just before a glass bottle connects with Lemmy’s grinning, bloodied visage. Aussie rockers RVG go for broke on their cover of the track, transferring its intensity to their own fraught, brooding sound without sacrificing any of its defiant spirit.
Listen to the song below and buy the full album on Bandcamp. Scroll down to read RVG’s Romy Vager on the original song and their cover.
What's your first memory of this song?
The video clip where Lenny crashes into a house on a motorcycle. I love it.
Why did you decide to record it as your cover?
Every time I’ve heard a Motörhead cover there’s always an inclination to make it heavier and faster, whereas we thought it might be fun for a band like us, who obviously can’t do metal, to bring out the Melodies and the lyrics a bit more.
What does this song/band mean to you personally?
Motörhead's something we all agree on as a band, we listened to them a lot on big car trips, and for me, this song screams "Fuck you, I’m not going anywhere till I’m dead," which is how I feel about my place in the world sometimes.
What's another song you'd love to cover and why?
We initially tried to cover "History Repeating" by Shirley Bassey and the Propellerheads but couldn’t get it to work. I still haven’t given up on it, I like the sentiment of that song a lot.