THIN LIZZY

Rip It Up, Issue 165, 1 April 1991, Page 18

THIN LIZZY

Itis December 1985, and the British heavy rock scene is floundering. Whitesnake are about to

become Americans, [ron Maiden are lost in the

Egyptian desert, Status Quo have just done another farewell tour. Yeah, that bad.

But the rich dark Irish accent on the end of the phone line is about to make all that right. “Thin Lizzy are getting back together again,” Phil Lynott says, “We're going to do all the big halls and play all the old songs. We can't waitto doit.” And of course we believe him, more fool us, because three weeks later Phil Lynott is dead.

“He was falking bullshit. When | walked out it was over for me, no more Thin Lizzy. Maybe further down the line it could have happened if he sorted his problems out but at the time of his death it wasn't on my mind at all.” Itis March 1991 and long-serving Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham is

marking the fifth anniversary of Lynotts sordid death from heroin abuse by stripping away some of the glamour and heroism that has grown up around the Irish singer and bass player. He's promoting a new compilation album, Dedication, which spans Lizzy’s career but tells its own sorry tale too. Nearly.all of the material on it was recorded

between 1976 and 1979, and only a couple of proper Thin Lizzy songs warrant inclusion between 1979 and the band’s splitin 1984. And that just about sums it up. A flook hit with ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ (mispelt on the new record) in 1973, three years of heavy rock heaven and then, just as punk began to cut away the old guard, a fast slide downwards. It could have been so

different. Lizzy were unique, marrying twin guitars (very rare at the start of the 70s) with hard rock, melody and an Irish heritage. U2 used to listen to them fo inspire their live shows, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Skid Row among others grew up with them, often citing them as a maijor influence. :

And Phil Lynott, a cross between a swash-buckling pirate, a rogue gypsy and a Gaelic warrior, was larger than life, a charismatic frontman who spun his own fantasy through his music. But in real life too he cut an impressive figure. “When | first met Thin Lizzy | noficed straightaway how aggressive they were,” recalls

Gorham. “As soon as | heard them | knew it was what | wanted to play.” “Phil had extraordinary charisma, he was very formidable and he had a killer personality. Brian (Robertson) was a nutcase player and Brian' Downey was a great drummer. You can never fell how big a band is going to be at the beginning but the very first day we were thundering out some tremendous stuff. | knew

this band was what | wanted.”

Scott Gorham joined Thin Lizzy in 1974, playing a key role in changing the band's fortunes. Success came firstin America and then, with the Jailbreak and Johnny The Fox albums, in Europe.

Their reputation was built on their over-the-edge live shows, which burnt with a dangerous and explosive energy, an energy that would act as an armour during the birth of punk when other bands were falling away with a heavy has-been tag round their necks. But within the band all was not well. That explosive energy was spilling off the stage and into the dressing room, and the band began to display disturbing tendencies to self-destruct. The band'’s other guitarist Brian Robertson had to leave the band after damaging his hand in a bottle fight and then rejoined. Lynott’s on-off relationship with Gary Moore was to see the talented guitarist work with Lizzy at three different points in the band'’s history.

And from 1978 onwards Thin Lizzy would be known for two main things: constant fouring and regular line-up changes. Both would take their toll and cleared the path for the band’s tragic demise. “The whole philosophy of the group was to be a people’s band,” says Gorham, “We loved to have fans come backstage and talk to us, take pictures, that type of thing. We were not towel round the neck into the limo and back fo the five star hotel for us. We left that fo the pomp rock bands.

- “ltwas a way of life and it was very demanding on some people. But also Thin Lizzy was pretty much on the edge at odd moments. There were a lot of fiery personalities and sometimes they gelled together and somefimes they did not. Phil in

particular was an extreme personlity. It was tough for anyone coming into the band because he was a very hard man to figure out. Often people couldn'tdoit.” Lynott, a man who had battled

through life anyway (he was not only

black in a predominantly white Catholic country, but he only met his father in the last months of his life), was capable of sudden, uncontrolled violence. On one occasion he had been playing with his band Grand Slam at an open air show at Crystal Palace soccer ground, south London. At the back end of the ground guests including Miami Steve Van Zandt and Mike Monroe of Hanoi Rocks were drinking champagne. Suddenly Lynott emerged in the enclosure, pushed past the guests and started across the soccer pitch to the mixing desk in the centre, all but knocking over young fans and autograph hunters in his way. Then, in plain view of the guests and fo the horror of all of us, he savagely beat upthesoundman.

Dedication covers Lizzy's finest moments, and ends with a new song which was recorded shortly before Lynott died. Recently drummer Brian Downey and Gorham rerecorded parts of the music. e

But Lynott and Lizzy will most be remembered for the legacy they left and which influenced so many young bands who had been mofivated by the aggression and urgency of what they saw. Such attitudes are common now, but they were unique then.

“| am surprised that we are such an influence still,” says Gorham, “because to be quite honest we were more concerned about

keeping the band together and making enough money to pay for

tours and the albums. “Eventually | decided | had had enough. | was in there for nine years and when | walked away from it | felt emotionally beat up. | just hung up the guitars in the attic for two years. Phil wanted to keep going but I said ‘let's do one more album, one more tour and kill it'. | didn’t want to be associated with a band that was good and then went through that demise.” Thin Lizzy's problem was drugs. Since 1979 Lynott and Gorham had developed serious heroin problems. They got progressively worse and Gorham says that today he is alive and Lynott is dead because, as Lynott put it in song, he had to give it up but couldn’t. Gorham could and did. : “l wanted out so badly but Phil didn't,” he says now, “Drugs went like wildfire through this band. Phil and | had it worse though. Phil thought his songwriting was suffering and so reached fo drugs for inspiration. When that didn't work he took more. The songwriting got worse, the playing got worse and the energy on stage got eaten away. “I made my exit but Phil couldn't get out of it. Maybe he liked the image and thought he was having a good fime but | saw him three weeks before his death and he didn't seem to be having a good time to me. 'lfs hard to believe its five years since his death and sometimes | fill think ‘that could have been me'”

DOMINIC ROSKROW.