News Segment
THUNDER WRITING NEW SONGS:
July 2, 2007
Thunder vocalist Danny Bowes posted the following update at www.thunderonline.com.
Luke has been beavering away for most of this year (in between Thunder shows and producing), writing new songs galore. Recording for the new LP began recently, and I’m pleased to say it’s all going very nicely. The plan is to dive in and out of the studio as and when the songs are there (and in between shows), pretty much like we did RJ’sT. Given the timing of the last LP, the tours and our other plans, it seems unlikely we’ll get to release a new LP before the back half of 2008, so rather than make you wait until then, we’ve decided to release a limited edition 6 track EP as an “in between LPs” type offering. No title yet, but we’re working on the assumption it will be similar in format to 2005’s Six Shooter (3 studio and 3 live songs). More on this once we’ve finalised the tracklist, but expect it to be released shortly before the UK tour in November. Once again please spread the word, for you and your word of mouth are our best source of advertising…
CHEPSTOW – REPORT
The freak weather did its worst, and the rain was both steady and determined on Saturday last. It was a shame, clearly Carol & Co (promoter) had worked extremely hard to stage the event.
Having driven down to Chepstow in our cars (rather than do the tour bus, we elected for a bit of self drive, just to make a change), we arrived at the festival site for our soundcheck, armed to the teeth with our oh so Rock’n’Roll brollies, waterproofs and wellies. It didn’t seem as wet or muddy as we feared it would be. The soundcheck was fine, pretty painless really, we took lots of silly photos of each other in our fetching wellies and guitars. A small crowd of lunatics (obviously) gathered on the grassy (if a little slippery) knoll to watch us, and some clapped occasionally as we ran through some songs, and teased Peter our sound man. He’s been unable to do the last few festivals with us, so we took great delight in telling him how well Dennis his replacement had done. Technical boxes ticked, we shot back to our hotel for some vital laying down, followed by dinner in Chepstow. I was ironing my tu-tu during Rattlesnake Remedy and some of Toby’s set, so I missed them, but from what I heard it sounded like they both went down extremely well. Despite the omnipresent wind and rain, the signs were good.
We were hopeful, but not 100% confident that the mood of the assembled throng would be waterproof, but to be honest we needn’t have worried. From the first moment, the crowd was amazing, singing and clapping and squelching their hearts out, all the way through the set. We were most chuffed, and it showed (it’s funny how the relief takes you up into that 6th gear you didn’t think you had). For the record I would like to state that contrary to reports on the message board, I do not touch the other band members in the bottom area, merely the waist or midriff. I am happily heterosexual and have no desire whatsoever to feel their bums. I hope this clears it up…
Talking of bums, the only bummer all night was the sopping aftershow, with nowhere dry to hold it, and a solitary portacabin of a dressing room, the only place was in the rain, and whilst all were jolly, I think everyone had had quite enough moisture at that point. Hats off to you aftershowers (that’s not a pun). The Bridge in Chepstow hosted the after show party, and Karen and Taryn were most gracious with their hospitality, though it must be said my little sore thumping head was not thanking them on Sunday morning.
Certainly Saturday turned out to be a fab night the weather couldn’t spoil, so we’d like to say a huge thank you to all who worked on it, and of course those who attended. Now hopefully the wellies can go back in the shed… At the time of writing I’ve heard no reports of Sunday night’s events, but I hope it went well.
LIVE SHOWS RECENT PAST & COMING UP..
Sweden Rock was great at the beginning of June (boiling), as were the shows at Bang Your Head (Germany) and Rock Sound (Switzerland). SR was recorded for the radio, BYH was filmed for a documentary, and RS was filmed for Swiss TV, so it looks like we’re in danger of becoming media darlings, darlings.. Footage of RS is so good, we’re considering putting it out on DVD. Watch this space for news on that…
Next weekend sees us return to Bospop in Holland for our 3rd appearance there. Hopefully it won’t be wet, or as wet, and we won’t be doing Radar Love this time.. We’re all looking forward to getting back there, especially after the fab Zoetemeer show in March. Our first foray into the festivals of the Czech Republic beckons the week after, so roll on the July 14th (wonder what they’ll make of us?). After Masters Of Rock we’ll get a little break from live shows until August 19th when we’ll return with a headline appearance at The Cambridge Rock Festival. The bill looks fab and we’ll get to see Wishbone Ash (for free), so how bad is that? We head East in mid September (along with the Devil apparently) for 3 shows in Japan, which will no doubt be most splendid. We’re planning to change the set about a bit across these shows, as well as inviting competition winners to attend soundcheck, so that’ll be a laugh. If it works we may well roll this idea out elsewhere (win tickets to watch Harry brush his teeth!! It’s a Joke..). We’ll finish off our summer shows for 2007 with the Harelbeke show in Belgium on September 22nd, with Manfred Mann and Pat Travers et al. Full details on this and the other shows are on the gigs page.
Courtesy of www.thunderonline.com