Brian Robertson
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- For the British World War II general, see Brian Hubert Robertson.
Brian Robertson is a Scottish guitarist and former member of Thin Lizzy and Motörhead.
Robertson was born on February 12 1956 in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire. He learnt cello P51 "Thin Lizzy, Soldiers of Fortune" by Alan Byrne and classical piano for eight years before switching to the guitar and drums. He played in gigs around his local area with bands like Dream Police, who later evolved into the Average White Band.
Career
In June 1974, Thin Lizzy were auditioning for a new guitarist and a try-out for Robertson was arranged. Still a teenager, Robertson was taken on - and with Scott Gorham on the other lead guitar, formulated the twin-guitar harmony that made Thin Lizzy one of the most influential "guitar bands" in the music industry. During his time in the band Thin Lizzy scaled the heights of success releasing albums such as Jailbreak, Johnny the Fox, Bad Reputation and the brilliant Live and Dangerous. Robertson was fired from the band twice, he finally left the band in 1978 being replaced by well known rock/blues guitarist Gary Moore.Brian's blues-influenced, classic rock style is distinctly melodic. In Thin Lizzy, the unique twin, harmony lead guitar sound, provided by Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham, contributed much to the distinctive sound of the band and influenced subsequent bands, such as Iron Maiden. Brian Robertson's unconventional use of the wah-pedal as an extension of the instrument during soloing rather than as a purely rhythmic effect, as described in the Total Accuracy video "Still in Love with the Blues" (featuring Brian Robertson & Stuart Bull), is generally regarded as a pioneering, perhaps unique use of the effect.
Following his dismissal, Robertson formed Wild Horses along with another big name outcast, ex-Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain. Achieving only partial success in the UK, the band split up after releasing two albums, 1980's the First Album and 1981's Stand Your Ground.
Robertson appeared on stage for a night during Thin Lizzy's final tour in 1983, alongside most of their former guitarists.
After this brief appearance with Thin Lizzy he joined Motörhead on their US tour, replacing "Fast" Eddie Clarke. He appeared with the band on the King Biscuit Flower Hour and recorded the Another Perfect Day album with them. In this time he was almost killed by a Hell's Angels bike meet, as he wore a pink tutu and ballet shoes to the gig. Refusing to play the classic numbers the band replaced him with Phil Campbell and Wurzel.
Robertson made a special guest appearance with the band Ash at the Oxegen music festival in Ireland, 2004, playing guitar on the song The Boys are Back in Town.
In August 2005 Brian was reunited with his old Lizzy band mates, under the leadership of Gary Moore, for a tribute show in memeory of Phil Lynott. Brian and Gary played along with Lizzies Brian Downey, Scott Gorham, Eric Bell and Jethro Tull bassist Jonathan Noyce on a number of Gary and Thin Lizzy classic cuts.
Infrequently seen on the music scene, he remains something of a mystery in the guitar world, because of his odd style of dress, and his brilliant guitar work.
Brian's more recent work with the Clan shows a glimpse of a harder, more modern, metal rock tone & style.
Discography
Thin Lizzy
- Night Life (1974)
- Fighting (1975)
- Jailbreak (1976)
- Johnny the Fox (1976)
- Bad Reputation (1977)
- Live and Dangerous (1978)
Wild Horses
- First Album (1980)
- Stand Your Ground (1981)
Motörhead
- Another Perfect Day (1983)
- I Got Mine (1983)
the Clan
Lotus
Zilch
Influences
Brian's influences include American blues giant Freddie King (Freddy King), English guitar legends Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton & Peter Green. ZZ Top and Billy Gibbons are also mentioned as later influences at http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/bios/Robbo.shtml.Guitars
On joining Thin Lizzy, Brian Robertson & Scott Gorham received new equipment, including Gibson Les Paul Deluxe guitars. Despite the Deluxe moniker, these were actually the least expensive Les Pauls available at the time. Still a highly prestigious guitar, the Les Paul Deluxe was unusual in having the smaller mini-humbucker pick-ups. Although very much a Les Paul in sound, the Deluxe has a slightly more treble biased, flutely tone than the normal PAF (patent applied for)-style Les Paul pick-ups. Another contributing factor to the unique Thin Lizzy harmony guitar sound.Brian is often associated with the Black 1973 Les Paul Custom with white/"parchment" coloured pick guard (rather than black), featured heavily in photographs on the Live and Dangerous album and subsequent video. However, in an interview with Stuart Bull on the video "Still in Love with the Blues", Brian explains that his main guitar remains his original Thin Lizzy Sunburst Les Paul Deluxe, albeit re-fretted (from wear) and with rare and highly desirable original 1959 Gibson Seth Lover PAF Humbucker pickups fitted roughly by his guitar technician. The pickups are sans the normal German-silver pick-up covers, a popular modification. The worn, bracelet scarred and character-rich guitar features throughout the aforementioned video. [Image of Robbo with his main guitar]
Other guitars seen played by Brian Robertson include a black Fender Stratocaster (Dedication video), 1970's Kramer aluminium neck guitar(Dedication video), red Les Paul with trapeze bridge and soap bar pick ups [Cover of "Still in Love with you video"]. Alan Byrne's book [P56] quotes Brian as "playing an SG Junior" at the time of Scott Gorham's Thin Lizzy audition.
[Brian's Thin Lizzy era rig] is documented on the GuitarGeek.com website. Although strongly associated with British Marshall amplifiers (100 watt non-Master Volume Superlead heads & 25W Celestion Greenback speakers), Brian has been known to use Mesa Boogie (100W Dual Rectifier head) and [Soundman] amplifiers. Brian's original wah-pedal is famously a UK made Colorsound (rather than the CryBaby or Vox, which were more expensive at the time), although he sometimes used a Cry Baby wah wah in the 1990s and a borrowed Vox Wah in the "Still in Love with the Blues" video. Partly because of Brian, the Colorsound wah-pedal is now rare and soughtt after.
Brian's use of the WEM Copycat tape echo unit was later replaced by a modern rack mounted digital delay unit. http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/bios/Robbo.shtml features a picture of Brian with his Black Les Paul custom and mentions he experimented with "Boss Analog Chorus Delay, an MXR Pitch Transposer, Yamaha analog delays, and MXR 32 band Graphic EQ" during his Motorhead days. Famous record producer Tony Visconti mentions on his official website [ref. http://www.tonyvisconti.com/artists/thinlizzy/bad.htm] that for the track "Killer Without A Cause" "... Robertson plays guitar through the strange voice box, the simple gizmo that Peter Frampton made famous on his successful live album. "
A profile of Brian is featured on the official Thin Lizzy website at http://www.thinlizzylive.com/profile.php?m=3.
Notes
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