Thunder (band)

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Thunder

Country	England
Years active	1989 - Present
Genres	Hard Rock
Labels	STC Recordings
Members	Danny Bowes Luke Morley Ben Matthews Chris Childs Gary 'Harry' James
Website(s)	Thunder Online

Thunder are an English hard rock band, who originally formed in 1989 when Terraplane broke up, leaving lead singer Danny Bowes and guitarist/main songwriter Luke Morley to form a new band, namely Thunder. Retaining drummer Gary James (popularly known as 'Harry' James) from Terraplane, they completed the line-up with bassist Mark 'Snake' Luckhurst and guitarist/keyboard player Ben Matthews. They were signed with EMI after performing a demo audition in 1989, and soon began recording their first album Backstreet Symphony. With their producer, Andy Taylor (of-Duran Duran) they created many blues-rock and atmospheric ballads, steering away from the melodic power pop of their previous band. The album was a huge success in the UK, and led to a prestigious appearance at the 1990 Monsters of Rock festival at Donington Park.

A follow-up album, Laughing On Judgement Day appeared in 1992, just as the grunge scene was changing the hard rock landscape. This period was the most turbulent in the band's career; Snake quit the band after the subsequent tour and was replaced by Swedish bass player Mikael Höglund. Meantime, rumours of an approach by Whitesnake singer David Coverdale to recruit Luke Morley were circulating, and it would be another two years before the third album appeared.

That album, Behind Closed Doors was the band's last studio album for EMI. They parted company with the label with a compilation: Their Finest Hour... And A Bit, notable for its inclusion of several unreleased tracks, in particular a cover of the Python Lee Jackson song In A Broken Dream. For personal reasons Mikael Höglund was unable to participate in the recording of the band's fourth album The Thrill Of It All; Luke Morley handled bass duties and the album was released on the independent B Lucky record label. The band recruited bassist Chris Childs for the tour; he remains with them to this day.

In 1999 they released their fifth studio album, Giving The Game Away; toning the guitars down in favour of a mellower approach with more keyboards. This album was released to coincide with the band's tenth anniversary; however they announced in autumn 1999 that they were to split, much to the dismay of their fanbase, many of whom had followed them from the beginning. Following a UK tour in November 1999, and some dates in Japan in early 2000, they bowed out on 4 May 2000 with a show at Camden Dingwalls in London, which was recorded for the album They Think It's All Over... It Is Now.

Luke Morley returned to the scene the following year with the solo album El Gringo Retro and played a brace of live shows at the Borderline in London, backed by virtually all of his former bandmates (Danny Bowes being the exception). Morley and Bowes reunited in 2002 for the soul influenced album Moving Swiftly Along, however this project was overtaken by events, when Thunder were tempted back into action by a slot on the touring Monsters of Rock UK arena shows in late 2002. They returned in 2003 with a new album called Shooting At The Sun released on their own label - STC Recordings.

Their second self-released album, The Magnificent Seventh spawned a top 30 single, "I Love You More Than Rock And Roll" in March 2005, reaching #27 in the UK Singles Chart.

Their resurgence can be traced through the venues booked for their live tours. In 2006 Thunder returned, for the first time since the days of the EMI released Backstreet Symphony album, to headline the Hammersmith Apollo at the end of a 12 date UK tour.

The band released their eighth studio album on 30 October 2006, entitled Robert Johnson's Tombstone. It follows Thunder's traditions of good honest blues rock albums, with big riffs and big sing-along choruses.[1]

The single "The Devil Made Me Do It" taken from this album reached #40 in the UK Singles Chart on the 10th of December 2006.