Scott Gorham

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Scott Gorham
File:Black Star Riders – Wacken Open Air 2014 06.jpg
Gorham performing with Black Star Riders 2014 at Wacken Open Air
Background information
Birth name William Scott Gorham
Born (1951-03-17) March 17, 1951 (age 73)
Glendale, California
Genres Rock, blues-rock, hard rock, heavy metal
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, bass guitar, vocals
Labels Vertigo
Associated acts Thin Lizzy, The Greedies, 21 Guns, Phenomena, Black Star Riders, Supertramp
Website scottgorham.com
Notable instruments
Gibson Les Paul Deluxe

Scott Gorham (born William Scott Gorham, March 17, 1951, Glendale, California) is an American guitarist and songwriter who rose to international recognition as one of the twin lead guitarists of the Irish rock band, Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of Thin Lizzy, he served a continuous membership after passing an audition in 1974, joining the band at a time when the band's future was in doubt after the departures of original guitarist Eric Bell and his brief replacement Gary Moore. Gorham remained with Thin Lizzy until the band's breakup in 1984. He and guitarist Brian Robertson, both hired at the same time, marked the beginning of the band's most critically successful period, and together developed Thin Lizzy's twin lead guitar style while contributing dual backing vocals as well.[1][2][3] Gorham is the band member with the longest membership after founders Brian Downey (drummer) and frontman and bass guitarist, Phil Lynott.

Since 1996, Gorham has continued to perform with Thin Lizzy on guitar and backing vocals, having assembled various lineups after the death of band leader Lynott in 1986. In 2012, Gorham co-founded the Thin Lizzy spin-off band, Black Star Riders, in order to showcase new material.

Career

Early years

Scott Gorham was raised in California, and began his musical career at 13, learning to play the bass guitar, and joining several local teenage bands including The Jesters, Mudd and The Ilford Subway, the latter recording a single, "The 3rd Prophecy" in October 1967. He switched instruments when a close friend of his, a guitarist in his then-current band, 18-year-old Steve Schrage, died in a motorcycle crash in Glendale in 1968. Gorham's friend (and bandmate in a number of bands) Bob Siebenberg later recalled, "That incident devastated Scott. He decided the very day that he heard about the accident to take this kid's place, to try to get to where this kid would have eventually gotten to. Scott stunned everybody by dropping the bass, which he was very proficient at, and switching to guitar."[4] Gorham subsequently joined Redeye in 1969 with Siebenberg, and the two joined Benbecula in 1970 before Siebenberg moved to England in 1971.[5]

In 1973 Siebenberg, by then also Gorham's brother-in-law and drummer with Supertramp, convinced Gorham to join him in England, with hope of playing in the same outfit.[4] Gorham was unable to find work with his friend, so he started playing with a number of bands in pubs around London, before starting his own band, Fast Buck. In 1974 a musician acquaintance, Ruan O’Lochlainn, suggested he attend auditions being held by Phil Lynott, Thin Lizzy's primary songwriter, and one of the founders of the band.[6] Thin Lizzy were at the time in a state of flux and reorganization, and while the drummer and bassist remained, two new guitarists were wanted. Brian Robertson, at age seventeen, had already been chosen before Gorham auditioned. The two guitarists shared lead guitar roles, and harmonized with one another, as well as alternately playing rhythm and lead, which led to Thin Lizzy having what was considered a unique sound.

Thin Lizzy

File:Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham Thin Lizzy 1978.jpg
L to R: Phil Lynott with Gorham in a 1978 performance with Thin Lizzy at Pinkpop Festival, The Netherlands

Upon joining Thin Lizzy, Gorham took on a songwriting role as well as that of a guitarist. "She Knows", the opening track of his first album with the band, Nightlife, began a long songwriting partnership with Lynott.[7] They co-wrote two songs for Gorham's next album with the band, Fighting, and Gorham contributed one of his own, "Ballad of a Hard Man".[8] This was to be the only Thin Lizzy song that was credited solely to Gorham. His role in the band remained consistent until the recording of 1977's Bad Reputation album, for which Brian Robertson was largely absent.[citation needed] Gorham played all the lead guitar parts for the majority of the songs, including the hit single "Dancing in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me in Its Spotlight)".

When Gary Moore returned to the band, replacing Robertson in 1979, Gorham took the new arrival as the impetus to improve his own playing, as he did with all his subsequent guitar partners in the band.[9] At the same time however, drug use became more prevalent within the band, and Gorham and Lynott both developed addictions to heroin, with a negative impact on the creativity and musicianship in the band.[10] Gorham was unable to rid himself of the habit until 1985, after the band had split up.[10] However, his songwriting contributions increased in the later years of the band, and he was credited with co-writing almost half the songs on the 1981 album Renegade.[11] Thin Lizzy split up in 1983.

Phenomena II and 21 Guns

File:Scott Gorham 2007.jpg
Gorham with Thin Lizzy; Monsters of Rock Festival, Milan, Italy 2007

After Thin Lizzy broke up, Gorham joined Phenomena II, where he met Leif Johansen (ex-A-ha and Far Corporation) with whom he formed 21 Guns, releasing three albums. He has also played with Asia, the Rollins Band, and Supertramp. Gorham's sister Vicki married Supertramp's drummer Bob Siebenberg.

In 1997, he played guest guitars on the track "I'm Alive" from Psycho Motel's album, Welcome to the World.

Reformation of Thin Lizzy

Gorham reformed Thin Lizzy in 1996 with former band members, playing various tours in tribute to founding singer, songwriter, and bassist Phil Lynott, who died in 1986. The tour was named the 20/20 tour – 20 dates for 20 years. After John Sykes' departure in 2009, Brian Downey, Darren Wharton, and Marco Mendoza rejoined the band. New to the lineup were Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell and former The Almighty vocalist Ricky Warwick. After months of pre-production and two weeks of rehearsals in Los Angeles in November 2010, this version of Thin Lizzy started a world tour in January 2011. Touring continued throughout the year and into 2012, with Campbell eventually being replaced permanently by Damon Johnson. Gorham has also stated that the band members were considering recording new material, which would be the first new Thin Lizzy studio recordings since 1983.[12] In December 2012, he co-founded the Thin Lizzy spin-off band Black Star Riders as a vehicle for the new material, rather than release it under the Thin Lizzy name.[13] Black Star Riders' first album All Hell Breaks Loose was released in May 2013.[14] In June 2013, he won the Riff Lord Award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards for his work on the album.[15]

Guitar and equipment

Initially, Gorham used a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe guitar with mini humbuckers. He then bought a '59 Les Paul in Boston, which became his main guitar until Thin Lizzy broke up in 1984. He can be seen using a Schecter with a Lynott style mirror scratchplate on later videos. Nowadays, Gorham uses a Fender Stratocaster guitar with 100-watt 1970's modded Marshall Amplifiers.[16] Even before Thin Lizzy split up, Gorham started using Fender Stratocasters, but reverted to his Gibson Les Paul in 2006.[17] For the Thin Lizzy 2011 tour of the UK, Gorham has said that he will be returning to usage of a Gibson Les Paul, this time using a Les Paul Axcess as his main tour guitar. In an interview with Guitarist magazine he said that he had made contact with Gibson Custom Shop and had used it during rehearsals. The Axcess is different from normal Les Pauls in the fact it makes use of a Floyd Rose tremolo and also has a thinner body among other features. Gorham's Axcess has a thinner neck than the normal models as well as a 500T pickup in the bridge position.

As of 2007, Gorham is an endorsee of the German amp company, ENGL. His current setup is either two or four E650 Ritchie Blackmore Signature heads, his modified Marshall, and four standard ENGL cabinets. In an interview for the August 2010 edition of Guitarist magazine, Gorham is quoted as saying that he will be using the ENGL Fireball head for the January 2011 Tour of the UK with Thin Lizzy.

Personal life

Scott is married to Christine Gorham, and lives in London. His nephew Jesse Siebenberg is a professional guitarist currently performing with Lissie.

Discography

References

  1. Prato, Greg. Scott Gorham at AllMusic. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. "When I was in 21 Guns [Scott's post-Lizzy band], I had this condom of devices filled with blinking lights and dials that looked great but every night I'd have to walk up to it and ask, How do I turn this thing on? And if something went down you'd be in trouble because it was all daisy chained. So about 10 years ago I got sick of tap dancing on a pedal board and found this little German guy who worked at Chandlers. I was talking to him about my problems and he knew exactly what I wanted. So now I've got four 1970s Marshall amps – you can only use the seventies versions – and he's beefed them all up. Don't ask me what he's done but every once in a while he calls me and says "I have something new for you", and he'll take the back off and weld something new in there. But I'm also thinking about going back to using a few old vintage pedals like Tube Screamers as well". – Interview with Guitarist magazine, March 2006.
  17. "I've been thinking about dusting off the old Les Paul for this tour [20/20 tour], because I do miss playing it. The thing about the Les Paul is it's a great guitar – looks great sounds great – but it's so ****ing heavy! It's like wheeling along a bag of cement! With the Strat, it's an extremely versatile guitar, and customisable too. It's much lighter and more conducive to my style of playing than a Les Paul." – Interview with Guitarist magazine, March 2006.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Scott Gorham.