{"id":23926,"date":"2015-02-12T00:01:04","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T00:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=23926"},"modified":"2016-11-17T14:01:49","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T14:01:49","slug":"feature-black-star-riders-02-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-black-star-riders-02-15\/","title":{"rendered":"BLACK STAR RIDERS – Blindsided (February 2015) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLACK STAR RIDERS – Blindsided<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nFebruary 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

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Black Star Riders (l-r): Robbie Crane, Damon Johnson, Ricky Warwick, Jimmy DeGrasso and Scott Gorham<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nOn October 10th, 2012, hard rock outfit Thin Lizzy announced that it would ultimately bid farewell to touring, and not record a new album under that aforementioned moniker. Lead vocalist \/ bassist Phil Lynott had passed away almost 27 years earlier on January 6th, 1986, succumbing to pneumonia and heart failure brought about by septicaemia \u2013 his name synonymous with Thin Lizzy. The name Black Star Riders was eventually adopted, drummer Brian Downey and keyboardist Darren Wharton opting not to be a part of this new venture. Debut effort All Hell Breaks Loose<\/em><\/a> emerged during May 2013, sophomore studio full-length The Killer Instinct<\/em><\/a> being issued during February 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cWriting for The Killer Instinct<\/em> was pretty similar to All Hell Breaks Loose<\/em>\u201d, judges Ricky Warwick, vocalist and guitarist for Black Star Riders. \u201cI wrote mostly all of the lyrics, and a lot of the music. Damon (Johnson, guitarist) writes a lot of the music with me; him and I write constantly, and we have a lot of ideas. We just really didn\u2019t let up writing from the first album \u2013 we just continued working on ideas and songs. We had about 20 songs together when we got together; we sort of went to pre-production and went through them all. We write all the time, though. We write while we\u2019re on tour, when we\u2019re off the road, when we\u2019re in hotel rooms \u2013 you name it. There\u2019s just always ideas coming, and that\u2019s how we like to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cScott (Gorham, guitarist) came in with three or four killer riffs that are on there, as well. Scott walks in, and he\u2019ll play \u2013 like with \u2018Soldierstown\u2019, which is a Scott Gorham guitar riff. He walked in, said \u2018I\u2019ve got this idea\u2019, and played it for me. Your jaw hits the floor. It\u2019s great that he has enough belief in Damon and I that he\u2019ll come in, play this riff, and then we\u2019ll take it away and kick it into a song. We make a song out of it. Obviously, we keep him in the loop the whole way through the process, like \u2018What do you think of this melody?\u2019 That\u2019s great to have, a guy like Scott Gorham \u2013 who\u2019s a legend \u2013 contributing in that way. When he does come up with stuff, it\u2019s phenomenal.\u201d <\/p>\n

Songwriting sessions for Black Star Riders\u2019 two outings to date were separated by a key difference. \u201cI think the difference is that when we went in to do All Hell Breaks Loose<\/em>, up until the 11th hour \u2013 as most people know \u2013 we thought that we were gonna record it under the Thin Lizzy moniker, until we really had a last minute change of heart,\u201d the singer recounts. \u201cThere was obviously a lot of pressure that came with writing those songs, thinking that we were gonna put it out as Thin Lizzy up until the last minute. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the big difference this time around is that Black Star Riders has been established; we\u2019ve been touring, and people know who the band are. Obviously, we were spurred on by the success of the first album. There\u2019s always pressure when you make a record, but it wasn\u2019t as much an intense pressure. We knew who we were; we knew that we were making a Black Star Riders album, and there was no doubt about that. I think just taking that onboard gave us all the room and confidence that we needed, that we maybe didn\u2019t have writing the first record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had All Hell Breaks Loose<\/em> been issued under the Thin Lizzy banner, Ricky would\u2019ve arguably been walking up to the hangman\u2019s noose as it were, considering how widely regarded Phil Lynott is. \u201cThat was the reasoning behind it,\u201d he responds. \u201cThe realisation just hit us, I think. Suddenly it\u2019s time you let your heart rule your head. In your head, you\u2019re going \u2018Oh, It\u2019s gonna be great. We\u2019re gonna make a Thin Lizzy record. I\u2019m gonna get my name on a Thin Lizzy record.\u2019 As a fan and in my heart though, I\u2019m going \u2018This is wrong. This isn\u2019t the right thing to do. It\u2019s been 30 years to make an album and put it out as Thin Lizzy. A studio album without Phil just isn\u2019t right.\u2019 I think we suddenly all just came to that realisation. There were a few things going on at that point, as well. That\u2019s when Brian and Darren decided that the amount of touring that we were doing was too much for them as well, so taking all of that onboard, we just all got a wake-up call. Somebody just mentioned it in a room, and it was kind of like \u2018I\u2019m really glad you said that, because that\u2019s what I was thinking as well.\u2019 <\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was absolutely the right thing to do, it really was. A lot of people as well said that it could\u2019ve been commercial suicide, because we knew for a fact that putting it out under the Thin Lizzy name would guarantee us a certain amount of sales no matter what the record sounded like, anyway. To suddenly turn around and change the name completely \u2013 the whole thing \u2013 we knew that we were taking a big risk, but I guess once we decided that we were gonna do that, it was a weight off of my shoulders. I felt that it was absolutely the right decision, and I know that everybody else did. We stuck to our guns, and the people out there proved us right. They supported us, they bought the record, they came to the shows, and here I am talking to you about the second record because of all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinions were divided as to whether the musicians should cut material under the Thin Lizzy moniker, the axeman contends. \u201cWe had a lot of people saying \u2018No, you should record as Thin Lizzy\u2019 and a lot of people sort of saying \u2018Why don\u2019t you?,\u2019 and then other people saying \u2018No, you shouldn\u2019t. Changing the name kind of shut everybody up. With people that were always like \u2018No Phil, no Lizzy,\u2019 it was like \u2019Well, okay. You can\u2019t say that any more because we\u2019ve changed the name.\u2019 We are moving on and we are moving on in a different way, and I think it made everybody happy all round. There\u2019s nobody that can criticise us or say \u2018You shouldn\u2019t be putting it out as Thin Lizzy,\u2019 because we aren\u2019t. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was still a tough decision to make, though, because we\u2019d been out playing very successfully live as Thin Lizzy for three years prior to that. It was like \u2018We want to make some new music and Scott, Brian and Darren were in Thin Lizzy, so why not call it Thin Lizzy?\u2019 Like I said though, when we then actually sat down and thought about it, we just thought \u2018Well, let history be history. Respect the legacy.\u2019 I think once we made that decision, there was no going back. It was definitely the best decision that we made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite no longer using the Thin Lizzy name, Black Star Riders nevertheless wields much of Thin Lizzy\u2019s musical hallmarks. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of Thin Lizzy in Black Star Riders, and there always will be because of Scott Gorham,\u201d Ricky credits. \u201cScott\u2019s a huge part of that Lizzy sound, so when he plays guitar, you\u2019re gonna hear that Scott Gorham sound. Myself and Damon were in Thin Lizzy for a good three years, albeit a small part of it, but we\u2019re both lifelong Thin Lizzy fans. We\u2019re both very respectful of Lizzy and the legacy, and it\u2019s a spirit and a vibe that we want to retain and keep in Black Star Riders. We don\u2019t want to lose that. Why would we? It\u2019s a great thing that we have, so we\u2019re just retaining that spirit and that vibe. Like I said, Scott\u2019s in the band, so we\u2019re always gonna have that guitar sound. There\u2019ll always be a part of it in Black Star Riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also harbouring Thin Lizzy traits is the composer\u2019s vocal tones, similar to those of late Thin Lizzy leader Phil Lynott. \u201cI\u2019ve been singing Phil\u2019s songs for almost five years now, and I completely immersed myself in the role,\u201d he muses. \u201cWhen I was given the job, I wanted to do it justice. I wanted to sing the songs as close to the way that Phil sang them as I possibly could, because let\u2019s face it. If you\u2019re gonna go and see Thin Lizzy, you wanna hear the songs the way they sounded. They\u2019ll never be the way that Phil sang them of course, but I want to try to get them as close as I could to that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI studied the man\u2019s lyrics, I studied his poetry. I\u2019ve learnt so much from Phil over the last few years; I think it\u2019s made me a better performer, a better writer and a better musician, just from studying the great man\u2019s work. That\u2019s rubbed off on me, and so that\u2019s part of who I am now. It\u2019s ingrained in me, that influence, so it\u2019s just a part of it now. I don\u2019t even really think about it. I don\u2019t try to sound like him, but I have the vibe. I think I\u2019ve found the right line to sort of walk down the middle of it and keep the Lizzy fans happy, but also put enough Ricky Warwick in there as well to make it my own.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you\u2019re writing and you know it\u2019s not a Thin Lizzy album… Obviously there are certain roads that we had to go down, and we\u2019re very aware of making it appealing by trying to make it sound like a Lizzy record. That\u2019s not so much the case now. Like I said, we\u2019ll always still have that vibe and that feel because of what we do. It\u2019s just there, but I think we can try anything. You\u2019ve got a song like \u2018Finest Hour\u2019 on the new record, which I think is very far away from that Thin Lizzy sound. You\u2019ve obviously got \u2018The Killer Instinct\u2019 which does sound a little bit like Thin Lizzy, so every avenue is open and everything you can explore. I think \u2018You Little Liar\u2019 has even got elements of The Almighty in it \u2013 the last track on the album. It goes back to my Almighty days, so I think there\u2019s a good Almighty influence on there as well. I can just be me, and that\u2019s what I enjoy about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ricky credits Nick Raskulinecz as being a central component in The Killer Instinct<\/em>\u2019s resultant sound. \u201cNot that Kevin Shirley (producer for All Hell Breaks Loose<\/em>) isn\u2019t great, but we had a bit more time to record this time around. I feel the songs are stronger, and I feel that the band\u2019s tighter. You\u2019ve gotta remember that when we went in and did the first Black Star Riders album, Jimmy DeGrasso (drums) had literally been in the band for three days when we went in the studio to record. We hadn\u2019t done any live shows as Black Star Riders. It was all completely new, uncharted territory for us, and we recorded that album pretty much live very, very quickly with Kevin. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis time around, like I said, we\u2019ve had two years of touring, two years of getting to know each other, and two years of establishing Black Star Riders. I think that makes a difference in the sound and the confidence, and just the general attitude in the songwriting. Then you put somebody who\u2019s as experienced as Nick Raskulinecz as a producer into the mix. For me, it just took the whole thing up another level.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott had initially approached Black Star Riders to sit in the production chair for The Killer Instinct<\/em>. \u201cJoe wanted to do the second Black Star Riders album and so we were gonna do it with Joe, which would\u2019ve been fantastic,\u201d the Black Star Riders frontman enthuses. \u201cJoe\u2019s a great friend of ours. We were gonna record in his place in Dublin, but then his year got really busy with Def Leppard. They went out on the Kiss tour, and started writing some new Def Leppard stuff. He just said \u2018Look guys, I can\u2019t give you the time that I promised you. I think it wouldn\u2019t be fair of me to try and do your album when I\u2019ve got all this other stuff going on.\u2019 He had to pull out of doing the record, but we were very lucky. <\/p>\n

\u201cNick Raskulinecz was somebody who we have always admired. Obviously, the Alice In Chains stuff sounds great. The Mastodon stuff and the Foo Fighters obviously just sounds fantastic. I mean, everything that the guy does sounds great to me. The last Mastodon album (Once More \u2018Round The Sun, June 2014) I thought was really cool too, so it was a no-brainer. We didn\u2019t think that we could get him, because we didn\u2019t think that his schedule would fit with ours nor were we sure if he wanted to work with us. We got in touch with him, though. We invited him down to a show that we played in Nashville, Tennesee. He loved the band, loved the songs that we played him, and agreed to work with us \u2013 which he did. It was a wonderful experience. A great guy, absolutely brilliant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recorded at his studio, just outside of Nashville. It\u2019s great, a beautiful studio. It\u2019s about ten miles outside of Nashville, in the countryside. There\u2019s not much around there but beautiful scenery, so it\u2019s a great place to make music. We just went there to make music. We didn\u2019t really go out in Nashville at all, because we were too busy making the record. I think we actually went out for one night the whole time I was there. I just immersed myself in making this record, and these idyllic surroundings were really conducive to just getting in, and writing and playing and recording.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Raskulinecz is \u201cquite an emotional person,\u201d Ricky feels. \u201cHe lives and breathes music 24\/7; he always talks about music, and music is always on. He\u2019s always jumping up and down about it, which is very infectious. He gets really emotionally attached to the band. He throws himself into you as a person, as a band; what makes you tick, why you wrote that, why you\u2019re playing that. We spent about a week in pre-production, going through all of the songs, working on arrangements, and working on parts. Then we went into the studio and started recording. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just full-on, hands-on. He\u2019s there to basically produce, get the best out of us, get the best out of the songs, get the best sound sonically, and make the best Black Star Riders record that we can make. Like I said, he gets very emotionally attached. He becomes a member of the band for that time that you\u2019re in the studio. He\u2019s certainly a laid-back guy, but he\u2019s got great people skills. He\u2019s very good; he\u2019s a very positive guy and very experienced, and all that just works to your benefit. He\u2019s very motivational, and I would work with the guy again in a heartbeat. He was phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recording approach of Nick Raskulinecz differs to that of Kevin Shirley, who produced All Hell Breaks Loose<\/em>. \u201cThey\u2019re completely different,\u201d the lyricist critiques. \u201cYou\u2019ve got two different people with two different personalities, and different ideas of how to record a band. Kevin is very much get in, get it done, and try to get it done as live as possible with a minimum amount of overdubs \u2013 capturing the energy and the attitude. Nick is definitely more \u2018Let\u2019s listen to what everybody\u2019s playing. Let\u2019s work on these arrangements. Let\u2019s get the best out of the arrangements.\u2019 Definitely more methodical, but he\u2019s still all about capturing the vibe as well. Everything was still very much done live, but obviously we had time to go in and overdub stuff this time around, which suited us a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though schedules failed to align with respect to The Killer Instinct<\/em>\u2019s recording, Black Star Riders may nevertheless still work with Joe Elliott in future. \u201cListen, we wouldn\u2019t rule anything out,\u201d Ricky offers. \u201cJoe\u2019s a great friend of everybody in the band, and we love him. Somewhere down the line, whether he ends up playing or singing on something that we do, who knows. Yeah though, I would like to think that we\u2019ll work with Joe at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Killer Instinct<\/em>\u2019s lyrics are personal in nature, meanwhile. \u201cIt\u2019s all written through my personal experiences, of what\u2019s happened to me, friends, family, and situations that I have been in, or that they have been in,\u201d the axe-slinger describes. \u201cEach song tells a different story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Soldierstown\u2019 was lyrically co-authored with Sam Robinson. \u201cHe\u2019s a really good friend of mine from Belfast, and he\u2019s a great writer,\u201d Ricky compliments. \u201cWe had the idea for \u2018Soldierstown\u2019; Sam and I worked on that together, and then we based it around Scott\u2019s riff. It\u2019s a pretty dark song. It\u2019s based on an idea, which is going around the world now. It\u2019s about the whole terrorism thing, which happens a lot. You just get a knock on the door, and you basically have to give up your strongest child \u2013 your strongest son \u2013 to go off and fight. If you don\u2019t, the other option is that they\u2019ll slaughter your family. It\u2019s about that scenario. You\u2019ve got to kind of lose a finger to save a hand. It\u2019s going down that road, about everything that is going on with ISIS and Iraq. Just the worldwide terror threat that\u2019s going on right now, about how it\u2019s corrupting the families and the people that live in these places, and the futility of it all, and the damage that it\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The title track, on the other hand, was inspired by a biographical tome about boxer Muhammad Ali. \u201cI was just really inspired by his whole attitude to life, about how he overcame all of the adversity, about his attitude just to living, and his attitude to becoming the greatest heavyweight champion in the world,\u201d the singer divulges. \u201cHe\u2019s a very positive guy; he had an attitude that no matter what he was gonna do, he was gonna make sure that he was the best at it and did it to the best of his ability. That really struck a chord with me. I thought that you can adapt that to everyday life, that you\u2019ve gotta try your best and you\u2019ve gotta be positive, and you\u2019ve gotta have that killer instinct to move past all of the obstacles that life puts in your way. <\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, I was watching the riot going on back home in Belfast last summer over all of these flag protests, just seeing the futility of it all. I thought about instead of just being the mindless kind of violence that comes with all that, how it would be great if these people tried to be positive and direct that aggression and anger in a more positive way instead of shitting on your own doorstep. It\u2019s just bringing that positive attitude into life that you\u2019ve gotta get out there. Yes, you\u2019ve gotta have that killer instinct, but you\u2019ve gotta use it in a positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cover artwork design for The Killer Instinct<\/em> shares stylistic traits with its predecessor\u2019s artwork design. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty much it,\u201d Ricky confirms. \u201cWe wanted to do a continuation. Everybody was really identifying with the theme on the first album, and we felt that it was really strong imagery. It was something that we wanted to continue a little bit further, so we\u2019ve got a B-17 bomber this time. It\u2019s dropped the bombs, and it\u2019s backing away \u2013 it\u2019s done its mission. We\u2019ve got a pin-up girl riding the bomb. It\u2019s a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but it\u2019s still got that rock \u2019n\u2019 roll pin-up girl art thing that we really love. Like I said, it\u2019s a continuation of our logo and our theme.\u201d<\/p>\n

A digipack edition of The Killer Instinct<\/em> includes a bonus disc, featuring four acoustic renditions as well as two original compositions. \u201cWe write everything on acoustic guitars, me and Damon,\u201d the axeman informs. \u201cWhen it came down to wanting to do some acoustic stuff, it was very easy because it was all written that way. We sat and stripped it down, and they went on there as the bonus tracks for this deluxe edition. They were just recorded really quickly and as live as we possibly could, and I think they work pretty good. \u2018Gabrielle\u2019 and \u2018The Reckoning Day\u2019 were two songs that we recorded with Nick, but we decided that they weren\u2019t gonna make the final ten, that they were gonna be the two bonus tracks. They\u2019re rock \u2019n\u2019 roll songs too, so go out and listen to them. \u2018Gabrielle\u2019\u2019s an acoustic-based song, while \u2018The Reckoning Day\u2019 is a sort of full-on bluesy rocker with some great guitar work from Scott and Damon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Killer Instinct<\/em> number \u2018Blindsided\u2019 is more of a laid-back affair, as well. \u201cIt\u2019s laid-back, in that it\u2019s also an acoustic guitar-based song,\u201d Ricky scrutinises. \u201cIt\u2019s got quite a gritty lyric; it tells a story of a guy who\u2019s basically had a problem most of his life with alcohol and drugs, a guy who falls in love with a woman who promises him salvation, to take him away and start a new life. He cleans up his act, and arranges to meet this woman. On the day they\u2019re supposed to get out of the city and run away to this new life though, she fails to show up. He basically thinks \u2018Okay. Well, maybe I was better off just being the guy that I was before this woman promised me the world. Maybe I was happy when I was just being drunk. Looks like I got blindsided.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The platter doesn\u2019t boast the services of bassist Marco Mendoza, whose departure from Black Star Riders was publicly disclosed on May 30th, 2014. \u201cBlack Star Riders was always full-time, and it always has been,\u201d the songwriter notes. \u201cAs soon as we started Black Star Riders, it was always about being committed to Black Star Riders. Everybody else in the band has other stuff going on, though. I have my solo stuff, Damon has his solo stuff, and Jimmy plays with a few other people, and the same with Robbie, but Black Star Riders is a priority and it comes first before everything else. <\/p>\n

\u201cMarco\u2019s just a busy guy. Marco\u2019s one of these guys who has a million things going on at the same time. He just couldn\u2019t commit to Black Star Riders as much as he would\u2019ve liked to and as much as we wanted him to, so he decided that he wanted to move on. Other stuff was starting to get in the way, and there were conflicts with scheduling and stuff like that. He made the move, and he saw that. He knew that, and it was fine. We wished him all the best \u2013 there was no drama. He said \u2018I\u2019ll do this American tour, and then I\u2019m gonna step aside. I wish you guys all the best.\u2019 We wished him all the best. None of us were particularly surprised. It happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Erstwhile Lynch Mob and Ratt member Robbie Crane was named as Marco\u2019s replacement. \u201cRobbie was suggested by our drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, who had played with Robbie a few times in Ratt,\u201d Ricky reveals. \u201cJimmy just said \u2018This guy\u2019s not doing anything right now.\u2019 A great bass player, a great guy. Robbie came down and jammed with us. We played a couple of songs, and he just blew us away. He fitted in seamlessly, and he\u2019s brought so much to the band. We really think that he\u2019s the perfect fit for Black Star Riders. He\u2019s more of an aggressive bass player than Marco, and I think that that suits our style. A great guy, great onstage, and just a real good addition to this band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black Star Riders\u2019 immediate aim is to tour the globe in support of its second offering, Thin Lizzy material naturally figuring among the setlist. \u201cThat\u2019s what we do; put the record out, and then you get on the road and try to play to as many people as you can in as many countries as you can,\u201d the frontman observes. \u201cThat\u2019s really it. The Black Star Riders material goes down great. We\u2019ve been playing eight or nine songs from the first record for the last year-and-a-half in our set, and that\u2019s a big chunk of material that\u2019s not Lizzy. Like I said, we wouldn\u2019t be playing that many songs if it wasn\u2019t going over in any great way, which it is. People have been really cool, and I think people want to hear the Black Star Riders stuff just as much as the Lizzy stuff. I think we\u2019ll always play Thin Lizzy songs though, because \u2013 number one \u2013 we want to, and people expect it. I think there\u2019ll always be some Thin Lizzy songs in the Black Star Riders set.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to fronting Black Star Riders, Ricky has cultivated a solo profile in recent years. December 15th, 2014 witnessed the PledgeMusic issue of two solo affairs: When Patsy Cline Was Crazy (And Guy Mitchell Sang The Blues)<\/em> and Hearts On Trees<\/em>. \u201cWhen Patsy Cline Was Crazy (And Guy Mitchell Sang The Blues)<\/em> is a full-on electric album, while Hearts On Trees<\/em> is an acoustic album,\u201d he outlines. \u201cThey\u2019re only available if you actually pledged through the Pledge campaign, so you could\u2019ve got download, vinyl, CD. They\u2019re not gonna be commercially available until the end of 2015. I\u2019m talking to a few labels at the minute, so hopefully I\u2019ll find the right home for them and make it known when the time\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further solo activity is hopeful. \u201cIt\u2019s whatever I can fit around Black Star Riders,\u201d the wordsmith clarifies. \u201cWe\u2019re entirely busy with Black Star Riders at the minute, which is great, but if I get a break, obviously we\u2019ll try to go out to promote the solo albums at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Killer Instinct<\/em> will be released on February 20th, 2015 in Europe (excluding the United Kingdom), on the 23rd in the United Kingdom and subsequently on the 24th in North America, all via Nuclear Blast Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in February 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLACK STAR RIDERS – Blindsided Anthony Morgan February 2015 Black Star Riders (l-r): Robbie Crane, Damon Johnson, Ricky Warwick, Jimmy DeGrasso and Scott Gorham On October 10th, 2012, hard rock outfit Thin Lizzy announced that it would ultimately bid farewell to touring, and not record a new album under that aforementioned moniker. Lead vocalist \/ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[584],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-black-star-riders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23926"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49823,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926\/revisions\/49823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}