WATCH: Danny Bowes on new Thunder music and why fan interaction is essential at gigs
After bringing Planet Rockstock 2017 to a triumphant close, Thunder singer and Planet Rockstock DJ extraordinaire Danny Bowes spoke to Wyatt.
As well as playing gems from their distinguished back catalogue including ‘River of Pain’, ‘Resurrection Day’, ‘Love Walked In’ and the ultimate ‘Dirty Love’, just like all Thunder shows the set saw the band fully engage with the crowd throughout.
Reacting to Wyatt’s comment that Thunder seemed to have a lot of fun out there, Danny said: “We’ve always tried to with our show, y’know we’re deadly serious about the music; we always want to make the best record we can and make (it) the best live performance we can.
“We’re not into people going and watching a band just play their record. We’ve never been into that. We want it to be an interactive thing.
“So, hopefully (the audience will) be in the mood we’ll go on in the mood and hopefully we’ll just egg each other on and it just gets better and better so in the end everybody’s head’s coming off and it’s just amazing. That’s how it felt tonight.”
When Wyatt asked how his voice holds up nowadays, Danny continued: “If anything I think I’m more at peace with my abilities now than I ever have been.
“It’s very strange because I actually find it very difficult to do what I do, mentally on tour I find it very difficult to do it. It’s ok singing one night but when you’ve got to do it again the next night and the next night it gets a bit torturous in here points to head. So I’ve always struggled with that.
“Actually, at the moment I’ve decided that I don’t have to worry about it too much because it’s still there and I can still hit the notes – not all of them, not all the time - I just have to pick my moment. I’ve probably lost a couple of notes but not many.”
He added: “I feel like I nailed it tonight, I really, really enjoyed it. I think what was great about it, the atmosphere was so hot and sweaty and that suits me down to the ground. It’s just fantastic, it feels sticky on the stage, you can actually feel the atmosphere in the room it’s so sticky and hot, it’s just perfect for me.
Confirming that Thunder will be starting work on a new album once they’ve wrapped up touring in February, Wyatt asked why Thunder are so prolific all of a sudden.
“I think being it was away for six years probably gave Luke (Morley, guitars) a whole bunch of material in his head, stuff he wanted to do. I think it gave him an opportunity by working with Peter (Shoulder) y’know with The Union, it gave him an opportunity to see Thunder slightly differently and what could be done with Thunder slightly differently.
“I think everybody got better while we were away, which is interesting. I don’t know quite how or why but everybody did. So, we started writing material that was more difficult and because of that we all had to up our game and because we had to up our game we just got a lot more out of it. So, we’re just more gung-ho now than we’ve ever been.”
Watch the full chat with Danny below where he also talks about Luke and Ben Matthews looking like James May, while Wyatt unveils what famous London rock band his son named his tortoise after: