Metal Express Radio recently caught up with drummer Brian Downey to talk about his new band Alive And Dangerous - currently touring to celebrate the music of Thin Lizzy - and to look back on Thin Lizzy's legacy. An excerpt is available below.

MER: Gary Moore was a bit part but very important part of Thin Lizzy over the years being around at the very start and stepping in a couple of times over the years and recording Black Rose.  Do you ever wonder how things might have worked out for him if he`d had a decent run in the band?

Downey: "I do think that if Gary had stayed in the band we`d have been more popular, particularly in America. He had given the impression that he was happy with the band and happy with the music. He was having difficulties with Phil. There were tensions there but they were old friends from back in the Skid Row days. I think Gary was one of those guys that didn`t accept Phil as the leader of the band and they clashed over that and I think that`s why Gary walked during the American tour."

MER: Why did you go for Midge Ure to fill for the tour. You must have had a queue of guitarists you could have called on?

Downey: "We didn`t have a selection of guitars players to choose from. We needed someone in within a couple of days. We had to cancel four or five shows to accommodate the fact that Gary had walked so we had to get someone in quickly. Midge was a friend of ours who knew the songs, so it was easier for us to bring him in. That`s why we called Midge and no one else. He did a great job for us but he ended up going back to Utravox. I actually don`t know if he was asked to stay on but he was great when he was with us."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

2018 celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous album. Although the album was recorded live in 1977 at London’s Hammersmith Apollo and Toronto’s Seneca College, it wasn’t officially released until a year later in 1978.

Says Brian, “After the Thin Lizzy reunion shows finished in 2013, I was asked to join, what turned out to be Black Star Riders, but it just didn’t feel right for me. In January 2016, following an appearance at the Vibe For Philo in Dublin, I approached Brian Grace and that’s when we discussed getting a band together. After a few rehearsals, Brian suggested that we rehearse with Matt Wilson (lead vocals, bass) and Phil Edgar (guitar), both of whom had been in a band called The Low Riders (their name was taken from a lyric from the Thin Lizzy song Johnny The Fox). In January 2017, we jammed together at the Vibe For Philo, and it went so well, that we decided to form Brian Downey’s Alive And Dangerous and make it a full time proposition.”