He served as one half of Thin Lizzy’s most legendary guitar duo and just released his third studio album with his band Black Star Riders, but what Guitar World readers really want to know is…
Q: HOW DO YOU AND DAMON JOHNSON WORK TOGETHER AS GUITARISTS? —MICHAEL DINAN
That mostly gets sorted out in rehearsals. You pretty much get the feel of who’s going to be able to grab what lead guitar section better than the other guy. Neither of us is real selfish about that. We’re not precious about who’s doing what lead line or what harmony. It’s all pretty obvious. A lot of times I’ll just say to Damon, “Go ahead and take that one,” or vice versa. It’s really as easy as that. I think that’s the only way it actually can work with two guitar players. If you get real selfish in there and you want to grab all the choice spots for yourself, your guitar team probably isn’t going to last very long.
Q: I love the singles you’ve been releasing from the Black Star Riders album Heavy Fire. Is there anything in particular you guys were going for with this album? —John Mille
Nothing’s premeditated with Black Star Riders. The way that we work is always that you write the best songs you can. But there’s a lot of different subject matters, a lot of different feelings on this one. It doesn’t just go down one road. It’s pretty much what I like about this band—that everything’s different from track to track. And to be quite honest, I think it’s a better album than [2015’s] The Killer Instinct. It just seems like we’re getting better and better with each one—the songwriting is better, the recording is better. And from what I’ve been hearing, a lot of other people think it’s the best of the three, too.
Q: Last year you did a few select Thin Lizzy anniversary shows. Do you think there will be any more? —JeffDeSalvo
This story is from the April 2017 edition of Guitar World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2017 edition of Guitar World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Kittie - Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara Mcleod discuss the canadian metal powerhouse's unexpected rebirth — by fire!
Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara McLeod explain that making new music was “not on their bingo card” when the band regrouped in 2022 for a few festival appearances, preferring to think of the sets as more of a “final lap” than a new beginning. But drilling into old favorites — whether the nu-flavored teenage slams of 1999’s Spit or the more venomously groove-thrashed tunes of their late-’00s period — revealed that despite not having raged together in years, there was something undeniably special about Kittie’s musical connection. “Playing with these girls is like putting on an old pair of pants,” Lander says. “It’s very comfortable — and it looks good too.”
McKinley James - Why all you really need is a guitar, a drummer and some serious low-end six-string skills
Nashville-based blues rocker McKinley James came flying out of the gate in 2022 with his Dan Auerbachproduced EP, Still Standing By. His momentum screeched to a halt, however, when his keyboardist split, leaving only him and his drummer, Jason Smay (who also happens to be his father). “For a moment, I was like, ‘What are we going to do?” James says. “But then I thought, ‘Well, other bands have succeeded as a duo. Maybe we can, too.”
TC Electronic TC 2290P Dynamic Digital Delay
THE MID EIGHTIES was a golden age for digital delay, thanks to the proliferation of pro- and studio-quality rack effects units from Eventide, Korg, Lexicon, Roland and Yamaha.
Danelectro Doubleneck
WHEN I THINK back to the Seventies, the famously coined “Me” decade, it seems the only surefire way you could leave audiences awestruck was to strap on a doubleneck guitar.
CARLOS ALOMAR
The former David Bowie guitarist talks Young Americans, Station to Station and the Berlin Trilogy, plus recording (and co-writing) \"Fame\" with John Lennon
GEORGE TERRY
It turns out Eric Clapton's Seventies guitarist (and co-writer of \"Lay Down Sally\") also played on ABBA's \"Voulez-Vous.\" Below, he looks back on a decade-plus of E.C., Bee Gees, Diana Ross and more
FRANK MARINO
The Mahogany Rush frontman charts the band's Seventies lows and highs, plus SG's, pickups and how he was definitely not visited by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix
DEWAYNE "BLACKBYRD" MCKNIGHT
The jazz/funk/fusion veteran on his smooth segue from Herbie Hancock sideman to full-on Funkdaledic member -plus his '70s gear and what he learned from Shuggie Otis
PAT TRAVERS
The Canadian-born virtuoso discusses the rise and fall of the Pat Travers Band, witnessing the U.K. punk revolution and the riotous roots of \"Snortin' Whiskey\"
JOE PERRY
The iconic guitarist looks back on Aerosmith in the Seventies, the decade that literally made and temporarily broke apart those Bad Boys from Boston
