Sleazeroxx.com recently conducted an interview with THIN LIZZY and MOTÖRHEAD legend BRIAN ROBERTSON. In the interview Robertson talks about his body of work, his new album Diamonds And Dirt, his time in Motörhead, his thoughts on the resurrection of Thin Lizzy, and the passing of his friend GARY MOORE. Excerpts from the interview are below:

Sleaze Roxx: Brian, you will be releasing the first solo effort of your career, Diamonds And Dirt, later this month. What's taken so long in getting a solo effort out?

Brian Robertson: “Well, after Thin Lizzy I played in WILD HORSES and a lot of my original material went into those two albums. Then after that, as you know, I went on to play with Motorhead and we recorded Another Perfect Day which I wrote most of the music for. After Motorhead I went on to work with Frankie Miller for 10-15 years. I've been so busy working on other people's stuff that I didn't have time to concentrate on an album of my own.

It wasn't until we found a bag of cassette tape demos that I had been working on over the years. We drove to England to pick up all of my recording equipment and bring it back to Stockholm (Sweden). I came across a plastic bag that wasn't marked, but they were obviously demos. I stayed in England, but my friend Soren Lindberg was driving back through five countries so I gave the bag to him to listen to the tapes on his trip back. I thought, if nothing else, it would help break the journey up a bit. Soren got about half way through the trip when he called me from Denmark at some truck stop. He said, "Hey there's some really great shit on here." The next thing I know he's playing some of the tapes through his mobile phone and I started to remember some of the songs. Once I got back to Stockholm Soren and I sat down and listened to the tapes together. It was his idea to do the album... not mine. A lot of the stuff on the demos was written on keyboards, the next thing I needed to do was to transpose it onto guitar. So that's how it all started... you can credit Mr. Lindberg -- it's all his fault (laughs)!!”

Sleaze Roxx: Some of the musicians in your band might be familiar to North American audiences. You have Leif Sundin (formerly of MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP) on vocals and Ian Haugland (EUROPE) on drums -- how did they get involved?

Brian Robertson: “Let's start with Leif... I've toured with him before around Europe. I'm familiar with him and I wanted a bluesy singer - his voice is similar to Miller's but slightly quieter. I've known Ian for years and I'm very good friends with the guys in Europe. I'm very aware that his drumming skills aren't very well known because of the songs constructed in Europe. Ian has an incredible ear for music - not just drums, he listens to everything. I could have told Ian what to do, I play drums too as you know, but I can get caught up in telling people what I want to hear. I didn't do that on this album, I brought Ian and bassist Nalley (Pahlsson) in and showed them the arrangements and gave them an idea of what I wanted. I said to them, 'Do whatever the hell you feel sounds good in the song.' I didn't interfere... they went off and what I heard sounded brilliant. Let's be honest, those guys are an already made rhythm section.

The album has this family type atmosphere, we know each other pretty well and we don't have to say a whole lot. Then we have Liny (Wood) who I consider our second lead vocalist. It was weird how she got involved because I didn't know her. She was next door to us in the studio and she came in one day and asked if she could sit in the control room and listen. She loved what we were doing, what she didn't know is that I had been doing the same thing. I was listening to the music for her new album. I said to her, "I've got to be honest, I really like your album as well." So she sang on my album and in return I played guitar on hers -- no money exchanged hands. It was very much a family deal, and we are very much a family, which is just cool because there are no arguments. Everybody got a chance to showcase their own talents on this album.”

Read the entire interview at this location

NoiseCreep is currently streaming the track ‘Diamonds And Dirt’ Online at this location.

Robertson’s first solo album entitled ‘Diamonds And Dirt’ will be released via Steamhammer/SPV on the following dates

March

28 - Europe
25 - Germany

April

5 - USA/Canada

Tracklisting:

'Diamonds And Dirt'

'Passion'

'It's Only Money'

'Mail Box'

'Running Back'

'Texas Wind'

'Devil In My Soul'

'Do It Till We Drop (Drop It)'

'Blues Boy'

'That's All...!'

'10 Miles To Go On A 9 Mile' Road

'Running Back'

'Ain't Got No Money' (bonus track)

Produced by Chris Laney, Sören Lindberg and Brian Robertson except for 'Ain't Got No Money', produced by Sören Lindberg and Brian Robertson

Lineup:

- Brian Robertson - All guitars, lead and backing vocals, keyboards (bass and percussion on 'Ain't Got No Money') (Ex-Thin Lizzy, ex-Motörhead, ex-Wild Horses)
- Ian Haugland - drums and percussion (drummer, Europe)
- Nalley Påhlsson - bass & backing vocals (bassist, THERION and Treat)
- Leif Sundin - lead vocals (ex-MSG)
- Liny Wood - backing vocals
- Rickard Jakobson - percussion
- Chris Antblad - piano on 'Running Back'
- Ola Gustafsson - dobro on 'Running Back' (slow version only)
- Rob Lamothe - lead vocals on 'Ain't Got No Money' (Riverdogs)
- Ellinor Alm - backing vocals on 'Ain't Got No Money'
- Håkan Persson - drums on 'Ain't Got No Money'