Thin Lizzy broke up in 1983. It was a sad farewell at the RDS and a real blow to many Irish teenagers who had taken them, and Phil Lynott in particular, as personal heroes. A few short years later, all hopes of a reunion were forever shattered when Lynott died a much publicised and quite shocking death, leaving a gap in Irish music that would simply never be filled. And so the obvious question needs to be asked - how can Thin Lizzy possibly be playing in the Olympia Theatre? The answer comes from guitarist Scott Gorham. Along with two other former members of the band - John Sykes and Darren Wharton - he is back on the road and in the middle of a fairly substantial tour. Sykes and Wharton were relative latecomers to Lizzy, but Gorham was there from the real glory days of the 1970s. He was the long-haired Californian with the Gibson Les Paul who always stood to Lynott's left and brought some serious transatlantic cool to the proceedings. He joined the band back in 1974 for the Nightlife album and was with them to the very end.
"I had no idea what I was joining," he says, "because I was fresh out of America and, at that point, nobody had heard of Thin Lizzy over there. I hadn't heard Whiskey in the Jar, I had no idea the bass player was a black guy, I had no idea even that the band was Irish, so it was a real learning curve at that audition. They had already gone through 25 different guitar players and they were all looking a little depressed about the whole thing. So I come walking in and I open up my mouth and they all thought `oh shit, an American! A Yank! That's all we need'. But soon everybody just teamed up as a gang, opened our hearts to each other and we went off, as a gang, and tried to conquer the world as best as we could."
And much of Thin Lizzy's appeal was that they really did seem like a gang. Lynott, who projected an image of both tough guy and soft old romantic, was able to claim equal wall-space in the bedrooms of both boys and girls. Girls fancied him, boys wanted to be like him and the music, with the trademark twin guitars of Gorham and Robertson, spoke to just about everyone of a certain age. It was powerful, well-constructed, melodic rock with smart lyrics, and just enough of a pop sensibility to score some very memorable hits. Devotion in certain quarters was complete and, for a time, Thin Lizzy could do no wrong.
"It was probably the best feeling I've ever experienced in my life," says Gorham, "And that was because it wasn't instant. It was something that we actually had to earn for ourselves. We went through a lot of bad times together, just sticking it out, and then finally The Boys are Back in Town hit in America. Then it hit in England and in Europe and the difference was incredible. All of a sudden we had fans all over the place, the halls were filled and record company people were actually talking to us! It was an incredible feeling - you're a young guy and you're walking around the world and you're feeling ten 10-feet tall."
Thin Lizzy enjoyed a particularly venerated position in Ireland. Lynott made Dublin seem like the coolest place on earth. In Brian Downey they had as good a drummer as ever sat behind a kit, someone able to swing the band out of the turgid grind of heavy rock. And apart from the two very obvious Dubs, there was a less tangible element too - a unique sound which often had Irish elements concealed about its person. It gave the group not just a distinctive feel, but also a very special role back at home. They were the biggest Irish band in the world, pre-U2 local heroes and, for the Californian blow-in, it was all a little unnerving.
"When I first saw all the kids and how they actually looked at Phil - and the rest of us - it hit me just what was going on and, I guess, what was expected of us. I was a little frightened of going to Ireland for the first time because Phil and Brian Downey had told me all about the Irish connection and how it had been a solely Irish band, and now it had a Scottish guy (Brian Robertson) which was kind of OK, and now an American! My mother was full Irish and my great grandparents were called McComb and they had a farm outside of Enniskillen - but I knew that if the Irish didn't accept me then it was career over, right here! But thank God, they came right on my side and patted me on the back."
Lizzy enjoyed a good run but they had their difficulties too. Guitarists came and went (and came back again) but Gorham remained. He co-wrote many of the songs with Lynott and was seen by the fans as being at the very heart of the band. As Thin Lizzy continued to tour, survived punk with some style, and still made the odd appearance on Top of the Pops, it seemed that they could well go on forever. For some, their music in the 1980s became at times, a little too heavy, but they always remained a huge draw. perhaps as fine a live act as it was possible to see. What the fans did not know, however, was that there were very serious problems in the ranks. Lynott and Gorham were not joking when they performed a song called Got to Give it Up and by the summer of 1981, the year Thin Lizzy headlined the first concert at Slane Castle, things were beginning to get very serious.
`WE tried to keep it under wraps as much as possible, so I guess that when you hit the stage you become a little more of an actor. Me and Phil would walk on stage and it would be hurting. You'd be in pain but the audience would keep giving you a kick in the ass and that would make you drive forward and get you going.
"I was determined to get away from it. Phil wasn't quite so determined - and he never actually gave the drugs up. He did tell me that he was going to stop - that he was going to start trying really hard and that maybe we should think about putting the band back together. Three weeks later he died."
Playing without Lynott is a tough one for Gorham. He recalls the Self Aid concert of 1986 where the remaining members of the band, plus Bob Geldof, closed the show with an emotional and tearful tribute. Off the drugs for a year at that point, he remembers looking to the middle of the stage and realising the huge absence left by his old friend. They had after all "stood shoulder to shoulder all the way along the line". There have been other reunions in recent years but while fans are always glad to see old heroes such as Scott Gorham in action again, there will nevertheless always be that feeling that without Phil Lynott, it's just not Thin Lizzy. "But we don't ever do it without Phil. It really does feel that he's coming along with us all the time. He gets introduced right along with the band every night, he is always the last name to be called and he always gets the biggest cheer. And to me that's a fitting tribute to my friend. All of us worked so hard on this stuff and not to play it would be a crime. I don't want people to forget what Phil wrote and how it was played. "There's a lot of young people who never got a chance to see the band so now they can see Thin Lizzy live, as it is now. Obviously they don't get to see Phil but they get to see part of what this thing was all about."
Thin Lizzy (line-up: Scott Gorham, John Sykes, Darren Wharton, Marco Mendoza, Tommy Aldridge) play the Olympia Theatre on November 21st and 22nd