RACHEL BOLAN Says SKID ROW 'Never Ran Into Any Legal Problems' With Late 1960s / Early 1970s Irish Band Featuring PHIL LYNOTT And GARY MOORE

In a new interview with Spain's Stairway To Rock, SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan was asked if he and his bandmates had any legal issues with using the name SKID ROW, considering that an early 1970s Irish blues-rock act, notable for being the one in which both THIN LIZZY's Phil Lynott and legendary guitarist Gary Moore first played professionally, was also called SKID ROW. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We didn't know. I mean, there was no Internet [in 1986] when we called the band SKID ROW. No one knew of [the Irish band] SKID ROW in the United States then, us especially. And we only found out about it the day our [first] record came out, and someone told us, 'You know, THIN LIZZY,' as it was put to us, 'THIN LIZZY used to be called SKID ROW.' And I'm, like, 'I don't think that's correct.' And then we found out that, I guess it was Gary Moore's band was called SKID ROW. But at that point, we had no idea, and they hadn't been a band for years, so we never ran into any kind of legal problems or anything like that.

"The only legal problem we ran into was a guy in the United States who just did acoustic shows, I think in the Midwest, and he went by the name — first name 'Skid', last name 'Row'," Rachel explained. "And he was cool [with us using the name]. We bought him out, and it wasn't much. But he was cool with it. He's, like, 'Man, you guys are gonna do way more with it than I'm, I'm going to, so you have my blessing.' But, yeah, we never ran into problems with the band from Ireland."

Back in 2012, Brendan "Brush" Shiels, a founding member of the Irish blues-rock act SKID ROW, posted a YouTube video in which he accused the American rock group SKID ROW of using the band name without his permission. He also discussed how he believed the story that Moore received a $35,000 payoff by the American band for the use of the name was nonsense and revealed that he has unsuccessfully tried to contact Jon Bon Jovi (with whom the Sebastian Bach-fronted SKID ROW reportedly signed a publishing deal prior to releasing its first album) and Doc McGhee, early manager of the the American SKID ROW, to resolve the SKID ROW name issue once and for all.

Shiels said at the time: "[Phil Lynott], Gary and myself toured America, playing with Frank Zappa, THE ALLMAN BROTHERS, Iggy and THE STOOGES. Rod Stewart and THE FACES never turned up, so we topped the bill. Everybody knew us.

"A couple of years ago, I'm looking at MTV and Sebastian Bach, the ex-singer of the American band SKID ROW. He said they paid Gary Moore $35,000 for the use of the name," Shiels continued.

"Now, I know for a fact this is a complete lie. I got in touch with Seb, and he said as far as he was concerned it was the truth. But that couldn't be the truth.

"The late Gary Moore told me Jon Bon Jovi asked him if it was all right to use the name. Gary said it was nothing to do with him and he'd have to ring me. For some reason, Jon Bon Jovi never rang me.

"If anyone knows him, let him get in touch with me and tell me if this is true: did Jon Bon Jovi ring Gary Moore and ask him could he use the name SKID ROW, and did the late Gary Moore tell Jon Bon Jovi it had nothing to do with him and he'd have to ring me?

"I don't think for a minute he'd be as disrespectful as to not to bother contacting me," Shiels added. "But he'd know for a fact under no circumstances could anyone use the name SKID ROW except for us."

The original lineup of the Irish SKID ROW featured Brush on bass, Noel Bridgeman on drums, Bernard Cheevers on guitar and Lynott on vocals.

Ireland's SKID ROW released two acclaimed records, "Skid" and "34 Hours", in the early 1970s before disbanding.

Photo credit: Anabel DFlux (courtesy of earMUSIC)