Dublin 2 – In search of Phil

I’d visited Dublin before – some fifteen years ago, if memory serves. I was there in a professional capacity, fronting the embryonic Oliver/Dawson Saxon, hot on the heels of their release “Victim You”, under their original name of Son of a Bitch. We were playing at the Temple Bar Music Centre, right in the middle of the district of the same name name. The gig was amazing I remember, and as we left through the stage door at the end of the night, I recall seeing people hanging over balconies, spilling out onto the street from bars, just having a great time. But we were not long there, and couldn’t spend a long time in the city, as we had to head across country to play Galway Bay.

Cut to last week, and my visit to Ireland’s capital is much more leisurely. This time, I intended to visit the grave of one of my major musical influences: Philip Lynott.  I needed to pay my respects to a man who was such a hero to me as I was growing up and discovering I wanted to be a musician, moreover, that I wanted to be a bass player/lead singer like him.  I ‘met’ him….very briefly, as the embryonic twin guitar line up of Thin Lizzy were relaxing in the refectory of Derby College, back in the 70’s about to promote the ‘Nightlife’ album. ‘Met’ constituted a mumbled ‘hi’ from a tongue-tied awkward teenager, and a nod from the man himself, but it was good enough for me.

We found his grave on the promontory East of Dublin known as Howth. A strange sense of a circle being closed came upon me. Phil was one of a triumvirate of bassist/singers who had a profound impact on me becoming a professional musician. In the 90’s, I had the chance to impersonate him on the UK TV show ‘Stars in their Eyes’ , and some weeks later, I met Eric Bell, Lizzy’s original guitarist, who confided in me that he’d seen the show:

In the intervening years, I’ve travelled the world, played on some of the biggest stages, and now I found myself on this windy promontory kneeling at the graveside of one of the men who most certainly set me on the path I tread to this day.  As I write this, his bassline to ‘I’m gonna creep up on you’ is pulsing out of my speakers, as alive as can be….and I realize that his music is his heartbeat, and that will never be stilled.

Me and Phil: The corner of Grafton Street, Dublin 2013

Afterword:

While we stood by the grave, Miki asked if I wanted to leave a drawing, and promptly produced her drawing pad and pen. I left this little sketch on his gravestone. It’s said that his Mother, Philomena, visits everyday. I hope she finds it:

Kev Moore