Thin Lizzy announce new name

Thin Lizzy will officially be no more after their upcoming Australian tour with Kiss and Motley Crue. Scott Gorham has revealed his new band will be called Black Star Riders.

'We've got a new band with myself, Ricky Warwick, David Johnson, Marco Mendoza and Jimmy Degrasso. We have started another band called Black Star Riders,' Scott tells Noise11.com.

Fans will hear new music from Black Star Riders early in 2013. 'We are getting into the studio in January,' he said. 'We will be recording that in Los Angeles with the producer Kevin Shirley. Then a month or two after that we'll come out and see you guys. We will be doing the whole Thin Lizzy thing out there. Then we'll come back to the UK, take a couple of weeks off and start the rehearsal for the Black Star Riders tour in the UK and Europe'.

Black Star Riders will still play homage to its Thin Lizzy origins. 'Obviously because everybody knows where we came from and what we do it is kind of a must. We will be playing most of the Black Star Riders album but I don't think we'd get away without playing a few Thin Lizzy songs,' he said.

Brian has decided on the new Black Star Riders name because his Think Lizzy co-founder Brian Downey does not want to continue after the Australian tour. 'I know that Brian Downey wanted to take a bit of a break from the road because our touring schedule has been grueling for three years,' Scott says. 'He wanted to take a little break from it. Darren Wharton, the keyboard player, he's got his other band and he is also working in a movie. Jimmy Degrasso is on drums. I don't think we are actually going to have keyboards in Black Star Riders. You never know what's going to happen down the road but that is the set-up right now with that'.

However Scott is not writing off the return of Thin Lizzy sometime in the future. 'Over here there are advertisements saying 'The Farewell Tour'. It's not really a farewell tour. It is more of a farewell to this grueling touring schedule,' he says. 'We are taking a break from Thin Lizzy. The Black Star Riders is not just a side-project. It is a well and true and proper band. We'll still go out as Thin Lizzy. There are still certain big festivals that we will do. Thin Lizzy is still on the horizon, we will still go out and do that but in the meantime we have Black Star Riders that we are going to concentrate on also'.