Black Star Riders are in Nashville for the next month to work on their new album.
Guitarist Scott Gorham previously said they were looking forward to taking longer than the 12 days they had to record debut All Hell Breaks Loose, and says working with producer Nick Raskulinecz will be an “experiment.”
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott had originally been lined up to take over production duties, but had to pull back from the project due to his hectic schedule. Raskulinecz will now helm the album, and the band will rehearse the new material for a week, before laying down the tracks over a three week period at the producer’s studio.
Gorham tells Metal Talk: “Right now I’m not thinking we have any particular studio sound at this point. We’re the kind of band that at the end of the day what you record is how it sounds.
“I think we’re all going to have a say in the direction we’re going in – not only musically but sound wise. It will be an experiment and I’m sure Nick is going to have a big say in what he wants to hear and wants to get out of us. It will be a team effort. He’s there to cut the fat away.
“On the last album, the songs had to be written because we had such a short amount of time in the studio. With this one, we’re going to have a week’s rehearsal to glue all the different bits together and try different things. The three week period of recording affords us a lot of time to mess with guitar sounds and different arrangements.”
Ahead of their previously announced UK tour with Europe in March 2015, the Thin Lizzy offshoot band will play the Legends Of Rock Festival, Great Yarmouth on October 19.
And guitarist says they might play some of the new material, but wants to keep the set a 50⁄50 split between BSR and Lizzy tracks.
Goram continues: “Maybe we’ll just leave it until the end and throw one out and see what kind of audience reaction we get out of it.
“We have a great crossover section of fans, which is really gratifying to see. You’ve got the older Lizzy fans. Obviously they want to hear some the Lizzy songs, but they want to hear the new things also, so we know we’re connecting with all those people
“The other thing we’re seeing is all the young faces out there. Thin Lizzy wasn’t their band, BSR is.”
The guitarist says he would like to add Thin Lizzy track King’s Vengeance from the 1975 album Fighting to their set, but says even hardcore fans might not know it.
He says: “The problem with that is even the Lizzy fans would’t know it – it’s so deep into the catalogue. We’d start that off and people would be saying, ‘What the hell is that? What band did that song?’
“You have to be a little bit careful with your choice of material you don’t want to lose anybody just because you want to play a song.”
2014 tour dates
Mar 05: Glasgow ABC
Mar 06: Glasgow ABC
Mar 07: Newcastle O2 Academy
Mar 08: Leeds O2 Academy
Mar 10: Nottingham Rock City
Mar 11: Cambridge Corn Exchange
Mar 13: Manchester Academy
Mar 14 Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Mar 15: Exeter Great Hall
Mar 16: Bristol O2 Academy
Mar 18: Bournemouth O2 Academy
Mar 19 Norwich The Nick Rayns LCR
Mar 20: London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Mar 21: London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
