It’s easy to get the impression that Ricky Warwick has lived many lives. The Northern Irish guitarist got his break playing rhythm in New Model Army before fronting Scottish hard rock group the Almighty, who reformed last year.
Then there’s his work alongside Scott Gorham in the latest incarnation of Thin Lizzy and its splinter group, Black Star Riders; one album with supergroup Circus Diablo; plus a whole host of solo releases including this year’s Blood Ties, which begins with an ensemble of overdriven guitars that feel loud enough to rattle your teeth.
“I knew straight away that’s how I wanted to start the album,” he says. “This is a very diverse record, but the first riff is something all my fans will be familiar with. And when you’re working with [producer] Keith Nelson, you’re in a land of great guitars. He’s got such a beautiful collection of vintage instruments. I didn’t even take anything to the studio.”
Favorites included a Les Paul with P-90s, a Telecaster and a Rickenbacker 12-string, which were all fed into vintage Marshall amps. You won’t hear any plugins on this album, Warwick says, before explaining how his ears always gravitate to sounds that feel more organic and lively.
This latest release also features a handful of famous friends, from Lita Ford – who was kind enough to bring her original 1976 Hamer to the Don’t Leave Me in the Dark video shoot – to Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr and Billy Duffy of the Cult.
“Even though Lita only sang on the track, I begged her to bring that guitar along,” Warwick says with a laugh. “And Billy’s brilliant. He would rock up to the studio on a Triumph looking cool as fuck. He didn’t bring a guitar or amp. I don’t even think he had a pick. He just heard the tracks once and was ready to go.”
Thin Lizzy diehards may very well single out Rise and Grind and Don’t Sell Your Soul to Fall in Love as favorites, thanks to their usage of rich and fuller-sounding seventh chords. It’s a nostalgic sound that has a special place in Warwick’s heart, which he describes as a great way of adding more emotional depth to the music.
“From Bob Mould in Hüsker Dü to Gerry Rafferty in Stealers Wheel, there’s a magic to those voicings,” Warwick says. “And yeah, they’re in a lot of classic Lizzy songs.
“There’s a warm feeling I get when I hear seventh chords. I’ll use a capo to play them in different positions because they open so many doors for me as a songwriter. You can use them to take listeners somewhere they might not expect.”
- Blood Ties is out now via Earache.
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
