Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons

Veteran rock guitarist Phil 'Wizzo' Campbell spent 30 years playing with the legendary rock & roll band Motörhead, but following the death of front man Lemmy Kilmister, Campbell re-emerged in 2016 as the leader of a new project, thrashing out raw, grizzly riffs with his three sons. Born in Pontypridd, Wales, on May 7, 1961, Phil Campbell started playing guitar at the age of nine before playing in local pub bands when he was around 13. Inspired by the new wave of British heavy metal, he formed Persian Risk in 1979 before joining Motörhead in 1984. He ultimately played on 16 albums with the band, including classics like Rock 'n' Roll and 1916. Lemmy Kilmister's death in 2015 led to Phil Campbell recording a solo album a year later with Slipknot's drummer Chris Fehn, but he was soon back playing head-thrashing classic rock with his sons Tyla, Todd and Dane, plus wailing front man Neil Starr. As Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons, the musicians made their full-length debut with The Age of the Absurdity, whose 2018 release came full of squealing, thundering guitars and typically ferocious rock euphoria. Signed to metal label Nuclear Blast Records, the band went on to support Saxon and Guns N' Roses on tour and took their blistering, fireball licks, and lung-destroying, vocal climaxes to festivals across Europe. They remained active in the recording studio, too, releasing We're the Bastards in 2020 and returning with two albums -- the concert release Live in the North and the studio record Kings of the Asylum -- in 2023. On March 13, 2026, Phil Campbell died of complications from surgery at the age of 64.