Where does a legend like Scott Gorham sit in your Rock n’ Roll Hall of Great Guitarists? Pretty high up in our book and with an outstanding career that has taken him from iconic Irish rockers Thin Lizzy up to the modern day with the wonderful Black Star Riders, Gorham shows no desire to close his guitar case just yet. September 6 sees the release of Black Star Riders forth studio album, the extremely impressive ‘Another State of Grace’ which is loaded up with ten fantastic tracks, all of which will please both Riders & Lizzy fans alike, as Scott Gorham’s trademark duel guitar sounds are wonderfully ever-present throughout. Alongside Scott once again are vocalist Ricky Warwick & Robbie Crane (bass) but the album is the first time we are introduced to two new faces, in the form of Chad Szeliga (Breaking Benjamin, Black Label Society) on drums & Christian Martucci (Stone Sour) on guitar.
‘Another State of Grace’ is produced by Jay Ruston, who has worked with the likes of Uriah Heep, Anthrax & Steel Panther and will be released through Nuclear Blast. The band is currently preparing for the September release before embarking on a UK & European tour which sees them play over 30 dates during October & November. The Rockpit managed to grab some entertaining talk time with Scott as he not only discussed the new album, but also explained what Ricky Warwick & Phil Lynott have in common as well as tells of being star-struck when he got to meet Jimmy Hendrix…
Scott: Hey Sean, how the heck are you buddy?
Sean: I’m great thank you Scott. Thank you for sparing us some time for a chat – I know you’ve had a busy day of interviews and that is mainly due to the wonderful new Black Star Riders album you have coming out later this year called ‘Another State of Grace’. Fantastic album from start to finish…
Scott: Well thank you so much.
Sean: I always like to pick a couple of favourites from a new release but I’m struggling with this one because they are all great.
Scott: [laughs] Thank you. You know something? Anytime you kind of start again and I say that because we have two new guys in the band… they aren’t newbies by any sense of the word – they are pedigree, its two different faces standing up there with us. We’d already done the three previous albums (All Hell Breaks Loose, The Killer Instinct, Heavy Fire) and then you wonder what’s going to happen with the fourth, especially with the new faces in there. What happened was that all five of us just gelled together almost immediately from the first handshake, which took a lot of pressure off me. I’d been playing with Chad (Szeliga) for a while at this point so it was mainly Christian (Martucci) that I needed to get to grips with – he’s such a cool guy with a great sense of humour so we just fell in with each other with no problems at all.
Sean: The band sound so tight – it’s clearly evident just how great the chemistry is in the group. If I have to pick some, then the highlights for me so far would have to firstly be the new single ‘Ain’t the End of the World’ – that wonderful duel guitar sound that you’re so well-known for sounds as fresh as ever.
Scott: Thank you. It will be interesting to see what people think it’s about. Have you listened enough to get an idea?
Sean: I haven’t unfortunately. The album landed on me this morning so I’ve been enjoying the music rather than getting into the lyrics just now – but I will. Another standout track for me is the ballad ‘Why Do You Love You’re Guns?’
Scott: Thank you for that – I love that song. After doing an album I don’t usually say that kind of thing about individual tracks but when we finished the overdubs on that one, Jay (Ruston) our producer put a kind of a mini-mix on it and it made me sit up straight on the couch and think “This sounds really, really nice”. So, I’m glad you’ve mentioned it because it’s one of my favourites on the album. Who would have thought a Black Star Riders ballad would be one that you’d pick out, right? It’s also got real meaning to it too… with Ricky (Warwick) growing up in war torn Belfast, where he grew up amidst violence & guns and all that stuff, he now lives in L.A. and he sees all these school deaths… just one after the other and constantly hearing of people shot to death here & shot to death there… he’s got kids of his own and he can’t understand why Americans love their guns so much, to the detriment of the country almost. So many people are dying from guns deaths that it is beyond ridiculous now. Americans will not give their guns up for anything. Ricky is that kind of guy lyrically who will let it out… at some point he’s got to let you know what he thinks and that’s what that song is all about – Why the hell do you love your guns so damn much!
Sean: Very powerful. It’s another track I’m looking to listen to lyrically after what you’ve told me there…
Scott: You know Sean, it’s one of the reasons I wanted to work with Ricky. The first time I met Ricky was when Joe Elliott from Def Leppard called me and said, “Hey, I have this guy in my studio here that I’m producing and he’s really cool but there’s a track here that immediately made me think of you. Your guitar is going to fit perfectly. Would you come over and put some guitars down on this track?” I thought about it, then flew over and met Ricky – immediately there was like this musical attraction… I’m the same as you in the way that I love lyrics so I started to listen to what this Ricky guy was singing about and how he phrased and put his lyrics together and I was like “This guy reminds me of somebody… Who does he remind me of?” And then it hit me – he writes like Phil (Lynott) did in the same way that he actually writes stories. He doesn’t write like ‘moon & June’ and things that are just rhyming, he’s told me that he can only sing things that he really believes in and I love him for that. Maybe not everybody will agree with him on some of the things that he comes up with but I love his conviction that he will only sing things he truly believes in and that’s a really admirable thing.
Sean: I’ve only seen Ricky once live and that was when he was with the Almighty when they played the Monsters of Rock at Castle Donington back in 1992. If my memory serves me well they were the opening act that day and they smashed it.
Scott: When I asked Ricky to be in Thin Lizzy I got a lot of shit from fans asking how I could get the guy from The Almighty who were regarded as a kind of punk-metal band and I had to say to these people, “You know, you haven’t seen what I’ve seen… you don’t know what I know about this guy, what he can do and how he writes. Tell me if I’m right or wrong!” Years later and people have forgotten that they said that… they’ve forgotten that they thought I was making a mistake.
Sean: Just picking up on something you said just now where you mentioned that Ricky can tell a story like Phil did, I think at times you can hear he also delivers that story in a similar way with his vocal mannerisms… and I don’t mean he’s trying to sound like him because no-one sounds like Phil did… but he delivers his vocals so clearly.
Scott: Ricky will openly talk of the fact that he was a huge admirer of Phil, which I didn’t know at the time when I asked him to join. He was one of his musical heroes and he couldn’t believe it when I asked him to join the band. When he gets out there and starts singing a Thin Lizzy song you know it’s from the heart. Ricky will not let the side down ever.
Read the review of “Another State Of Grace”
Sean: You mentioned the newer members Chad & Christian earlier, how did they end up joining the band?
Scott: Good question. Our original drummer, Jimmy DeGrasso came to me and we talked about the fact that he lived in California, had two young children & a wife and we were constantly touring & working in Europe and he was never at home because we worked so much. I said to Jimmy, “Being in a band isn’t like a jail sentence… when you gotta go, you gotta go. I love you to death but you gotta do what you gotta do.” I think he was really grateful that I didn’t have some sort of tantrum [laughs] but you know, I’ve been through the old ‘guys quitting & leaving bands thing’ throughout my whole career, for god sakes so I’m kind used to it. So we had some time off because the next album wasn’t going to be for another year, so we put it out there that we were looking for a drummer. There were a couple of auditions that we held that I went along to watch and we all agreed that some of these guys were real good but just didn’t quite have the full package. Then Chad found out that we were looking for a drummer and he had a couple of our albums and really liked what he heard so off his own back he filmed himself playing along to four Black Star Riders songs… I think he even threw in a Thin Lizzy song too. Ricky & I sat down and watched this video and we just immediately thought, “This is the guy! This is the guy who is going to bring it.” He’s the full package in the way that if you need a really cool groove Chad can give it to you. If he needs to bring the thunder, he brings the thunder. He’s also a great guy, very funny & personality-wise he fits in perfectly… so now we have our drummer.
Now we need this guy on the right hammer, which is a little harder to fill because I’m a little more discerning, especially if I have to partner up with the guy. So Ricky & Robbie (Crane) took it upon themselves to hold an open audition… I was like, “Oh my God! Really?” [laughs] I don’t think they really knew what they were in for. I think about fifteen guys showed up all with their guitars & they all knew Black Star Riders songs but once again they were all almost but not quite there – some were rejected straight away but there was also a couple of contenders. Now Christian, he’s on the road with Stone Sour at the time, he finds out through the grapevine that we are looking for another guitarist… he’s the same as Chad in the respect that he loves the music & the direction so he too makes a video – I think he also learned four Black Star Riders songs. Ricky said that he had a tape that I just had to watch, so he sent it over to me. I watched it and there was Christian and I’m liking what he’s doing, his look, he’s way different… his guitar style is different to mine but I could see how it was going to work and I just said to Rick, “This is the guy!” I asked Ricky what he was like as a person and Rick just told me I was gonna love him and that was it. I called Christian up on the phone and we talked for about forty-five minutes just laughing & joking, telling each other things we liked & disliked and we got to know each other really well in that short space of time. And that’s now the band and we are up & running again…. And the world was all ok again [laughs]
Sean: [laughs] A name I’d love to throw at you to discuss quickly is the fabulous Luke Morley from English rock band Thunder, because I see Luke joined you guys as a guest guitarist on some South American dates last year.
Scott: He did indeed. So Luke, Ricky & myself, we have been friends for like 50,000 years [laughs]. Luke is just such a sweetheart of a guy and such a great player. So, we had a South American tour lined up with Judas Priest and Damon (Johnson) had just gone and I knew at the time Thunder were not on the road, so I said to the guys, “What about Luke?” So, we got him down and rehearsed for four days or something like that, then we went to South America and we just had a blast. I like Luke a lot and I like Thunder too – they are a great band.
Sean: They have always been up there as one of my all-time favourites and unfortunately haven’t had the opportunity to interview them yet, although I did get to meet them all at sound check when they were here in Perth in 2017… wonderful guys and got to have a really great chat with Luke that evening.
Scott: Danny’s the same… The whole band is nice. They are all just great people. I just wish they could get that one song that would take them over the edge. I just don’t think they’ve found it yet – they’ve been pretty close though. There’s still time. Hang in there Luke!
Sean: I always look out for their latest release and it never disappoints. That leads us nicely on to your forthcoming tour dates because you have plenty of them throughout October & November taking you through the UK & then onto Europe. I see you have some wonderful bands that will be supporting you with the likes of Diamond Head, Wayward Sons… I even see Saxon will be playing one of the shows.
Scott: Well, we like to put together a really cool package – it’s not just about us. We want the whole show to be great for everybody involved. When you pay for your ticket you get three and a half hours of really cool stuff. We don’t ever throw a support band on with the view to crush them as soon as you come on – you want a kick in the arse and make sure they deliver a set that makes you want to play you’re A game every time. The bands we have on the tour will make sure we have to do that every night, so we are expecting a really great tour.
Sean: Before that tour you’ve also got a few Thin Lizzy dates too coming up very soon as well, I believe?
Scott: Yeah, late July & early August Ricky & I are doing four shows with Thin Lizzy because the Black Rose album is forty years old this year… can you believe it? With Phil’s demise and all I just wanted to pay a homage in some way, shape or form but I didn’t want to go on a massive Thin Lizzy tour so we just picked four or five shows. We’ve got two festivals in the UK, one in Spain & one in Belgium and then the Black Star Riders album gets released in September then in October sees us tour the UK and then like you said, we jump over to Europe for another six weeks or so. In this period I haven’t seen anything Australian at all…
Sean: I was just going to ask that…
Scott: That kinda pisses me off a lot. I’ve said it for many years but if you’re gonna say you’re on a world tour then you had better have gone to Australia, otherwise all you’ve been on is an extended European tour and that’s the reality of it. If you don’t visit Australia you haven’t been on a world tour… and you’re missing out on some of the greatest rock fans in the world, being in Australia. One of our goals is to get to Australia in 2020 on one way, shape or form – it’s something we really want to do.
Sean: Plenty of spare rooms at my house if you guys are struggling [laughs]
Scott: [laughs] If there’s an old couch in garage we’ll take it… and a bowl of water… we’ll be fine [laughs] Thanks for the offer Sean, I love ya!
Sean: [laughs] We will all be waiting patiently for a tour announcement for 2020. Sadly, I notice our allotted time is fast coming to an end so I would like to ask you a few of my more regular questions if I may…
Scott: Sure thing, fire away…
Sean: If you could invite three guests from the music world, dead or alive, to join you at a restaurant for a couple of hours, who would you invite?
Scott: I’d love to be able to talk to Jimmy Hendrix. You know, I met Jimmy Hendrix years ago when I was a kid. I was sixteen years old and he was just getting ready to go on stage… my friends and I had kind of broken into the building [laughs] to do that very thing, to meet Jimmy Hendrix… and we did! We walked past this one door and there he was just leaning against the table, just him & his guitar and he was just warming up. That’s when my sixteen year old little brain just froze on the spot, absolutely froze. I was like, “Oh my God, there he is right in front of me.” One of my friends that was with me just rushed straight in and was like, “Hey Jimmy, how you doin’? It’s really great to meet you. Mind if I take your picture?” I’m like, “Jesus man that is Jimmy Hendrix!” [laughs] But he was really cool about it and was just so chilled. There was no “how did you get past security?” There wasn’t any of that shit. He was more like, “How you guys doin’? Hope you guys are going to have a great time tonight.” He was really cool the way he got rid of us too. He was like, “I’m gonna have to start warming up here guys.” But he was so great – he shook all of our hands and then we left. It was great.
Sean: What a great story!
Scott: It was amazing! Another musical guy to join me… wow, probably my next guest would be my best friend Bob Siebenberg from Supertramp. We have stories that go back decades – we constantly make each other laugh with goofy little things we used to do so he would be great to have there. When we talk about heroes, do I have any heroes? You know, probably Stevie Ray Vaughan – I would love to sit down with Stevie Ray Vaughan and say, “Dude, with those thirteens on your neck, how did you stretch those strings like that? Oh my God!” I don’t think I could even tune that guitar because those strings were so thick. The guy got the tone from hell and I just loved everything about Stevie Ray Vaughan… he was one of those guys that when he died – I mean you hear someone passes and you’re like, “Man, that’s sad that that guy has died” but when Stevie Ray Vaughan died it was like, “Shit, you’ve got to be kidding me!” At the time I think I got a lump in my throat & sadly I’d never got to see him play live… he was like a bucket list guitar player for me. If ever he was going to be in or near the area I was in I was going to go see him but I was robbed of the chance.
Sean: That’s an incredible table of guests. I know it’s getting to be a rare thing now but what was the last album you listened to, Scott?
Scott: Wow, can I be really egotistical?
Sean: Of course you can…
Scott: It was my last 21 Guns album ‘Demo-lition’; I just listened to it two days ago all the way through. What’s strange about that album is that it’s not really a studio recorded album, it’s an album that’s just made up of demos. So now that it’s almost twenty years old, I thought I’d go back to have a listen to see what I was thinking musically back then. I gotta say there is some really cool stuff on there… would I play it that way now? I don’t know. Would I even have thought about something like that now? Again, I don’t know. It’s almost like a little time capsule for me not to have listened to this for such a long time and then to hear it again to see what I was like twenty years ago. Is that egotistical?
Sean: Not at all. Now you’ve explained why, it’s fine. It’s for research purposes [laughs]. My final question for you is if you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you choose?
Scott: Oh my God! That’s a really great question. Let’s see now… there are so many. The Bob Dylan song ‘Like a Rollin’ Stone’… shit, there are so many. Sean, you’ve got me. That’s too big of a subject to discuss in such a short time [laughs]
Sean: I’ll take Bob Dylan as you’re answer because it’s still a great song choice. Scott, it’s been an absolute privilege to talk to you and on behalf of us all at The Rockpit, we wish you all the best for the new album & the tour and hope to see you out here in Australia in 2020.
Scott: Well Sean, me & all the guys just want to say thank you for your help with trying to get us over there and play in front of everybody, we really do appreciate it. Thank you so much for that.
Sean: You’re welcome. Are you still managing to swing a golf club?
Scott: I am. The guitar has gotten in the way of the golf swing [laughs] and I don’t drive the ball as far any more but I still have a good time out there and I still try really hard.
Sean: When you get out to see us here in Australia we’ll take you out for a round of golf.
Scott: Killer man, you’re on! It’s a date [laughs] It’s been really great talking to you, thank you buddy.
Sean: All the best.
