Q&A
Ricky Warwick
The Black Star Riders frontman on his new solo album, his debt to Thin Lizzy, and Joe Elliott telling him how to sing.
Interview: Mick Wall
Perched in his LA lockdown den, in remarkably youthful good health and looking only half his 54 years, Ricky Warwick is breaking all the rules of rock stardom. He is also about to release When Life Was Hard And Fast, the best solo album of his career so far. That is clearly not how these things work usually, saving all your best stuff for long after you’ve become famous. In Warwick’s case fame came first with his band The Almighty, who started out in 1988, then latterly fronting Black Star Riders with former Thin Lizzy star Scott Gorham. But that’s how Ricky likes to roll, going against the grain, full of surprises.
How has lockdown been for you?
In LA it’s really bad again. They’re doing ICUs [intensive care units] in the car parks of hospitals. I lost my mum last year and I couldn’t fly back to Scotland for the funeral. Everything we used to take for granted is fucked. When it’s over I think it’s going to be a very different world. I don’t know if that’s going to be a good or a bad thing.