BLACK STAR RIDERS, the new band formed by THIN LIZZY alumni Ricky Warwick (guitar, vocals), Damon Johnson (guitar), Scott Gorham (guitar), Marco Mendoza (bass) with new addition Jimmy DeGrasso (ALICE COOPER, MEGADETH, DAVID LEE ROTH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES) on drums, made its live debut this past Thursday, May 30 at The Marshall Theatre in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.
The set featured a mix of music from BLACK STAR RIDERS‘ debut album, “All Hell Breaks Loose”, along with classic THIN LIZZY tracks.
BLACK STAR RIDERS‘ setlist was as follows:
01. All Hell Breaks Loose
02. Jailbreak
03. Bloodshot
04. Waiting For An Alibi
05. Hey Judas
06. Massacre
07. Kingdom Of The Lost
08. Kissin’ The Ground
09. Suicide
10. Valley Of The Stones
11. Before The War
12. Emerald
13. Bound For Glory
14. Cowboy Song
15. The Boys Are Back In Town
Encore:
16. Hoodoo Voodoo
17. Rosalie
As previously reported, BLACK STAR RIDERS filmed a video for the song “Hey Judas” on Monday, May 27 with Northern Irish photographer, music video director and typographical designer Mark Hylands.
Photos from the video shoot can be found at this location.
“All Hell Breaks Loose” was released on May 28 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment.
The “All Hell Breaks Loose” artwork features a painting by Gil Elvgren (March 15, 1914 – February 29, 1980), the legendary U.S. painter best known for his work on pin-up girls, advertising and illustration.
“All Hell Breaks Loose” was recorded and mixed by producer Kevin Shirley (LED ZEPPELIN, IRON MAIDEN, AEROSMITH, RUSH) at his The Cave studios in Malibu, California. Mastering duties were handled by Bob Ludwig (JIMI HENDRIX, RUSH, KISS, LED ZEPPELIN) at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine.
The album was released as a standard CD and also as a special-edition digipak featuring a bonus track, “Right To Be Wrong”, and a “making-of” DVD.
Nuclear Blast has issued that BLACK STAR RIDERS, the new band featuring THIN LIZZY members Ricky Warwick, Damon Johnson, Scott Gorham and Marco Mendoza together with drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (Alice Cooper / Megadeth), have announced All Hell Breaks Loose as the title of their debut album on Nuclear Blast Entertainment, which will be released in the UK on the 27th May 2013.
The band have now exclusively revealed the album artwork below
The artwork features a painting by Gil Elvgren (March 15, 1914 – February 29, 1980), the legendary US painter best known for his work on pin-up girls, advertising and illustration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Elvgren
The artworks ties directly to the origins of the album title. Ricky Warwick explains “I was watching a documentary about World War II bombers and saw the name painted on the side of one of the aircraft. The name just resonated with me and it seemed to encapsulate the turmoil that we, as a society, are currently experiencing. The past few years have been such a wild ride and now with the release of the album, it sounded like a bad-ass album title that summed up what BLACK STAR RIDERS is all about.”
“Bound For Glory”, the debut single from the album, saw its exclusive first play on Ken Bruce’s Radio 2 radio show on Thursday 21st March 2013. The song is now available to hear HERE!
The single and album were produced & mixed by the legendary Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Aerosmith, Rush). The album will be released as a standard CD and also as a special edition digi-pak featuring a bonus track “Right To Be Wrong” and a “Making of” DVD.
A 24-minute compilation of behind-the-scenes video reports from the band’s studio time in Los Angeles can be viewed on YouTube:
Confirmed festival appearances for BLACK STAR RIDERS include:
June 1st Hi Rock Festival – Inzell, Germany
June 2nd Hi Rock Festival – St. Goarshausen, Germany
June 8th Sweden Rock Festival – Solvesborg, Sweden
Nov. 29th Hard Rock Hell – N. Wales, U.K.
Nuclear Blast has issued that BLACK STAR RIDERS, the new band featuring THIN LIZZY members Ricky Warwick, Damon Johnson, Scott Gorham and Marco Mendoza together with drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (Alice Cooper, Megadeth), have announced All Hell Breaks Loose as the title of their debut album on Nuclear Blast Entertainment, which will be released in Europe on the 24th May 2013. You can buy the single here on iTunes: http://bit.ly/blackstarridersbfg
The album will be preceded by a first single “Bound For Glory”. Set for release on Friday 22nd March 2013, the single will get its first public airing on Ken Bruce’s Radio 2 radio show on Thursday 21st March 2013. The german premiere will happen on German “Rockantenne” radio station between 3.00 – 4.00 pm same day.
Black Star Riders
About the single, BLACK STAR RIDERS frontman Ricky Warwick states: “Bound For Glory – a song for the lost but never lonely, walking tall in the face of everyday adversary, everyone has a story to tell, revolution begins in the mirror!!!”. Guitarist Scott Gorham adds: “When it came time to pick one of these songs as a single, we had a really hard time. There are so many really great tracks here and everyone had their favourites. But in the end, we all agreed that Bound for Glory is the perfect choice and represents what Black Star Riders is all about.”
About the origin of the album title, Ricky goes on to say:
“I was watching a documentary about World War II bombers and saw the name painted on the side of one of the aircraft. The name just resonated with me and it seem to encapsulate the turmoil that we, as a society, are currently experiencing. The past few years have been such a wild ride and now with the release of the album, it sounded like a bad-ass album title that summed up what BLACK STAR RIDERS is all about.”
The single and album were produced & mixed by the legendary Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Aerosmith, Rush).
The album will be released as a standard CD and also as a special edition digi-pak featuring a bonus track “Right To Be Wrong” and a “Making of” DVD.
A 24-minute compilation of behind-the-scenes video reports from the band’s studio time in Los Angeles can be viewed on YouTube:
Debut Single: Bound For Glory
Release Date: 22nd March 2013
Debut Album: All Hell Breaks Loose
Release Date: 24th May 2013
Confirmed festival appearances for BLACK STAR RIDERS include:
June 1st Hi Rock Festival – Inzell, Germany
June 2nd Hi Rock Festival – St. Goarshausen, Germany
June 8th Sweden Rock Festival – Solvesborg, Sweden
Nov. 29th Hard Rock Hell – N. Wales, U.K.
BLACK STAR RIDERS — the new band formed by THIN LIZZY alumni Ricky Warwick (vocals), Scott Gorham (guitar), Damon Johnson (guitar), Marco Mendoza (bass) with new addition Jimmy DeGrasso (ALICE COOPER, MEGADETH, DAVID LEE ROTH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES) on drums — will release its debut album, “All Hell Breaks Loose”, via Nuclear Blast Entertainment on the following dates:
* May 21 – Japan
* May 22 – Sweden
* May 24 – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Norway
* May 27 – U.K., France, BeNeLux, Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Greece
* May 28 – U.S., Canada, Italy, South America
About the origin of the album title, Warwick states: “I was watching a documentary about World War II bombers and saw the name painted on the side of one of the aircraft. The name just resonated with me and it seem to encapsulate the turmoil that we, as a society, are currently experiencing. The past few years have been such a wild ride and now with the release of the album, it sounded like a bad-ass album title that summed up what BLACK STAR RIDERS is all about.”
“All Hell Breaks Loose” was recorded and mixed by producer Kevin Shirley (LED ZEPPELIN, IRON MAIDEN, AEROSMITH, RUSH) at his The Cave studios in Malibu, California. Mastering duties were handled by Bob Ludwig (JIMI HENDRIX, RUSH, KISS, LED ZEPPELIN) at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine.
“All Hell Breaks Loose” track listing:
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
The album will be released as a standard CD and also as a special-edition digipak featuring a bonus track, “Right To Be Wrong”, and a “making-of” DVD.
A 24-minute collection of video reports featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the making of “All Hell Breaks Loose” can be seen below.
At the end of March, there will be the first single release that will have an exclusive airing via certain media outlets prior to public release. Around the same time, more tour dates for the fall will be announced.
In October 2012, THIN LIZZY announced that they would not be recording new material under the THIN LIZZY monicker. The last incarnation of the band — Gorham, Brian Downey, Wharton, Warwick, Johnson and Mendoza — would be looking to form a new project.
According to a press release, Brian Downey decided to not become involved with BLACK STAR RIDERS because he 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.
“Brian and Darren just don’t want to be on the road 150 days a year. anti that’s completely understandable,” Warwick tells Classic Rock magazine. “But we do. We work very well together, and there’s no better man than Jimmy to gel it together. This is a kick-ass band.”
The BLACK STAR RIDERS album will feature material the band wrote while 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.
“There’s no way it could sound like THIN LIZZY with [late THIN LIZZY frontman] Phil [Lynott],” Gorham tells Classic Rock. But Johnson disagreees. “I think Scott is too dose to it,” he says. “Ricky or I would bring in a song idea, and as soon as Scott starts playing on it, it sounds like THIN LIZZY, whether Scott realizes it or not. Everybody who’s heard the new music says it has that dassic THIN LIZZY vibe. No, it can’t sound like the original band. But that classic LIZZY vibe is absolutely there.”
“I’m not gonna pull any punches here,” says Warwick. “It sounds like classic THIN LIZZY brought up to date. l’ve been singing Phil‘s songs every night for two years, and although it sounds a bit crass because the man’s not here, I feel like I’ve had these lessons from getting so deep into his work. Phil‘s songwriting, his lyrics, his phrasing, his pitching, his delivery — it’s genius. And that’s really helped me as a writer.”
It was Warwick who named the new band BLACK STAR RIDERS, after an outlaw gang in the 1993 western movie “Tombstone”. As Johnson tells Classic Rock: “Scott said from the very beginning that we did not want a name that was specifically related to THIN LIZZY, because this band has to stand on its own.”
