Bringing back Thin Lizzy music

Their latest date is the Jook House, Station Approach, Worthing on June 9.

“It was me and the lead singer Wayne who started up the band,” says guitarist Greg Alcock. “We were always fans of Thin Lizzy, but since Phil Lynott’s death, the music had really disappeared off the scene. It was a shame.”

So Greg and Wayne decided to do something about it.

“I had always been a fan. I had an older brother that used to teach me Thin Lizzy songs, and when Wayne and I met, it just seemed to fit so well.”

What made Thin Lizzy so special was the way they crossed over into the charts.

“At the time there were rocks bands like Queen and Thin Lizzy and Bon Jovi that crossed over into pop. It was rock but you saw it on TV, on Top Of The Pops and on Saturday morning children’s television. It made it all so much more accessible to young kids.” For Greg, the fascination was that the band had a succession of guitarists, which gave him plenty to study across the band’s various incarnations.

Add to that the incomparable Lynott: “Like a lot of stuff, there was just no compromise. The image of the band was really important. For Phil, it was not just about live performance. It was about every aspect of what was happening.

“I never met him. But he showed a lot of different influences. There was blues and rock and there was also the tender side. He would write songs about his family and his children. And he was very patriotic. He wrote a lot that referred to Irish history.”

Tragically, his was not to be a long life, succumbing to a rock and roll death: “It was the life style,” Greg says. “It was very sad. It was a massive shock, but it was the life style he was caught up in. A lot of people in that generation had been brought up on drink and stuff.”

Doors are at 7.30pm; tickets are £14 on 01903 410276.