Long time Zildjian Artist, Brian Downey of legendary rockers ‘Thin Lizzy’, recently called into the X-Music store in his home town of Dublin, Ireland for a signing session that drew one of the biggest crowds the store has seen.
Zildjian Artist Graham Hopkins (The Swell Season, The Frames) went along to speak to Brian, who is currently on a European Tour.
Graham says: “Brian Downey from Thin Lizzy is a seminal icon the world over, but nowhere more so than where he was born and bred... in Dublin, Ireland. Being back on home turf, it was a real treat for both the man himself as well as his fans to be able to spend time talking and signing autographs. Hundreds turned out for the chance to meet the original member of Thin Lizzy. I had a good chat with him that went far beyond the world of drums!
Brian has been a big inspiration on my drumming. We've had a few good nights out over the years and then to see such a turnout of drummers, just to meet Brian, was a very special moment for all.
We chatted about Brian being the king of the shuffle with songs like "The Boys are Back in Town", "Dancing in the Moonlight", "Don't Believe a Word" and many, many more. Brian takes it very modestly and tells me about his musical upbringing in Ireland playing in pipe-bands.
From a young age Brian started drumming along with blues shuffle based music, which he found very influential on his playing. This meant so much to the overall sound of Thin Lizzy throughout the years, along with the lead-guitar harmonies of which they are famous for. Brian also supported songs fantastically with his dynamic mellow drumming, on songs like "Sarah" and "Still In Love With You". Plus of course Brian played on several infamous songs with thunderous drums solos, such as "Bad Reputation" and "Sha La La".
Thin Lizzy disbanded in 1984 and lead-singer/bass player Phil Lynott sadly passed in 1986. The band reformed a couple of times in his memory since. Back in May 2010 Brian rejoined Thin Lizzy and since then the band has continued to tour, which Brian very much enjoys. His current cymbal set-up for this tour is:
Brian Downey's Cymbal set up:
13" K HiHats
18" A Medium Thin Crash
16" A Medium Thin Crash
12" K Splash
16 " K Custom Hybrid Crash
22" K Medium Ride
18" K Dark Medium Thin Crash
18" A China High
When we were chatting about Zildjian Cymbals, Brian said; "I remember starting off using Zyns, then I went on to Super Zyns, then I eventually ended up using Zildjian cymbals; everybody was using Zildjian at the time. A guy came to a few of the gigs to see if I wanted a different cymbal endorsement, but I was using Zildjian then and I didn’t want to change”.
Many thanks to Graham Hopkins (pictured right) for catching up with Brian. For the Thin Lizzy tour dates check out:
www.thinlizzyband.com