Interview with Ian 'Speedo' Wilson - by Davey Murphy

Ian, Tell us a bit about yourself, what projects have you been involved with outside of the whole Thin Lizzy Experience?

I have been playing with Flash Harry (a tribute to Queen) for the past 10 years. Before that I played in bands such as Riff Raff, Emerald, Sweet Savage.

Sweet Savage are my main connection to Thin Lizzy, as SS supported TL on the British & Irish legs of the Renegade tour in 1981/82 for 3 months. It was undoubtedly the best time of my life.

At the moment I’m trying to finish a solo album, which is slowly edging it’s way along.

You've played in various line ups playing Thin Lizzy's music for quite a while now, when did you start? What inspired you? And from last Friday's performance how do you keep it so fresh?

I only resurrect the TL show every few years or so, Philip Lynott is my all time hero & I love his music so much that I would never want to gig it to death, although at the same time I’d like to do a lot more.

There seems to be a huge resurgence of interest in Philip’s music, and now could possibly be the right time for more frequent concerts.

I say ‘concerts’ because, as in Flash Harry, I believe that the whole show should be as huge a spectacle as possible, with a massive P.A. etc. This is another reason why the band has been limited gig-wise for obvious reasons. I’m hopeful this will change.

You guys were amazingly tight on Friday how long has this current line up been playing together? I caught you playing at the Belfast Empire in 2002, any of that band in the current line up?

Willie Byrne and myself are the only 2 consistent members of the band (TINN LIZZY). We have had different members changing all the time. There is no reason for this, It’s usually whoever is the flavour of the month at gig time.

This line-up was by far the best ever. In saying that it was Julian Watson’s (Drums) first TL gig and we met Johnny Conlon on the day of the gig for the first time.

There were actually no rehearsals ............. swear to god!!!!

I met Johnny on the day of the gig at 2.30. We then did a live radio show at 5.00 where we played ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ ............ the band sound checked from 6.00 to 7.00 and were onstage at around 10.30.

So you could say the line up had been together for 8 hours before the gig!!

A lot of Rock Legend's members are really curious how you got to working with Johnny Conlon (of Thin AZ Lizzy) can you tell us a bit about that and about the other band members?

I simply found out Johnny’s phone number & phoned him. That’s it .......... Being the fantastic person he is, and knowing the gig was for the statue fund, Johnny had no problems agreeing to the gig. I must say how impressed I was by his musicianship & from the charisma the guy exudes, truly awesome!! Just like Philip in many ways.

Willie Byrne & I grew up together & have been TL fans since we heard the Vagabonds album. We learned much of our playing by listening to TL.

Willie does his solo band thing around Belfast & has played with Peter Becket, Clouds, etc. He played support to Philip’s solo band.

Julian Watson is my favourite drummer I have ever met in person. He puts life into the songs, his high energy drumming style suits the band to perfection. Julian played in Clouds and has been in several bands with me. Emerald, Riff Raff.

I don’t need to tell you anything about Johnny ..............

You seem to be a dedicated Strat man, which is strange considering Thin Lizzy were (excluding Eric Bell) were almost exclusively a Les Paul outfit, what gear do you use to achieve that great sound?

I don’t like Les Paul’s coz they are far too expensive, bulky, heavy & awkward to play, they all sound the same too! I know I’ll get slated for saying that. But that’s what I know.

Strat’s on the other hand are light, streamlined, and very comfortable to play. They can be customised to get any sound you want by changing pick-ups. They are expressive & relatively cheap as well.

I know it is possible to change pick-ups in a Les Paul, but given that you’re gonna pay around £2,000 for a Les Paul sound, it’s sort of defeating the purpose.

I use a Ritchie Blackmore signature model Strat, with a scalloped fretboard and have Fender Vintage Noiseless Pick-ups installed. These pickups give me that Strat sound without the noise ........ I would recommend them to anyone.

I have been using Marshall amps for the past 20 years or so & have got rid of them primarily because of the reliability factor. I was frying them consistently and had to have 2 amps on the road with me at all times. A Marshall amp was lasting me for around 20 gigs max. This is because (as I’m told) I use a very high gain and relatively low input . I thought to my self, feck this, I need something better. Then as luck would have it, the feckin Marshall ’s both went down in the same week & I’d to play in the Royal Albert Hall with Flash Harry. The good people from the Belfast Guitar Emporium lent me an ENGL amp, and I have not looked back since.

Simply put, ENGL are the best amps I have ever heard in my life, far superior sound quality & their reliability stats are awesome (1 every 5,000 defective, I’m told)

Have you met any the Thin Lizzy Members and what was your experience of them?

I met the Thin Lizzy line-up of Scott, Snowy, Brian & Philip while on tour with them for 3 months. They were fantastically friendly, always offering advice and assistance.

Philip in particular could not have been more helpful, giving me advice on everything from how to use the stage properly to publicity ideas ........ He was charming, friendly, kool, and  PHILIP LYNOTT ............ I was only 20 at the time & used to get very nervous when he was there, such was (and still is) my esteem for the man. There was no reason for this, but when you are in the presence of your idol ..........

I have often heard the phrase ‘Never meet  your idol ........ coz you’ll be disappointed’

I can state with total conviction that in this case it was totally untrue. He was even more awesome ........ When he walked into a room ...... everyone knew it ..... even if your back was turned, you would sense his presence ......... Now that’s charisma!!!!

Scott was really funny, that surprised me, never expected him to be like that. His guitar playing at the time was truly awesome ...... He occasionally stood at the side of the stage when we were playing (at my side) and watch us, it used to put me off big style.

Brian was so down to earth and I chatted to him frequently, he knew a lot of the old musicians from Belfast and used to tell me the antics they all got up to, Thin Lizzy have always had a connection with Belfast & it was great hearing the tales about Rory Gallagher, Jim Armstrong, Gary Moore etc. and the venues they all played in Belfast.

I liked Brian a lot.

What do you think of Gorham/Sykes touring as Thin Lizzy?

I have no desire to see the Gorham/Sykes line-up, it just has no appeal for me.

This is coz to me Philip Lynott is/was Thin Lizzy........ end of story.

He wrote, directed, presented & starred in that show.

The Set on Friday seemed to be centred around the Classic "Live and Dangerous" with a few excursions into some of the other albums. Do you intend to expand the set into some of the earlier or later albums?

As I mentioned above, we had no time to get a set together properly, and this was a set that could be put together easier.

I like the Gorham/Robertson & Gorham/Moore line-ups the best. These periods seemed to me to be Philip’s most creative periods. Some of the later stuff is great as well but I’m not so keen on the last album, as some of the guitar playing is too heavy metal for my taste.

Here are some of the songs we will be covering later: