Eric Bell talks Whiskey in the Jar, ‘crummy’ show bands, and his rise to the top
To make it in the music business, you may have to play music you don’t want to play and take a few
risks, and even then there’s no guarantee that anything will happen, guitarist Eric Bell tells Jessica
Thompson.
A founding member of Thin Lizzy, and a musical legend for decades, Eric Bell has seen his fair share
of the music industry and is showing no signs of stopping yet. In fact, he’s still touring around the
world and will gig in Galway on 25 June.
“I haven’t played in Galway for quite a while. The last time I was in Galway, I couldn’t believe it. It
was very bohemian – completely changed from the days I played there with the Dreams show
band,” Eric recalls, referring to the show band he played with early in his career.
“It used to be a real country sort of place, you know? And the last time I played there it was… not
hippies, but a lot of sort of bohemian-type people all over the place – I couldn’t believe it! It was
Ireland keeping up with the rest of the world.”
Eric has been lucky enough to experience a great deal of success around the world, working with a
large number of well-known musicians including Van Morrison, Bo Diddley and Noel Redding of the
Jimi Hendrix Experience, to name a few.
But, he says, the highlight of his career was obviously Thin Lizzy and the hit record ‘Whiskey in the
Jar’, which is still one of the most popular tunes to come out of Ireland.
“It was a very strange thing that, because we didn’t realise it was going to become a hit. We wanted
to release Black Boys on the Corner as the A-side and Whiskey in the Jar as a B-side,” says Eric.
“But everyone that got the record – all the DJs who got the record kept on playing Whiskey in the Jar
and it started taking off and became a hit. And we were on Top of the Pops and all the rest of it, and
I think in a way we took it for granted that it was this easy to get a hit, which it isn’t. It’s just one of
those flukes.”
Fluke or no fluke, Whiskey in the Jar is one of the first tunes that come to mind when one thinks of
Thin Lizzy. The band had plenty of other hits, but that one seems to stand out from all the rest in
Eric’s mind.
“And we all had a sort of love/hate relationship with it. We loved it for about three months and we
hated it for about three months and then we loved it again for three months. I’ve been living with
that record since 1973, which is a long time. And every time I hear it now, I’m actually quite proud of
the way we did it, you know?”
He’s so proud, in fact, that he’ll be playing it at his gig in Monroe’s Live later in the month, if there’s
enough demand for it. He’ll also be playing some blues and some of the early rock “done in a certain
way”, as well as some originals.
Since leaving Thin Lizzy, Eric has had many musical adventures, some of which are still ongoing; “In
fact, in a few weeks I might start recording an album over in England and playing some good gigs.
I’ve got a few things lined up and I might be doing a small tour in Sweden. So there’s bits and pieces
that come in and if it’s the right place, then great.”
That’s one of the problems with being a musician, he says. Sometimes you can have a gig lined up,
but it could be the wrong venue for you.
“Sometimes you can get booked into various clubs anywhere in the world, but you’re the wrong
band, which is a bit of a drag. Sometimes you can get booked into a Discotheque and they’re
expecting ABBA or something like this and then I walk on and I shouldn’t really be there; I should be
in a Blues club or something, you know?
“So, saying that, you have to sort of pick and choose whenever work comes in. Even ask the
promoter what bands go down well here. That even happened with Thin Lizzy. We used to do tours
in Germany and we’d end up in these wine bars with these couples sitting at tables with bottles of
wine and we’re blowing the place up. That can happen.”
You also have to take a lot of risks, he says, and in the end, there’s no guarantee of success; you just
have to find out what you really want to do and then just do it. When he was young, Eric had
“romantic notions” of being a veterinary surgeon or a newspaper reporter, but he “had no chance
because you needed some education for things like that and I got the 11 Plus and that was it”.
So Eric worked as a motor mechanic in Belfast and started practicing guitar at night before joining
various show bands; “It wasn’t very easy, playing with these really crummy show bands and I had to
play this crap for years,” he says.
“But looking back on it, it was a really great experience as well. And it’s strange because some of the
musicians in the show bands are very, very good but you have to play a certain style of music and I’d
just had enough of it and I got out. And I got very lucky meeting Philip [Lynott] and Brian [Downey].”
Now, many years later, Eric is still going with his solo adventures and looks forward coming to
Galway, where he will play for one night in Monroe’s Live.
“Monroe’s is one of my favourite names, after Marylyn. They don’t make them like that anymore,”
he laughs.
Eric Bell will play Monroe’s Live on Thursday 25 June, 2015. Doors open 9pm, tickets cost €15/€10 online. For more information, see www.monroes.ie.
