Pat Travers discussed his experience with Thin Lizzy and how he nearly became their guitarist. During an interview with Louder Sound, the guitarist revealed the incident that brought him close to being part of the band.
It seems like he was already friends with the band before. The guitarist recalled their friendship and explained:
“I’d seen Lizzy play in London in 1976 doing stuff from Jailbreak, and they were just incredible. I didn’t get to roll with Phil [Lynott] much, unfortunately, but I became real chummy with Scott [Gorham] and Brian [Robertson]. Me and Scott used to play a lot of darts. Treble nineteen was his favourite shot.”
He added:
“He’d drink black and tans and throw that dart like a harpoon. It was a great place to have [adopts a Glaswegian accent] a few bevvies. We would get there pretty late, pretty well-oiled.”
Travers then finally revealed how he almost became a part of the band due to an accident the guitarist Robertson had. He said:
“Lizzy had been due to leave for a US tour the next day, and with Robbo [Robertson] f*cking up his hand they were a man down. There was talk that maybe I could fill in for him. I even had a play with the other guys. But in the end, I thought it would be too disruptive for my own career.”
Robertson played on the guitarist’s 1977 studio album ‘Makin’ Magic,’ while Scott Gorham contributed additional guitar to the track ‘Speakeasy’ on the album ‘Putting It Straight’ released the same year.
