Mick Burgess recently caught up with THIN LIZZY guitarist John Sykes for Metal Express Radio. Following is a portion of the chat:

Q: Which songs do find the most challenging and enjoyable to play?

Sykes: "You know they’re all great songs to play. With me singing the songs as well it took me a while to get into the swing of it. Phil sang across the beat a lot and I obviously have to play on the beat with the guitar so it gets interesting and you have to split your brain for singing mode and guitar playing mode."

Q: Did singing in BLUE MURDER spur you on to do more lead vocals?

Sykes: "Yeah, I never really wanted to be a singer, but I sang some backing vocals and I actually did the lead vocals on the original Blue Murder demos. Our A&R; man in America, John Kalodner, had been sitting in on the sessions and also during the auditions for singers, and he just said that I had been singing better than anyone who’d come in for the auditions and said I’d have to sing it. It was a hell of a load for me as it’s one thing singing in the studio, but live is something totally different. It took me a couple of months to practice just to be able to get the syncopation between the vocals and the guitar, and that’s basically how I got into singing. One thing lead to another and here we are today."

Q: Phil Lynott had such a unique style, totally unlike anybody else. Was that difficult for you to master?

Sykes: When I joined Lizzy I spent a lot of time with Phil, he was one of my heroes and I loved the guy and spent time working with him in the studio and got his phrasing sussed ... so I think it’s close to his style, but obviously it’s not Phil and it could never be that, but it’s probably as close as you’re going to get."

Go to this location for the complete interview.