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When Irish bassist Brush Shiels looks back on his \u201960s-\u201970s blues rock band, he insists: \u201cIn Ireland, there\u2019s a reason that more people copy Thin Lizzy than Skid Row \u2013 you can\u2019t copy Skid Row.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group, which featured a teenage Gary Moore, aimed to take hard blues and push it into the stratosphere. \u201cWe were all ready to become millionaires,\u201d Shiels laughs. \u201cThen Gary left, and I had to come home and go on the dole.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds: \u201cWe were fairly frenetic, to say the least. We pushed hard and played with complete abandonment. We used what we used to call \u2018controlled freedom\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after Skid Row released two critically acclaimed and highly influential albums \u2013 Skid (1970) and 34 Hours (1971) \u2013 they secured opening slots with The Allman Brothers and Mountain. Even though Moore went solo in 1971, he and Shiels remained close.<\/p>\n
\u201cGary would call me and say things like, \u2018What was I thinking when I played that solo?\u2019 I\u2019d say, \u2018Gary you were a young boy; the world was your oyster and you could play anything with so much confidence.\u2019 It was his imagination running wild. The energy was everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notoriously, American hair metal group Skid Row borrowed the band\u2019s name in the \u201980s. Better forms of compliments have come from Iron Maiden, Metallica and others. \u201cWe\u2019ve influenced a lot of bands,\u201d Shiels agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had 10 lads in the band and all 10 are gone. I\u2019m 80 in October; I\u2019m the last man standing, which is a very lonely place to be. But I\u2019ve played with so many great musicians, all of whom have their own stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
How did you first meet Gary Moore?<\/p>\n
\u201cPhil Lynott was the original lead vocalist, then he went to form Thin Lizzy. We found Gary when he was just 15. His father, Robert, was 36; he asked me to look after Gary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Could you tell Gary was going to be great?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was great at that age; it was unbelievable. He took the gig and never looked back; as soon as he came in, that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was the vision for Skid Row once Gary was in the band?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were looking for a cross between Cream and Jimi Hendrix. But some of the first songs that Gary and I wrote were actually based on Dave Brubeck\u2019s Take Five \u2013 the semi-jazz-blues thing. Then after that it was all riffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
What gear did you use on Skid and 34 Hours?<\/p>\n
\u201cGary always wanted to play the Gibson Les Paul<\/a>, but he could get a sound out of anything. He had a Fender Telecaster<\/a>; he could just plug it in and go. When we came to America, our gear was supplied by Fender, but Gary always had Gibsons. I had maybe some 4x12s, and whatever amps I could get.\u201d<\/p>\n Those two albums are well-regarded, but lack production value. Were you strapped for time and money?<\/p>\n \u201cThe funny thing about Skid \u2013 and the reason it sounds so bad \u2013 is that our manager, who also managed Fleetwood Mac, told us that Peter Green was producing the album. So we went in to try a few things before he got there and played everything we had.<\/p>\n Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we\u2019re still waiting on Peter Green \u2013 he never showed up! So we took what we\u2019d done and that\u2019s the album. Everything was done with a lot of improvising; we had an awful lot of energy. That was the most important thing. We were slow with 34 Hours; it took us 34 hours!\u201d<\/p>\n Skid Row had a major label deal with CBS and were coming off supporting slots with The Allman Brothers and Mountain. Why did Gary leave?<\/p>\n \u201cHe thought we were getting too simple. He was playing great, doing some incredible stuff \u2013 but he said, \u2018We\u2019re getting too far away from what we should be doing.\u2019<\/p>\n I\u2019m not going to sue \u2026 They\u2019re getting so little for their gigs that they\u2019ll be the ruin of my lifestyle!<\/p>\n \u201cBut we were the best of friends. For a couple of years he wasn\u2019t saying too much, but a little bit further down the line he rang me up and said he was having terrible trouble with his back. I sent him to a friend of mine who could get his back right. I never fell out with anybody who was ever in the band.\u201d<\/p>\n Were you able to jam with Gary again?<\/p>\n \u201cWe got together for a half-hour set at a pub in Capel Street in Dublin. For some reason, he wanted to meet and sing Need Your Love So Bad, the Peter Green thing. It was alright, but we didn\u2019t play any Skid Row. I said, \u2018Is our stuff too fast for you, Gary?!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Notoriously, the American band Skid Row started using the name in the \u201980s. The rumor was that Gary sold them the name for $35,000. What are your thoughts on that?<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the worst thing I\u2019d ever heard. Gary rang and said, \u2018Jon Bon Jovi is managing this band with Richie Sambora and Doc McGee. They\u2019d love to use our name.\u2019 They thought it was Gary\u2019s band, but he wasn\u2019t even there when it started! Gary said, \u2018Jon Bon Jovi should be ringing you.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI saw the best lawyer in Dublin. I can\u2019t get into it. But there\u2019s some very funny stories about me going to look for Jon Bon Jovi when he came over. It kind of turned into a mythological thing, where I went to look for him when he was playing and asked him about why he stole the name. But all I wanted was an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n In Ireland we\u2019re still Skid Row. It actually suits me that I can say they stole the name<\/p>\n Did anyone from the American Skid Row ever apologise?<\/p>\n \u201cThey couldn\u2019t, because the two guys \u2013 Snake Sabo and Rachel Bolan \u2013 were too busy telling people they\u2019d thought of the name. But at this stage I\u2019m not going to sue them. They\u2019re getting so little for their gigs that they\u2019ll be the ruin of my lifestyle!<\/p>\n \u201cI do talk to Sebastian Bach every so often; you know, the guy they let go. He said they told them they\u2019d given Gary $35,000 for the name. I said, \u2018No such thing ever happened. They must have taken the $35,000 and split it between the two of them!\u2019<\/p>\n Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cGary Moore never in a million years would have done that. He wouldn\u2019t have been able to anyway. And in Ireland we\u2019re still Skid Row. It actually suits me that I can say they stole the name. I\u2019ve always said it and nobody has ever come back to me. All I want is an apology from Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, it must be gratifying that they \u2013 along with many other groups \u2013 were listening to and influenced by Skid Row.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can find photographs of Iron Maiden holding Skid. You can hear lads who won Grammys, like Metallica, say we were a big influence. People have contacted me when they\u2019re trying to play the licks, to work out what we were doing. It\u2019s a great compliment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe energy we had and the style we played came from Cream and Jimi Hendrix \u2013 but we added to it. We disappeared off the face of the Earth, and somebody else took up our name. But I\u2019m happy enough.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that they stole our name means that Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora must have been listening to our records. But the main reason people know us is Gary Moore, and that doesn\u2019t bother me at all. I\u2019m proud to say that we\u2019ve influenced a lot of people, that we started Gary Moore off; the great player that he already was when he arrived at 15.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,6132,134,6130,6133,136,6135,6134,6131],"class_list":{"0":"post-4352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-brush-shiels","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-gary-moore","13":"tag-jon-bon-jovi","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-peter-green","16":"tag-richie-sambora","17":"tag-skid-row"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Brush](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/a74a44943eca380fb8d82b9a92c4009d.jpeg\"\/)
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