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BBC Southampton's Indy Almroth-Wright spoke to frontman Danny
Bowes as Thunder prepare to hit the road for an 11 date UK tour
with their latest album, Shooting At The Sun.
You left a lot of disappointed fans when you split up - what's
the reaction been like to see you back on the scene?
I think initially the really enthusiastic ones were very, very chuffed
which was fantastic - you get the cynical among them who think you're
getting back together for the money. If only they knew! We got back
together primarily to do the Monsters Of Rock shows with Alice Cooper
and they were great. Imagine you're away for two and a half years,
you come back and the first thing you do is Wembley Arena with 9,000
people.
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| Alice
Cooper |
What
was it like touring with Alice Cooper?
He's a very nice man, he's got the hardest most wooden hands I have
ever held - when I shook hands with him it felt like I was shaking
hands with a tree. I think it's because he plays golf and lives
out in the desert somewhere. He's a very nice bloke, he was great
to us and we spent the whole tour talking about golf.
The new material's been going down a storm - what's your fav
track?
We did six shows in May to test the water, because having gone back
out with Alice Cooper and The Monsters of Rock which wasn't our
show we didn't know how many tickets we were gonna sell so we wanted
to test it. The shows went really well and now we're doing 11 this
time round in November.
Is
there a song in your set that you really look forward to?
There's a song that opens the new record Shooting At The Sun called
Loser and that has probably got to be the most popular record -
it just sums up what Thunder have always been about it's just very
straightforward. Obviously I'm screaming my head off and it's a
really great tune. When we released it earlier in May it got to
Number 48 which, considering we don't have a record company was
very heart-warming.
Do you
have to get fit before you go on tour - do you do anything in particular
to keep limber?
I ache! It's a fairly physical show - since the shows in May I've
been suffering from a back problem which I've had lots of treatment
for. Hopefully by November I'll be all sorted and back in the groove.
I don't think I'm ready for my zimmer frame yet!
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| A
euphoric Thunder. |
You've
been rockin' for the best part of 13 years - you must have met some
legends in your time - who stands out to you?
I think probably Steven Tyler from Aerosmith was probably the most
larger than life character. He's just full on all he time - you
never, ever got a moment when he seemed calm. He is the real deal
- that's how he is when he gets up in the morning. He tried to eat
our drummer's head - he's got a very big mouth and our drummer's
only got a small head - they tried it but I had to run away.
I'm
not into blood.
What's been the band's greatest achievement?
I dunno it's only rock n' roll - we've played
some great shows. For my personal satisfaction it was probably Wembley
Stadium in 1995 when we did some shows with Bon Jovi - to make 60,000
people stand up is a real buzz. There
was one guy who didn't stand up so I made an example of him and
got everyone around him to point at him to make him feel bad.
Do any of the band have any strange or
annoying habits?
I talk too much in between the tunes and sometimes I talk in the
middle of them - that drives the band mad. But they put up with
it - we're all a bit long in the tooth for shouting at each other.
It's an easy band to be in.
What was the last thing you bought?
A gas-powered nail gun. The thing works by linear combustion engine
technology - in other words there's an explosion and that pushes
the nail out the gun. It came in handy because I'm building a house
down the end of my garden.
What's your motto in life?
Don't moan about it - get on with it!
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