Black Star Riders

Black Star Riders
Black Star Riders performing in 2014: L–R Johnson, DeGrasso (back), Warwick, Gorham
Background information
Origin	USA
Genres	Hard rock
Years active	2012–present
Labels	Nuclear Blast
Associated acts	Thin Lizzy, Alice Cooper
Website	blackstarriders.com
Members	Ricky Warwick Scott Gorham Damon Johnson Robbie Crane Jimmy DeGrasso
Past members	Marco Mendoza

Black Star Riders is a hard rock band formed in December 2012, when members of the most recent line-up of Thin Lizzy decided to record new material, but chose not to release it under the Thin Lizzy name. While Thin Lizzy will continue on an occasional basis, Black Star Riders is a full-time band, described as "the next step in the evolution of the Thin Lizzy story". The band's first album, All Hell Breaks Loose, was released on 21 May 2013, and the follow-up album, The Killer Instinct was released on 20 February 2015.

The band is fronted by Ricky Warwick, and features guitarists Scott Gorham and Damon Johnson, bass guitarist Robbie Crane and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso.

In May 2010, Thin Lizzy lead guitarist Scott Gorham announced the latest incarnation of the group, which had toured sporadically with various line-ups since 1996, after the death of band leader Phil Lynott in 1986. This marked the return of the original drummer Brian Downey and longtime keyboard player Darren Wharton, joining Gorham, bass guitarist Marco Mendoza, and vocalist and occasional guitarist Ricky Warwick. The other lead guitarist role was initially filled by Vivian Campbell, then by Richard Fortus, before Damon Johnson joined the band in August 2011. As the band toured throughout 2011 and 2012, they composed new material for possible release as a Thin Lizzy studio album, and demos were recorded in June 2012.

In October 2012, it was announced that the new material would not be recorded under the Thin Lizzy name, and that a new band name would be used for the new songs. According to Gorham, this was "out of respect to Phil Lynott and the legacy he created", though he confirmed that the new material would feature the classic Thin Lizzy sound. He later confirmed that the decision was taken by himself and Downey, with the support of the other members of the band, and that the Thin Lizzy estate (controlled by Lynott's widow Caroline) had also been uncomfortable about new Thin Lizzy studio recordings. Warwick has acknowledged that a significant portion of Thin Lizzy fans were also against the idea of Thin Lizzy studio recordings without Lynott. He later confirmed that he had been troubled by the idea of using the Thin Lizzy name, and that as a fan, had the band recorded an album under the Thin Lizzy name with another singer, he would have been against it.