You’ve got some great collaborations on this record, starting with my favourite track ‘Rise and Grind’. How did that collaboration with Charlie Starr come about?
That song is something I’m really proud of and the really heavy riff and the kind of Northern Soul Vibe and then it goes into almost like a Stealers Wheel type kind of thing. It just shouldn’t work and I remember when it I played it to Keith Nelson in the studio, he said “I hope it’s gonna work”. He bought into it, he said “oh, I get it”. This is what we need to do. Obviously, Charlie Starr is on there, that’s just the icing on the cake. Very innovative. That’s all Keith doing. Keith is really good friends with him and has written a couple of songs with him. I’ve developed a friendship with Charlie over text. Still haven’t met the man but we just sent him the track and he just fired it back with amazing wild guitar stuff on it. That is one of the good things about technology that you don’t need to be in the studio when geography is separating you. Charlie’s down in Atlanta.
The press release said “There comes a time in everyone’s life when the game is afoot, and the decision is taken to face down and exorcise personal demons.” How did you do that with this record?
Sometimes I don’t want to let people in too much, you know? This time, I just thought, you know what, let’s put it all out there and let people make up their minds. It was a little bit cathartic for me, with the pandemic that we’d all been through and going through that and health issues, giving up drinking and all that kind of stuff is a lot of change that’s going on in my life. I think I just wanted to write about. If I didn’t put it in a song I would put it in a diary. I quit drinking. I’m three years off drink next week. It was a revelation for me and I lost weight. I’m 20 odd pounds lighter, I stepped up my exercise regime and started eating healthy. I think differently about a few things as well and worry about some stuff less than I used to. Stuff I can’t control. I think that’s just really paid off and just doing a bit of work myself and realising, you know, there’s more room behind you than there is in front of you, so what are you going to do with what’s in front of you and how are you going to navigate it. How do you want to go down that road, realising that and make a few adjustments.
Another collaboration was with Lita Ford…
Oh, that was brilliant. That was just one of those things that was meant to be. That was the first song we’d written after “When Life was Hard and Fast?” We did a demo of it and it was just me singing, and I kept listening to the demo and I thought “I’m hearing this as a duet, this needs to be a duet”. There was a girl called Siobhan Kelly who’s actually on the album. She’s great. I wanted a known female, like Joan Jet, Chrissy Hind or Lita Ford, a really strong female rock and roll and singer to sing this. So I was thinking about it and we’re getting close to recording the album, and my manager called up. He said he had just picked up Lita Ford, and I was like “No fucking way! I’ve got this song. You’ve got to get her.” So he sent my song to Lita and she got straight back and said she loved it, and thankfully she knew who I was and said, “This is killer, I want to sing on it.” She came down to LA and came in the studio and did it there, and Just killed it. She’s just the real deal. She’s so cool. She’s funny. Everything that she does.
I enjoyed the boxing ring video you made together…
She brought so much energy to the video. It was a boiling hot day in a boxing gym in downtown Phoenix. No air conditioning. No nothing. She didn’t complain once and she had ideas for the video, she’s like, “hit me at the end with the boxing glove”! That was all her idea. She was so invested in it, which was just lovely. I had the best time hanging out with her. She drove herself there in her truck, came in, and we just had the best day.
I’m looking forward to seeing her in Sweden this summer.
I saw her at The Whisky about six or seven weeks ago and she’s brilliant. She’s got a four-piece band. They’re all really good players, really tight and put on a great show.
The last collaboration I wanted to ask you about is Billy Duffy.
It was kind of a no brainer. I’ve wanted Billy to play on something for years but he’s always being on tour. It just happened to work out, it’s phenomenal, and he’s good mates with Keith as well so the three of us would hang out.
Is the “Ginger Jesus” speech on the record by you?
No, but I wrote the poem about a character in a housing scheme in Scotland. He was a local drug dealer and he’s not a stranger to Jesus. When I came up with the lyrics I thought it would be a perfect gateway into the song. I thought about doing it, I can do a Scottish accent pretty good because I lived there for long enough, but I went with somebody that can really capture the essence of it. I have a really good friend who’s actually the bass player in the band (sic) that I was in for a little while, he’s not Scottish at all, he’s full on Dubliner but he’s one of these people that’s brilliant at doing accents. His dad is Scottish so it’s a connection. He sent me about eight different versions of Scottish accents of him doing it and I chose that one because it was the best one.
How did the filming come about in George Best’s childhood home for “The Crickets Stayed in Clovis”?
It was written with Sam Robinson who I’ve worked with before. A great artist in Belfast, he’s a playwright author. One of my closest friends and he’s just Mr. Belfast. He knows everybody and when we went to do the video, I worked with a TV company that I shot some stuff with the BBC for a few years ago which is all about Scots taking music to America. Sam had access to George Best’s house and we got to spend the day in there. We also shot in the Sanctuary Theatre in East Belfast which is a brilliant venue, and then up in the hills in the snow. We had a great time making a video.
Which song was the trickiest to put together and took the longest? And then after that would be the adverse.
Good question! None of them were overtly hard because Keith and I are quite meticulous about doing demos. We never really leave anything to chance, we have a good idea of what we’re going to do when we get into the studio, so I don’t feel like we laboured over anything. “Rise N Grind” probably, because there are so many different vibes in that song and because it is really heavy. The easiest was probably “Crocodile Tears” because it’s just one of those songs that writes itself. It’s a real simple song to play. Ben Christo, who’s actually playing guitar with me tonight in The Fighting Hearts and Sisters of Mercy (and ex-Ghost!) came up with a great little guitar hook that goes through that and took it to another level.
You are supporting Stiff Little Fingers tonight. What do they mean to you?
They mean so much to me and it’s funny because they’re such good friends now. But that can never erase that 14-year-old me of absorbing everything and anything that they did when I was a kid. I was obsessed and they are the reason that I do what I do. The reason why I play guitar and the way I write songs. It’s such a huge influence on me and the fact I’ve got to know them over the years, I’ve got to tour with them, they’ve been so good to me over the last few years, taking me out into the States last year, which was just fantastic.
What comes next for Ricky Warwick?
After this tour we will promote this record for as long as we possibly can. I’m already talking to Keith about getting into the studio to do the next one next February. I’m enjoying the freedom. The Almighty are doing some stuff as well, which is great, so there’s plenty going on.
Text & photo: Anne-Marie Forker
Originally published i Norway Rock Magazine #1/2025
