Old school buddies still ripping up the rulebook in rock band Thunder

THUNDER’S Danny Bowes has one of the best voices in music – but he didn’t even know he could sing until he tried to impress a schoolmate.

More than 40 years on, Danny and that friend, Luke Morley, are still riding high at the top of the charts and selling out venues around the UK.

Their latest album, Rip It Up, went straight in at number three last month.

It’s a major career revival for a band which broke through in 1990 before enjoying a string of hit albums and singles. They’ve split up twice in the intervening years but their fanbase continues to bring them back together.

“We were a little taken aback by the sales for the previous album, Wonder Days, and that the reaction to it was so good,” admitted Danny.

“We expected people to say, ‘well, they’ve split up twice and this is just a cynical release’.

“We were quietly confident about the reaction to Rip It Up, because we felt it was better.

“We have never taken the audience for granted. We don’t expect people to just go out in their droves. We’ve always been hopeful and grateful.”

The band’s members have never taken themselves seriously and Danny believes he knows why their albums have been doing so well recently.

“It might be an indication that album sales aren’t what they used to be,” he smiled.

“Also, our audience is growing older with us. Our fans aren’t young – we’re in our fifties and I don’t think we’re appealing to 18 or 21-year-olds. Plus, older people have more money to spend.”

Danny and guitarist and songwriter Luke have grown older together, too.

They met at school in London when they were 11 and have been in bands together since they were 15, but only after Danny spun a yarn to get his foot in the door.

“Luke lived closest to school, so a bunch of us used to go round to his house,” he recalled.

“I don’t smoke, so was banished to his bedroom and it was then I saw this bright, shiny drum kit. I thought it was the most impressive thing I had ever seen and it bothered me for the rest of the day. I couldn’t even sleep, thinking about how I could get near one.

“I didn’t play an instrument and had no money to buy one, so I decided to tell him I was a singer. I had no intention of genuinely being a singer.

“The next day in class I told Luke but he didn’t believe me, so I told him I had a microphone we could use.”

Danny was told to come along for an audition a few days later. In the meantime he managed to borrow a microphone from a relative.

The rest of the band members were impressed by what they heard, and Danny was in.

“Luke says my voice was there pretty much from the beginning but I remember I couldn’t speak for two days after rehearsing. It took me years to develop it.”

After splitting up in 1999, the band reunited in 2002 and set up a label, but it became too much for Danny.

“I was doing all of the business side,” he continued.

“I couldn’t find anyone I trusted to do it as well, so I was doing 80 or 90 hours a week in the office. By the end of 2008 I thought I was going to have a heart attack or nervous breakdown, so I had to call it a day.

“This time around, though, I have help in the office and everything is much better.”

That second reunion came in 2011 and things are going better than ever. “I’m 57 next month and we’ve been in a band since we were teenagers, which is something we’re very proud of,” Danny added.

“Part of the reason it’s lasted so long is because we’re completely different and don’t push each other’s buttons.

“I don’t write songs, he does. I’m obsessed by the business side, he isn’t interested. He would run 100 miles to avoid a row while I would run 100 miles to have one.

“But we also have a shared idea of what’s good and bad with music.

“We’re looking forward to coming to Scotland because it’s always one of the largest audiences on the tour and they’re great singers – maybe it’s the drink!”

Thunder, Armadillo, Glasgow, March 22