Thin Lizzy Morphs Into Black Star Riders For New Album

From Sleaze Roxx...

"In October 2012 Thin Lizzy announced that they would not be recording new material under the Thin Lizzy moniker. The last incarnation of the band -- Scott Gorham, Brian Downey, Darren Wharton, Ricky Warwick, Damon Johnson and Marco Mendoza -- would be looking to form a new project.

Step forward Black Star Riders...

December 2012 sees the announcement of the new band formed by Thin Lizzy alumni Ricky Warwick (vocals), Scott Gorham (guitar), Damon Johnson (guitar), and Marco Mendoza (bass) with new addition Jimmy DeGrasso on drums (Alice Cooper, Megadeth, David Lee Roth, Suicidal Tendencies). The change in personnel came about as Brian Downey didn't want to commit to the touring cycle a new album would entail and Darren Wharton wanted to concentrate on Dare and other music and film projects.
Black Star Riders is set to enter the studio in Los Angeles in January 2013 to start recording their debut album with the legendary Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Aerosmith, Rush). The album will feature material the band wrote whilst touring as Thin Lizzy and the sound retains that classic feel but is very much its own as well. The Black Star Riders record is the next step in the evolution of the Thin Lizzy story.
"We are all very excited about the music that we have created for Black Star Riders. The synergy between the five of us has been phenomenal and I can't wait for the world to hear these songs," says Ricky Warwick.
The new, as yet untitled, album will be released in May 2013 through Nuclear Blast -- the label behind acts such as Anthrax, Nightwish and Meshuggah. Black Star Riders are one of the first bands signed by Monte Conner -- the former Roadrunner A&R guru who has signed acts such as Slipknot, Machine Head, Sepultura and Rush. Conner recently joined Nuclear Blast as the president of Nuclear Blast Entertainment, a new U.S. partnership he co-founded with Nuclear Blast owner Markus Staiger.
Says Conner, "As a lifelong Thin Lizzy fan, I was floored by this line-up's new material. Not only do the new songs sound like Thin Lizzy but they sound like CLASSIC Thin Lizzy. Black Star Riders totally captures the essence of what was great about the original band while at the same time adding something totally fresh and modern. Even when I heard the band decided to change their name, my interest in signing them did not waver for one second."
The band are looking to support their May album release with European festivals shows in the summer of 2013 and follow this up with worldwide touring. The set list will consist of material from the new album and classic Thin Lizzy material."

Sounds interesting!! I'd like to hear what they come up with. I do wish Brian Downey would have stayed with them though.

Personally I'm happy they aren't using the Thin Lizzy moniker, I'm one of those who believe the band died with Phil.

I will be interested to hear what they come up with.

I'll get the inside skinny on that. Calling Brian's son now.

He's not answering his phone. The thing is he told me Thin Lizzy were doing a tour with his dad intact, and he was quite positive about the line up; weird Brian has opted out. Without him there is no Lizzy, no wonder they changed the name. Brian came up with that name with Phill and Eric Bell. I'll explain the name in another thread.

Bump for new album info...

All Hell Breaks Loose will be released as a standard CD and in a special-edition including bonus track Right To Be Wrong and a documentary DVD. It’s released on May 21 in Japan; May 22 in Sweden; May 24 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Finland and Norway; May 27 in the UK, France, Benelux, Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Greece; and May 28 in North America, South America and Italy.

All Hell Breaks Loose tracklist:

01. All Hell Breaks Loose
02. Bound For Glory
03. Kingdom Of The Lost
04. Bloodshot
05. Kissin’ The Ground
06. Hey Judas
07. Hoodoo Voodoo
08. Valley Of The Stones
09. Someday Salvation
10. Before The War
11. Blues Ain’t So Bad

I feel really weird about them using the Thin Lizzy name. I've got no problem with Queen without Freddie, The Doors without Jim Morrison but any version of Lizzy without Phil Lynott seems bizarre and very very wrong.

Good luck to them with the new name though.

S.D. wrote:

Personally I'm happy they aren't using the Thin Lizzy moniker, I'm one of those who believe the band died with Phil.

I will be interested to hear what they come up with.

I'm with you.

However, I did go to see the band with John Sykes and as much as it wasn't the "real" Thin Lizzy, it was great seeing John and Scott Gorham on stage keeping those old songs alive. I really enjoyed their set.

But new material without Phil? No.

Boris2008 wrote:

I feel really weird about them using the Thin Lizzy name. I've got no problem with Queen without Freddie, The Doors without Jim Morrison but any version of Lizzy without Phil Lynott seems bizarre and very very wrong.

Good luck to them with the new name though.

I agree with your point of view of Thin Lizzy, but I also say no Jim, no Doors

manny wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

I feel really weird about them using the Thin Lizzy name. I've got no problem with Queen without Freddie, The Doors without Jim Morrison but any version of Lizzy without Phil Lynott seems bizarre and very very wrong.

Good luck to them with the new name though.

I agree with your point of view of Thin Lizzy, but I also say no Jim, no Doors

I also say no Freddie Mercury, no Queen.

No UDO, no Accept.

No Geoff Tate....No problem

I agree with those who say no Jim no Doors, no Freddie no Queen to a point, I certainly wouldn't go to see these bands but I can understand why certainly in the case of Queen if the three remaining guys want to stay together, tour and play the back catalogue that they have from the past fourty years, what else could you possibly call it?

Boris2008 wrote:

I agree with those who say no Jim no Doors, no Freddie no Queen to a point, I certainly wouldn't go to see these bands but I can understand why certainly in the case of Queen if the three remaining guys want to stay together, tour and play the back catalogue that they have from the past fourty years, what else could you possibly call it?

Queen featuring the voice of Queensryche: Geoff Tate

manny wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

I agree with those who say no Jim no Doors, no Freddie no Queen to a point, I certainly wouldn't go to see these bands but I can understand why certainly in the case of Queen if the three remaining guys want to stay together, tour and play the back catalogue that they have from the past fourty years, what else could you possibly call it?

Queen featuring the voice of Queensryche: Geoff Tate

Nooooo!!!!! Don't even joke about it!

Boris2008 wrote:

I agree with those who say no Jim no Doors, no Freddie no Queen to a point, I certainly wouldn't go to see these bands but I can understand why certainly in the case of Queen if the three remaining guys want to stay together, tour and play the back catalogue that they have from the past fourty years, what else could you possibly call it?

It's not 3 members, John Deacon has no interest in being involved...it's just Brian May & Roger Taylor.

S.D. wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

I agree with those who say no Jim no Doors, no Freddie no Queen to a point, I certainly wouldn't go to see these bands but I can understand why certainly in the case of Queen if the three remaining guys want to stay together, tour and play the back catalogue that they have from the past fourty years, what else could you possibly call it?

It's not 3 members, John Deacon has no interest in being involved...it's just Brian May & Roger Taylor.

I didn't realize that, it is stretching things a bit then.

Go here to see the album cover and hear the first single 'Bound For Glory'

http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/music_and_videos/online-premiere-black-star-riders-bound-for-glory/

It certainly has a classic TL vibe to it.

Pretty cool!


Almost as Lizzy-esque as Sinner's "Back On Trail".

Nifty. That's a bit of a departure for Sinner, sound-wise, isn't it? I thought they were more of a European power metal band? This sounds more "rock" that I expected.

The singer is trying way too hard to capture Phil's distinctive phrasing and the lyrics are imitation storyteller style to boot. Very disappointing.

SpectreFate wrote:

Pretty cool!


Almost as Lizzy-esque as Sinner's "Back On Trail".

Yikes!!

I would say that this is a poor man's Thin Lizzy but that would be insulting to Lizzy and poor men everywhere.

S.D. wrote:

The singer is trying way too hard to capture Phil's distinctive phrasing and the lyrics are imitation storyteller style to boot. Very disappointing.

That's kinda to be expected though, isn't it? They might have changed the name, but the idea was to record some new tunes in a "Thin Lizzy" fashion. If they went too far off the mark, folks would complain that it doesn't sound like "classic" Lizzy.

Sounds like a classic case of damned if they do, damned if they don't. Some folks will like it and some will hate it I guess. I'm somewhere in the middle. Not a bad tune, but I'm not rushing to get it.

You could write songs in a "Thin Lizzy fashion" without resorting to a karaoke-singer imitation of Phil's vocal delivery. The guitar harmonies would be enough of a musical indication that Thin Lizzy was being referenced. The song is a little too close to parts of "Southbound" and "Waiting For An Alibi" and frankly it's not a very interesting tune.

Hopefully there is more unique material elsewhere on the album.

hmmm.... Just finished listening to the song. Doesn't sound too bad. I don't think he's trying to imitate Phils voice, but I really don't know who the guy is or if he's been in other bands, I never bothered to look more into it. It does have some classic Lizzy parts in it tho which is cool. Is there enough to make me want to go out and pick this up? I'll have to give the rest a listen.