Black Star Riders have demoed 16 songs for 'different sounding' fourth album
Black Star Riders have already demoed 16 songs for their fourth studio album, which they will begin recording in Los Angeles next month.
Speaking to Wyatt ahead of their Saturday night headline appearance at Rockstock, frontman Ricky Warwick and guitarist Scott Gorham said that with Christian Martucci set to join their ranks replacing the departing Damon Johnson, they’ve shook things up for the recording process.
“We got into the studio in January with the new boy Christian Martucci from Stone Sour who we’re absolutely delighted to have as part of our family,” said Ricky.
“We’ve already demoed 16 songs and we start with Jay Ruston producing the album and we’re going to record in LA, so it’s a change all round because obviously we used Nick Raskulinecz for the last two records, which was great.
“But just with Damon leaving and Christian coming in, Jay’s mixed the last two Black Star Riders albums, so we just thought let’s just do the whole thing in LA with Jay this time and Christian’s worked with him before in Stone Sour so there’s a relationship there. So, we’re excited.”
Scott added: “I think it’s going to be a little bit different sound this time around too. You can already tell from the demos and the different instrumentation. It’s going to be a little bit of a departure from what we’ve been doing – not a lot - but it’s going to be different.”
After six years and three studio albums, Damon Johnson announced he was departing Black Star Riders in September once the UK dates wrap up at Sheffield Corporation on Monday 3rd December. Deciding to focus on his solo career, Damon will, however, continue with Warwick Johnson and Thin Lizzy.
Commenting on Damon’s exit, Ricky said: “He’s always part of the family, right Scott, and we love him.”
Scott added: “We used to say when Marco (Mendoza) wanted to fly off, I tell everybody this is not a jail sentence. Y’know we do this thing and we have a lot of fun doing it and when it’s time to go, it’s time to go.” Â
Ricky adds: “You get to our age and everybody’s situation is different at home and you’ve got reasons and everybody has to adapt to that. Damon wants to go off and do his solo stuff and spend more time with his family and we totally respect that and wish him all the best.”
Scott continues: “We’re on the road all the time. When you’ve got kids it gets a little tough.”
Black Star Riders’ final tour dates with Damon Johnson are as follows:
DECEMBER 2018
Holmfirth Picturedrome – Sun 2nd
Sheffield Corporation – Mon 3rd