page_title: Black Star Riders
section_title: Touring and The Killer Instinct
hierarchical_section_title: Black Star Riders / Black Star Riders / Touring and The Killer Instinct
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Black Star Riders beim Wacken Open Air 2014
context_page_description: Black Star Riders is a hard rock band formed in December 2012. The band is fronted by Ricky Warwick, and features lead guitarist Scott Gorham, and bass guitarist Robbie Crane. Drummer and founding member Jimmy DeGrasso left the band in March 2017, and was replaced a few weeks later by Chad Szeliga. Another founding member, lead guitarist Damon Johnson, left the band at the end of 2018 to be replaced by Christian Martucci.
  Black Star Riders began when members of the most recent line-up of Thin Lizzy decided to record new material, but chose not to release it under the Thin Lizzy name. While Thin Lizzy continues on an occasional basis, Black Star Riders is a full-time band, described as "the next step in the evolution of the Thin Lizzy story". The band's first album, All Hell Breaks Loose, was released on May 21, 2013, and the follow-up album, The Killer Instinct was released on February 20, 2015. The band's third album, Heavy Fire, was released on February 3, 2017, and reached number six on the UK Albums Chart.
context_section_description: Appearances at festivals accompanied the album release in the summer of 2013, followed by a worldwide tour. In an interview in December 2012, Gorham confirmed that the new group would still pay homage to their Thin Lizzy origins: "Obviously because everybody knows where we came from and what we do, it is kind of a must. We will be playing most of the Black Star Riders album but I don't think we'd get away without playing a few Thin Lizzy songs."
  On 3 June 2013, Download Festival promoter Andy Copping announced via social networks that the band would replace Buckcherry at Download 2013.
  Black Star Riders played their first concert on 30 May 2013 at the Marshall Amps Theatre, Bletchley in Milton Keynes, and later appeared at the Hi Rock Festival in Germany on 1–2 June, followed by the Sweden Rock Festival on 8 June and Download on 15 June. Another festival date was played at Hard Rock Hell in North Wales on 29 November, coming during a run of 39 shows around Europe and the UK during October–December. In 2014, the band played 13 shows in the US during May, followed by three dates in Japan on 20–22 May, followed by 25 further shows in the US. The band then returned to Europe for 19 shows in the UK, Germany, Norway and Sweden in July and August.
  Recording for a second album was announced during late 2013, and on 27 January 2014, it was announced the band's second album would be recorded in Dublin in October, and would be produced by Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott. Elliott had previously worked on Ricky Warwick's solo albums, and also with Scott Gorham on archival Thin Lizzy releases. However, Elliott pulled out of the project in August due to conflicts with Def Leppard's schedule. He was quickly replaced by Nick Raskulinecz, and recording took place in Nashville, Tennessee in September. The album was released on 20 February 2015.
  On 30 May 2014, it was announced that Marco Mendoza would be leaving the band to pursue other projects. He officially left Black Star Riders after the end of the US tour on 22 June. His replacement is Robbie Crane, formerly of Ratt and Lynch Mob. Mendoza said, "I am sorry to be leaving the band but I feel it's time for me to pursue other avenues, some of which I have already been working with, all of which I am very excited about. I wish the guys all success in the future and I am very happy that my friend Robbie Crane will continue to blaze with BSR." Gorham and Warwick confirmed that the separation was amicable. In January 2015, Warwick recalled that Crane played "The Boys Are Back in Town" at his audition for the band, and Gorham had felt it had been the closest to the original since Phil Lynott had played it.
  On 21 November 2014, the second album was named as The Killer Instinct and would feature ten tracks. Johnson explained how producer Raskulinecz had examined all the songs the band had written prior to recording, and ensured that the band "focused on the material to best represent Black Star Riders in 2015." The album release was followed in March 2015 by a 14-date tour of the UK co-headlining with Europe, supported by The Amorettes.
  On 29 January 2015, it was announced by Planet Rock Radio that the Black Star Riders had been confirmed and would be appearing at Planet Rockstock in June in Marrakech, Morocco. In March 2015, a tour of the UK and Ireland with Def Leppard and Whitesnake was announced for December, preceded by a European tour in November.
caption: Black Star Riders performing at Wacken Open Air 2014.
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