IT'S been a long couple of years for LA-based rocker Ricky Warwick: hospitalised with pneumonia just prior to being locked down by the pandemic in 2020, the Newtownards-born man recovered to release his latest album When Life Was Hard and Fast last year, which he was forced to promote via live streamed performances.
Now, the former Almighty and Thin Lizzy frontman and current Black Star Riders leader is finally back on the road with his band The Fighting Hearts and headed for his homeland, with shows in Belfast and Dublin next week.
I spoke to Ricky via Zoom recently about getting back to live work and the new Black Star Riders record that's being readied for release...
:: You've got a new record which you haven't been able to play out live properly yet, plus old favourites by The Almighty, Black Star Riders and Thin Lizzy to dust down. Are the sets two hours long at the moment, then?
That's what's great about doing my solo stuff and the touring – I can play little bits from all aspects of the wild and wonderful and amazing career that I've had.
Obviously, I'm playing my solo stuff because that's what it's all about, but there will be quite a few Almighty songs in there, there will be a Lizzy song I'm sure, Black Star Riders and maybe a couple of covers as well.
:: What was it like releasing a record during the pandemic?
It was very frustrating. Obviously, you do all the hype and it comes out in a blaze of glory, it got great reviews and everybody really seemed to dig it – and then that was it.
Normally you'd go straight on tour, which I had planned, but that didn't happen. So it was strange to be in that situation. It still feels very much like a new record to me because I haven't had the chance to play these songs in a live environment up until now.
So I'm really looking forward to putting that right. I'm so excited to play some of these songs live and loud, I think they're going to sound incredible up there – that's kind of what they were written for.
:: I think you summed up the sound you were going for with the record as "punching thunder", correct?
Yeah, which was also the title of a song from my Belfast Confetti album. That came from a mate in Glasgow who was excited about going to see AC/DC – he says to me, "Big man, I'll be down the front punching thunder". I thought, "That is the best expression I've ever heard – I'm having that".
:: You did lots of acoustic live streams in lockdown and you've also booked a fair number of acoustic in-store performances on the new tour. Were you concious that these songs needed to work 'unplugged' as well?
Pretty much everything I write starts life on an acoustic guitar. If you can't sit around a campfire and play it, then it doesn't work for me: the hooks and the melody have to be strong. That's what I adhere to when I'm writing.
I'm a huge vinyl fan and I love record stores – I'd like to do more in-stores, but generally during the week they want you to come in around 5 or 6pm which is right when we have soundcheck, so I've been trying to slot them in on the weekend afternoons instead.
:: Who's in your band The Fighting Hearts at the moment?
They're all mates of mine from years ago: Richard Vernon on bass did the last Fighting Hearts tour back in 2016 with me, our drummer Jack Taylor, who's also my tour manager, plays in a really great band called Tax The Heat, and then Ben Cristo on guitar is in The Sisters of Mercy and I've known him for a long long time.
The whole thing with The Fighting Hearts is that it's a revolving door, it's really down to who's available and who wants to do it at that moment time.
I enjoy the fact that it's not a rigid band line-up so it will always be different to whatever else I've got going on.
:: Finally, what stage is the new Black Star Riders album at?
It's done and dusted and it's actually just been mastered. It sounds fantastic, I'm really pleased. My good mate Joe Elliott [from Def Leppard] features on one of the tracks and obviously, it's the first record we've made without our Uncle Scott Gorham [ex-Thin Lizzy], who has decided to step aside.
We missed his presence, but Scott wanted the band to continue and we knew we couldn't really replace his guitar playing which is so unique – so we decided not to and to just carry on as a four-piece.
So it's different, but it still sounds like Black Star Riders. I think people are going to be very surprised and pleased when they get to hear this record – it's extremely strong, in my humble opinion.
:: Ricky Warwick & The Fighting Hearts, March 15, The Academy, Dublin / March 16, The Limelight, Belfast. Tickets via Ticketmaster.ie
SINGLE OF THE WEEK
:: Problem Patterns – YAW (single, self-released)
PROBLEM Patterns' first release of 2022 finds the Belfast quartet back with a bang (and a crash and a fair old wallop besides) with their thumping new single YAW – as in Yes, All Women – a hefty aural kick to the crotch for patriarchal whataboutery merchants everywhere.
"Devil's advocate wants to come out again / cuz he'd like to tell all women that it's 'not all men'" spits Alanah on this delightfully grungy, lurching stomper inspired by some of the less sympathetic/human reaction to the horrific murder of Sarah Everard last year and the frustration of living with the threat of male-on-female violence in general.
"She shouldn't have to be your sister, she shouldn't have to be your girlfriend, she shouldn't have to be your mother – she was just a person," Alanah roars as the song reaches a climactic din.
Yet more thrilling, thought-provoking noise-making from one of the finest bands around, 'local' or otherwise, YAW is out on March 16 with all Bandcamp sales being donated to Women's Aid Federation Northern Ireland and Cara-Friend, so be sure to buy a copy or three via problempatterns.bandcamp.com – and don't forget to mark up your diary with their upcoming Belfast show supporting the excellent Bob Vylan at The Deer's Head on April 8 while you're at it.
