Thin Lizzy: The Boys Are Back in Town

THE BOYS

BRIAN DOWNEY

Drums:

Born in Dublin, Ireland (January 27, 1951), has been with Thin Lizzy for the entire history of the band and as a drummer, the true rock. Recorded and toured with Gary Moore’s band following Phil Lynott’s death.

SCOTT GORHAM

Lead guitar:

Born in Glendale, California, USA (March 17, 1951). Started playing bass guitar at the age of 13. Recorded three albums with his own band, 21 Guns, following recovery from drug addiction and the split of Thin Lizzy.

PHIL LYNOTT

Bass guitar/vocals:

Born in West Bromwich, England (August 20, 1949 – died January 4, 1986). His father, Cecil Parris (born in British Guyana), was not part of his life, and the young Lynott returned to Dublin as a four year old to live with his grandmother, Sarah, while his mother Philomena worked in Manchester. He never left, except with Thin Lizzy. As a young artist, he was also a poet (publishing two books). After a colourful and successful career, he succumbed to a life of drug dependency when he died in Salisbury Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

ERIC BELL

Lead guitar:

Born in Belfast, Ireland (September 3, 1947). An accomplished and creative guitarist, he was instrumental in the Lizzy sound, creating the legendary riff on ‘Whisky In The Jar’ before dramatically quitting during a gig in his home town. Went on to form his own band, then teamed up with former Jimi Hendrix bassist Noel Redding. Has continued to perform with his own band throughout the nineties and the noughties.

GARY MOORE

Lead guitar:

Born in Belfast, Ireland (April 4, 1952 – DIED

February 6, 2011). A true guitar hero and virtuoso, influenced by Peter Green, he played with Dublin band Skid Row, several spells in Thin Lizzy, his own band, jazz rock group Colosseum II, and recorded and shared the stage with many other rock luminaries, including George Harrison and Tom Petty. He was also guitarist on the South Bank Show theme, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. He went on to have a successful solo career, veering from hard rock to blues, which was always his first love.

BRIAN ROBERTSON

Lead guitar:

Born in Clarkston, Renfrewshire, Scotland (February 12, 1956). After studying cello and piano for eight years, he switched to guitar and dabbled with drums. Played in gigs locally with the Dream Police (which later evolved into the Average White Band). With Downey, Gorham and Lynott, was part of the Thin Lizzy Golden Era. Always known for a short temper, he eventually left Lizzy after a series of spats had affected the band’s future. He went on to form Wild Horses with Jimmy Bain, with moderate success, and later joined Motörhead, recording Another Perfect Day. His style did not fit with them, and he left. Cutting his hair didn’t help win over diehard Motörhead fans. Since, he has recorded a solo album, Diamonds And Dirt, and played with a number of bands as guest. Still an extremely talented, if volatile, guitarist.

SNOWI WHITE

Lead guitar:

Born in Barnstable, Devon, England (March 3, 1948). Renowned English blues player, started playing at the age of 11. After playing guitar with Pink Floyd (as their first augmenting musician) and the legendary Peter Green, he joined Lizzy and brought his unique, understated style with him. When he left Lizzy, he became a solo artist, with an album, White Flames and hit single, ‘Bird Of Paradise’. From 1990, he has been part of Roger Waters’ touring band, while continuing to record his own albums. On one, Highway To The Sun, Gary Moore was a guest player.

DARREN WHARTON

Keyboards:

Born in Failsworth, Lancashire, England (December 25, 1962). Joined Thin Lizzy at the age of 17 when, following the temporary tenure of Midge Ure, the band decided to take on a keyboard player permanently. Post-Lizzy, he went on to form his own band, Dare, which had limited success, and they have since recorded seven albums.

JOHN SYKES

Lead guitar:

Born in Reading, Berkshire, England (July 29, 1959). One of the bright stars from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with his band, the Tygers of Pang Tang, in 1980, he brought a new heaviness to Thin Lizzy. Afterwards, his talent was spotted by David Coverdale, who invited him to join Whitesnake for four years from 1983. Sykes went on to record and tour with his own band, Blue Murder, and when that disbanded, he released a series of solo albums.

and …

MARK NAUSEEF

Drums:

Born in Cortland, New York, USA (June 11, 1953). He played with Elf (Ronnie James Dio), the Ian Gillan Band and Gary Moore’s G-Force. Filled in for Brian Downey when he left the band briefly.

MIDGE URE

Guitar/keyboards:

Born in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland (October 10, 1953). Emerged as a teenybop star with Slik in 1974, and went on to become one of the most fashionable icons in pop music. He played in the Rich Kids (with former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock), and was at the forefront of electronic pop with Visage and then took the frontman and writing role in Ultravox (when John Foxx left). He’s still perplexed why Thin Lizzy asked him to step in when Gary Moore suddenly quit the band. After the brief Lizzy period, Ure went on to a successful solo career, and played a key role in Live Aid, as an organiser and writer of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ with Bob Geldof.

DAVE FLETT

Lead guitar:

Born in Aberdeen, Scotland (June 2, 1951). Best known for his time with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band between 1975 and 1978. He is now an addictions counsellor in central Florida. Played on one brief Japanese tour with Lizzy as replacement for Gary Moore.

21st Century Thin Lizzy

BRIAN DOWNEY, SCOTT GORHAM &

DARREN WHARTON, PLUS…

MARCO MENDOZA

Bass guitar:

Born in San Diego, USA (May 3, 1963). Formerly with John Sykes’ Blue Murder, and toured with Ted Nugent and Whitesnake. His first solo album, Live For Tomorrow, was released

RICKY WARWICK

Vocals/guitar:

Born in Newtownards, Ireland (July 11, 1966). Was rhythm guitarist in New Model Army before making his mark with the Almighty in 1988. Was recommended to Scott Gorham by Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott.

DAMON JOHNSON

Lead guitar:

Born Macon, USA (July 13, 1964). Played and still plays with Brother Cane. He became a member of Alice Cooper’s touring band, before coming to the notice of Thin Lizzy. As a fan, he jumped at the chance of playing the Lizzy classics.

ROOTS OF THE ROCKER

That night, as 1969 neared its end, the Dreams showband was playing at a Dublin ballroom. They weren’t due on stage until midnight, when the pubs shut, and their guitarist, Eric Bell, didn’t plan on hanging around a cold hall listening to an ageing support group perform diluted versions of chart hits. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be in the ballroom at all.

A flick through the Evening Press informed him that Skid Row were playing at a club down the road. He was interested; they had been building a fine reputation throughout Ireland. So, still decked out in his showband suit, Bell went to check them out for himself. He would normally visit the clubs when in Dublin with the Dreams. He felt much more at home there.

Skid Row, though, made more of an impression than any other band he’d seen in ages. More specifically, he would remember their lead singer: the tall, dark and wiry Phil Lynott, and when he returned to the ballroom he could barely concentrate on the showband’s set, switching to automatic pilot as his thoughts drifted back to the potential he had seen in Lynott. He would find it impossible to settle into the tedious showband routine again.

No wonder. Being in a showband was dull, predictable and no matter what the financial benefits might be, Bell missed the excitement and spontaneity of being in a rock band.

As far as the youth of Ireland was concerned, the showband circuit was the backbone of their social lives, the commercial alternative to the more esoteric values of traditional Irish music. There were hundreds of ballrooms dotted around the country, each with a capacity of at least 2,000, and they provided regular and lucrative employment for the vast army of showbands who travelled the circuit. Ballroom, actually, is too polite a word to describe most of the venues – they were usually large, barren halls with minimal facilities that assured maximum profit margins for the men who promoted the shows.

Phil Lynott, Eric Bell and Brian Downey would welcome friends to their house in Clontarf, Dublin, as they got their act together. This picture shows a young Lynott, Bell and Downey with friends.

The showband philosophy was, to all intents and purposes, the Now That’s What I Call Music theory applied to live performance. Showbands regarded it as commercial suicide to play original material, so instead their sets bulged with hits and standards from the British charts.

Those showbands that didn’t play pop had their own Irish version of country ‘n’ western, which has always had a huge following in Ireland.

In fairness, it should also be noted that many of these bands were drilled to perfection and featured accomplished musicians who’d been pushed into the showband world because it offered financial security with occasional star trappings, and were unwilling to cope with the hardship and general disapproval meted out to young rock groups.

That’s how Eric Bell found himself in the Dreams. He had played with a blues group in Belfast called Shades Of Blue until he became disillusioned with the shortage of gigs – one every two weeks. He was certainly a professional, and had been since playing with Van Morrison a few years before in Belfast. But money was short.

Early Thin Lizzy, left to right: Eric Bell, Brian Downey and Phil Lynott.

Even then, Eric Bell had problems with image building, while Brian Downey’s moustache would soon disappear, but Phil Lynott was conscious of the right look.

One night the Movement, a Dublin group, were playing in Belfast with Shades Of Blue supporting, and were surprised to find that Eric Bell was the guitarist. The Movement’s singer, John Farrell, had been trying to get in touch with Bell to invite him to audition as guitarist for a showband he was forming. Eric travelled to Dublin, passed the test and thus found himself in the Dreams showband. For a year and a half he trekked round the country with the Dreams, playing the hits, but it tore his heart apart every time he came to Dublin and saw an exciting rock group.

I’d be standing in these clubs, looking at the groups and thinking ‘What am I doing with myself? If I’m into music I have to get something like this together’, he says.

When Bell handed in his notice to the showband, he had saved £200 from his earnings, and he estimated that this would take care of rent and food in Dublin for six weeks, the time limit he’d set to form his own group and find work, but desperation soon set in. He searched for bass players and drummers but nobody was interested, until he went to the Countdown Club where a group called Orphanage was playing. He remembered the singer from his visit to the Skid Row gig – it was Phil Lynott. He had already heard good reports about the drummer, Brian Downey.

Lynott himself had heard through the grapevine that Bell was keen to form a new band, but he played the game with typical cool. He had already sussed out Bell’s pedigree as a guitarist with Gary Moore, who had approved. I had time for anybody Gary was rating as a lead guitarist, he said.

Eric Wrixon, a keyboard player and another disaffected showband veteran who had once played with the original Them in Belfast, accompanied Bell to the Countdown. He offered Bell half an LSD tablet. It was Bell’s first acid trip, so when he stepped backstage during a break in Orphanage’s set to introduce himself to Lynott and Downey, his brain was a little disorientated.

Thin Lizzy finally settle on the first line-up.

Lynott, for his part, was impressed with Bell, but still not sure what Eric Wrixon was doing in the corner. After a couple of rehearsals, they decided to stay together to work as a band. All they needed was a name.

Initially, Bell provoked no response from Lynott, who was somewhat amused by this staggering stranger, but as time went on, he warmed to his overtures. Bell, however, had resigned himself to failure and was on his way out of the dressing room when Lynott, after consulting Downey, called him back and agreed to leave Orphanage to form a new group.

Orphanage was starting to make money but it wasn’t going anywhere, Lynott recalled. I could see that it wasn’t going anywhere and I could understand why. It didn’t have that touch of flair and magic, the stuff that makes bands into something. There was, however, one condition, to which Bell agreed: Lynott would play bass guitar in the new group.

While all this bargaining was going on, Eric Wrixon hung around silently in the background, assuming that he was to be a part of whatever was decided. Bell didn’t have the heart to break it to him that the new group was to be a three-piece, and as plans were made for the first rehearsal, Wrixon and his Farfisa were in on the deal.

A couple of days later, the four gathered at the appointed place for rehearsal, a grubby basement under the Band Centre, a musical instrument store owned by Brian Tuite, a local young businessman with an interest in the development of Dublin’s young rock bands. Skid Row often rehearsed there and Phil used his acquaintance with their leader, Brush Shiels, to borrow their equipment.

For that first blow, Bell clearly recollects, "Phil didn’t know what key he was in. He was just learning bass at the time. I sort of knew what I was up to and Brian Downey knew what he was doing.

Eric Wrixon was so used to playing in showbands that he had a very showband sort of feel. The first thing we blew on was a 12-bar blues. I knew immediately there was something there. I don’t know what it was, but the band seemed to have great jamming potential. It wouldn’t be just a loud jam. It would take direction all the time."

Lynott, for his part, was impressed with Bell, but still not sure what Eric Wrixon was doing in the corner. After a couple of rehearsals, they decided to stay together to work as a band. All they needed was a name.

They set themselves up in a rented house in Castle Avenue in Dublin. Initially it was only Philip and myself moved into the house, Bell recalled, Then the keyboard player, Eric Wrixon, moved in with us. Brian Downey lived with his parents but he was over every day. Then what started happening was everybody in Dublin heard about this house. The whole music scene heard about this house and what would happen. We would smoke dope and the record player would be on all day. We had a TV but I don’t think it was turned on once and we played records non-stop. The groups in Dublin would play gigs and then afterwards drive up to our flat at 2am after their show in a big mini bus. Then another mini bus would drive up behind that. Then a convoy of mini buses and all these musicians would get out of these mini buses. You’re probably talking 25 people and then they had girls with them and I’d come up and say hi to maybe about 10 girls and then the 25 musicians, me and Philip. Some nights there would be 35 people in this house. This is no exaggeration. We were rolling dope all night and having a laugh and mostly listening to music. Very funny memories.

Finding a suitable name was a laborious task, harder than they could have imagined. First they went through songs. Nothing there. Then they looked at album titles. Still nothing. Then books. For a couple of minutes they thought about calling themselves Gulliver’s Travels, but dumped it. Then they went to comics, thumbing inquisitively through the Dandy and Beano. Bell stopped at one page and clocked the story of a robot called Tin Lizzie. He suggested it.

Don’t be stupid, was the response.

Ten minutes later, still without a name, they revised the suggestions already recorded. Tin Lizzie didn’t sound so bad second time around. After a bit of chat, they changed it to Thin Lizzy, principally to confound the people of Dublin, who would call them T’in Lizzy anyway. This affront to the local dialect gave Thin Lizzy their first publicity in local newspapers.

Thin Lizzy was born, to be for evermore misspelt and mispronounced.

With a name, they could get on with making music and establishing an identity. Bell had influenced Lynott’s decision to disband Orphanage and join him by emphasising that their policy would be to concentrate on original material, ie Lynott’s songs, and from the early rehearsals this was a priority. Compositions that Lynott had held close to his chest for years suddenly came out of the closet, and with them the realisation that he was a writer of enormous potential.

Lizzy jamming in their Dublin house, a meeting place for musos, poets and artists.

Bell was living in Manor Street, Dublin, when Lynott first came round with a tape of his songs, and he was impressed by every one of them. Among the songs were ‘Saga Of The Ageing Orphan’, ‘Diddy Levine’ and ‘Hotel’. He left the tape with Bell, and he immediately went to work on them.

My guitar work and his songs completely gelled. I just seemed to have this affinity for them. He was a natural when it came to writing songs. He was always fussy about his lyrics.

In Ireland, however, it was difficult to persuade local promoters that a band playing original songs could attract punters; hence the showband phenomenon. Even the rock groups that had formed as an alternative to the showband scene were forced to compromise