RICKY WARWICK Talks 'Cathartic' New Solo Album: 'People Don't Need To Be Reminded Of How F***ed Up The World Is'

By David E. Gehlke

BLACK STAR RIDERS and THE ALMIGHTY frontman Ricky Warwick is currently on the media circuit promoting his new solo album, "Blood Ties". It's a collection of hard-driving rockers that finds the Northern Ireland-born Warwick getting quite a few things off of his chest and enlisting some top-notch guests like Lita Ford and THE CULT's Billy Duffy to go along with having former BUCKCHERRY guitarist Keith Nelson producing the whole thing.

Warwick's distinctive, attitude-laden croon works in pretty much any environment — even on songs that have an uplifting feel to them, a contrast to his piss-and-vinegar days fronting THE ALMIGHTY. Yet for Warwick, the overall feel of "Blood Ties" was intentional: The last few years had their share of ups and downs for him, making it nigh time to exercise some demons.

With THE ALMIGHTY now fully reactivated and BLACK STAR RIDERS still popping out quality albums, the one-time THIN LIZZY frontman appears to be in a good place. He rang BLABBERMOUTH.NET as the wildfires were bearing down on his adopted home of Los Angeles, but to little surprise, Warwick struck an upbeat, positive tone and found time to talk about "Blood Ties", THIN LIZZY and THE ALMIGHTY, who remain one of 1990's heavy rock/metal's most underrated bands.

Blabbermouth: Going through "Blood Ties", there appears to be a cathartic element running throughout. Where did that come from?

Ricky: "It just comes through. I think it's a cliché: You get to the point where you really don't care what anyone thinks anymore. I think I reached that point. There's stuff on here that I've got to get off my chest. I always write from the heart and soul, but I think, 'No, let's get down to the bottom of the mine and see what's there.' Obviously, we've all been through so much in the last few years with Covid. I've watched my kids grow up and leave home. I got sober. There's plenty of stuff for me to write about."

Blabbermouth: Along those lines, was it intentional to write such an uplifting album?

Ricky: "It's kind of intentional. For me, anyway, I'm there to entertain. I don't want to bring anyone down. We all know how fucked up the world is; most people know that. They don't need to be reminded of it. It's all shit and we're going to die. It is. But we can have a lot of fun along the way. That's sort of saying, 'Here's what's going on and I'm trying to deal with it in a positive way.' You just get up every morning and try your best. I'm trying to get that across in the songs. Things can be tough, but there's always some light at the end of the tunnel. You just got to find it."

Blabbermouth: What makes your relationship with Keith work so well? There are more than a few similarities between his career with BUCKCHERRY and what you did with THE ALMIGHTY.

Ricky: "It's great. We're both working-class boys with very similar backgrounds, apart from different countries but similar standards and morals. We have the same love of music, guitars and life in general. We hit it off in a lot of ways. Working with Keith is great for me because I know he gets it. I know I can give him an idea, and he'll run with it. Nine times out of ten, it runs in a brilliant direction. We rarely butt heads. We have a great working relationship. We're good buddies as well and hang out."

Blabbermouth: Do you need a guy like Keith around? Could you go at it alone?

Ricky: "I could. I don't think I'd enjoy it as much. I like working with like-minded people. I like getting ideas from other people. I think that's one of the great things about what I do: Making music can be creative and you can share it with other people. Sometimes it's a bad thing and doesn't work out, but that's part of it, too. I think it's good to get opinions from other people. Keith is always brutally honest and he's a great musician. I like kicking my ideas into Keith and going, 'What do you think of this? What do you get?' I enjoy that part of it."

Blabbermouth: Does that make you think about whether you enjoy the band thing or your solo career more?

Ricky: "The band thing is great. I love being a part of it. I love the gang mentality that comes with it, but I also hate the stupidity that comes with it. [Laughs] I also hate the egos that come with it and stuff like that. The great thing about being a solo artist is that you can be a complete narcissist. It's you. The buck stops with you. That can be a great thing, but it can also be a bad thing and you can disappear up your own asshole. For different reasons, I love them both. I do enjoy being part of a band. When it's a well-oiled machine, it's great. I enjoy writing songs and making them what I want them to be and not worrying about other people's opinions; that's also great, too."

Blabbermouth: How did Lita get involved in "Don't Leave Me in the Dark"?

Ricky: "I wrote the song and sent it to Keith. We messed about with the arrangement. We demoed it and listened to it and went, 'This has got a duet feel to it. It needs a really cool female rock and roll singer, a Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde [THE PRETENDERS] or a Lita Ford.' We were working on the rest of the demos for the record, then one of the strangest things happened: I was talking to my manager and he said, 'You will never guess who I picked up. Lita Ford.' I said, 'Hold that thought.' I said, 'I've got this song and I think Lita would be great for it.' I'm a huge fan of THE RUNAWAYS. I thought they were amazing. My manager gets it to Lita. She loved the song. She goes, 'Okay, what's the deal? When do you need me to do it?' She couldn't have been more accommodating. It was one of those days you dream about when you're a kid. She came in to do the vocal in Los Angeles with Keith. I wasn't there. So, I was on tour in the States, opening for STIFF LITTLE FINGERS. I had to get on Facetime. I think we were in Portland on a tour bus and watched her put the vocals down in the studio while I was on tour with one of my all-time favorite bands. I've got this amazing singer, Lita Ford, singing on my tracks. It's one of those days where you go, 'This is great. This is why I do it.' She nailed it. She was fantastic. I said, 'We're going to make a video.' She said, 'When do you need me?' Her attitude, her whole ethos—she's the real deal."

Blabbermouth: Where did the THIN LIZZY harmonies come from on "The Crickets Stayed In Clovis"?

Ricky: "It's a part of who I am and what I love. My two favorite bands are STIFF LITTLE FINGERS and THIN LIZZY. They are both Irish bands and had a huge impact on me growing up in Northern Ireland. I've always loved that LIZZY sound and Keith does too. Being a part of that and seeing how it works with Scott [Gorham] and the guys was phenomenal. There are always elements of that in BLACK STAR RIDERS and even some of my solo stuff. Keith came up with the main riff for 'The Crickets Stayed In Clovis'. I thought, 'This is great. It's got such a great LIZZY vibe. We've got to work on this.' We did. 'The Crickets' was the outcome."

Blabbermouth: Did you ever run into [recently deceased former BLUE MURDER / THIN LIZZY / WHITESNAKE guitarist John Sykes?

Ricky: "Never met him. Our paths never crossed. Obviously, it's very sad what happened to him and his family, but I never met the guy."

Blabbermouth: If you were to draw up a rock star, it was John. He had that look.

Ricky: "Oh yeah. You could see why [THIN LIZZY frontman] Phil [Lynott] wanted him in the band. He looked great and he could play. And John was a great singer, too. His voice was amazing."

Blabbermouth: You have some metal in you. Are you into "Thunder And Lightning"?

Ricky: "Absolutely. I like that record a lot. I'm so brainwashed that Phil could not do any wrong. [Laughs] He could sing fucking nursery rhymes and I'd be like, 'Yeah, that's killer!' But there are some great songs on that record. It's funny because it's an album over the years…for a lot of LIZZY fans, it wasn't up there with the finest. When you listen back to it now, the songs are great."

Blabbermouth: Do you want to go into your relationship with Billy Duffy? How did he get involved on the record?

Ricky: "Billy's a mate. I first got to know him way back in the early '90s when THE ALMIGHTY was starting out. I remember him and [THE CULT frontman] Ian [Astbury, vocals] coming to the Marquee Club to see us play. I met them afterward and was blown away because we were such big CULT fans. They were such an influence on the early ALMIGHTY stuff. We bonded over rock and roll and football. We became excellent mates and have been for 35 years now. He has a place in L.A. and he's here quite a bit. We meet up now and again. It was one of those things where I met him for breakfast. He asked what I was working on, and he said he'd play on it. True to his word, he turned up at the studio and plugged in and played. Instantly, Billy Duffy's in the room. He's got that iconic sound. He didn't even bring a guitar or amps! He used one of ours. As soon as it was in his hands, it was that sound. It was a huge honor."

Blabbermouth: You reactivated THE ALMIGHTY in 2023. What's making this time around different?

Ricky: "It's been lovely. The shows have been off the scale. I think way more than we expected. There were so many people asking about the band reforming, so we knew they'd be decent. We've all been blown away. Stumpy's [Monroe, drums] birthday is today. I was texting him. I realized that guy's been my friend for 45 years. It's nuts. It's insane. When I moved from Northern Ireland to Scotland, I met him on my first day in high school in 1980. What's nice about it is that we're back into each other's lives again. It's not like we fell out, but you move on and blah, blah, blah. But we're all hanging out again and having a laugh, which we are and playing those songs. We're probably playing them better than we ever did."

Blabbermouth: Those albums have aged really well. There's such a good array of songs now to choose from.

Ricky: "There is. It's like any band with a catalog; there's always 10 or 12 you have to play. Then there are seven or eight where you start having fun with and change them around. That's what we're doing. We're heading over to Japan for a few shows over there, which we haven't been there in, god, 25 years. That will be cool. We're enjoying it. We're not putting too much pressure on ourselves. We're doing a few shows every year. We have five shows next year. We'll see what happens. We'll see where it goes."

Blabbermouth: I don't think THE ALMIGHTY had a big falling out when you first broke up, right?

Ricky: "Yeah, we were just burned. We were at it for so long. We were still fairly young. It was a cliché but true: It was the alcohol, drugs and blah, blah, blah—all that shit that was expected of a rock and roll band. I think hindsight is great. We should have walked away for a year, a year and a half and regrouped. We were burned out on each other, burned out on the industry. Everybody was annoying everybody. [Laughs] We felt we needed a break. In hindsight, that's what we should have done."

Blabbermouth: Do you think it also boiled down to the idea that you were a rock band that had some metal in it? THE CULT sometimes had the same problem.

Ricky: "When we started the band, we wanted to be a cross between SHAM 69 and MOTÖRHEAD. Big anthems with the big choruses with the attitude and grittiness as well. Britpop came along in the '90s and it changed a lot. A lot of bands suffered because of it. A lot of the bands stayed together, and the ones that did were just as big as they ever were. They all have come back around again. At that point in time, you can't see the forest through the trees. That's where we were at. It happened for a reason. I'm glad we're back now playing and playing well."