Keeping Himself Lizzy
As sticksman-in-chief in Thin Lizzy, Brian Downey bashed the biscuit tin on some of the greatest rock songs of all time, among them ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ and ‘Jailbreak’. With the reformed Lizzy on the way to Dublin, he discusses the band’s formative years and shares some of his favourite drummer tips.
Peter Murphy, 07 Feb 2011
One of the most admired hard rock drummers of all time, Dubliner Brian Downey is renowned for his versatility. Delicate and light-fingered on ballads like 'Still In Love With You' and 'The Sun Goes Down', economic and precise on 'Waiting For An Alibi' and 'Jailbreak', he's also one of the few players of his ilk who possesses an exquisite swing, tossing deft, almost jazzy fills into tunes like 'The Boys Are Back In Town'. And of course, set pieces like 'Emerald' and 'Sha-Na-Na' display ferocious power. Downey is currently on Thin Lizzy reformation tour, which features Ricky Warwick deputising for the late Phil Lynott. Does he remember his first drum kit?
“I do indeed,” he says. “I was pestering my parents for about a year after I heard Elvis Presley, Billy Fury, Cliff Richard, The Shadows, Hank Williams, stuff like that. My father was a drummer himself. He was playing in the Harold's Cross Pipe Band before he got married and had me. There were always snare drums and bass drums around the house for me to bash on. I woke up one Christmas morning at the age of 10 or 11. There was a sparkling new kit in my sitting room, an Olympic kit which consisted of bass drum, snare, and a sixteen inch cymbal, bought from this hire purchase company, Cavendish's on Grafton Street. I had been for some lessons with the Fintan Lawlor Pipe Band, so I had a couple of years' tuition behind me.”
Tough question, but who's his favourite drummer?
“I love Elvin Jones and Max Roach. And you have to include Buddy Rich. In the rock thing Billy Cobham and Vinnie Colaiuta. I just saw Vinnie playing with Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott's on the TV. He did a great version of a Billy Cobham track, 'Spectrum'. And Neal Peart from Rush is a superb drummer, unbelievable.”
Working as part of the Lizzy rhythm section with Phil Lynott, Downey says, required a minimalist's discipline.
“When Phil was singing and playing it was nearly impossible for it to become complicated,” he recalls. “Phil wouldn't be over enthusiastic about playing bass solos, though he did lots of runs, and that suited me down to the ground. He had a huge drive in his bass playing, a technique that people have obviously copied over the years, I hear it a lot now, this very straightforward eight-beats-to-the-bar rhythm. He used a pick and his internal timing was very good, his right hand was very strict. Not blowing my own trumpet here, but I thought the rhythm section in Lizzy was second to none."
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