Since they formed in January 1989, Thunder’s trajectory has undulated but two things have remained constant: top-notch live performances and the bonds of friendship. Guitarist Luke Morley and singer Danny Bowes met at school more than 40 years ago, they knew drummer Gary ‘Harry’ James from a similar time and – although two other bassists played on their first three albums – Chris Childs has been in the band since 1996.
Even when Thunder have been on hiatus, members have re-teamed on side projects. The band have twice played farewell tours and twice reunited but, especially since guitarist/keyboard player Ben Matthews spent most of 2014 recovering from cancer, now appear stronger together than ever.
Thunder’s roots lie in a four-year tilt at stardom with the poppier Terraplane (two albums on Epic), after which Morley, Bowes and James were older, wiser and hungrier for success. They found it in Thunder, alongside Matthews, who engineered the demo produced by Duran Duran/Power Station guitarist Andy Taylor that led to a deal with EMI.
With Morley as their principal songwriter, the hooks and harmonies of Terraplane were retained, but welded to heavier sounds sometimes reminiscent of Bad Company but always distilling the best of 60s and 70s classic rock they grew up with and re-tooling it as their own.
They remain a quintessentially British act, popular in Japan and parts of continental Europe but largely unknown across the Atlantic. A US deal with Geffen in 1991 briefly promised North American success, but grunge scuppered that.
Of their 13 studio albums, their biggest sellers remain the first three released on EMI. Since then the band have continued on their own path, largely independent. They have often covered Wild Cherry’s Play That Funky Music, but the furthest they moved from the template was 2018’s side-step Please Remain Seated, on which they reworked their best-loved numbers.
That is not to say, though, that the band haven’t progressed. Morley is not only a lyrical guitarist but also a gifted and ever-improving songwriter, and writes the lyrics that Bowes has interpreted supremely both in the studio and on stage. Of the latter there is plenty of evidence to be found on a plethora of live releases, maybe suggesting that Thunder are an underrated studio act. But there is enough evidence here to refute that.
