Sam Thunder
| Sam Thunder | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Manchester , England |
| Genre (s) | New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Hard Rock , Adult Orientated Rock |
| founding | 1981 |
| resolution | 1985 |
| Last occupation | |
| Rob Naylor | |
| Andy Chemney | |
| Steve Ferguson | |
Electric guitar |
Nick Bennett |
| Mike Hepplestone | |
| Wilson Davies | |
| former members | |
Drums |
Chris Dadson |
Electric guitar |
Eddie |
singing |
Tex Barlow |
Drums |
Darren Wilcock |
Sam Thunder was a new wave of British heavy metal and rock band from Manchester that was formed in 1981 and split up in 1985.
history
The band was founded as a quintet in early 1981. Shortly thereafter, a first demo was recorded in a local studio , which contains the three songs Always the Pretty One , Hot Head and Yours for the Taking . The demo appeared in 1982 and was featured in the Armed and Ready section of Kerrang magazine . In the following time several appearances followed, with the band appearing together with Lee Aaron in the Marquee Club . That night, the group also became Aaron's backing band. After she had signed a record deal with Bullet Records , the EP Don't Take Forever was released in 1984 , which includes the theme song, Piece of the Night and You Set My Heart on Fire . By then, the line-up had changed several times: guitarist Eddie had been replaced by Nick Bennett, while in 1983 Wilson Davies had replaced singer Tex Barlow and Andy Chemney replaced drummer Chris Dadson. Due to quite good sales, the group took on the debut album Maneuvers with producer Lol Cooper in the fall of 1984 . The line-up had meanwhile been expanded by keyboardist Mike Hepplestone. The album was released that same year. It was hardly advertised, after which it came to a separation between Sam Thunder and Bullet Records. The band broke up in 1985.
style
According to Malc Macmillan in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia , Yours for the Taking is instrumental from the first demo and is heavily influenced by twin guitars. The other two songs would contain lyrics, were very melodic and would remind a little of Rox , but more of Hellanbach and Forger . In Armed and Ready in Kerrang magazine , the group was compared to Van Halen in relation to the demo . The EP is in a similar style to the demo, but it sounds a bit more commercial, with the vocals reminding me of Tygers of Pan Tang in the middle of his career. However, the songs lack catchiness. On the album the band became even more commercial, so a comparison with groups like Grand Prix and Bombay is obvious. The songs would be very similar. Otger Jeske wrote in NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days that the demo features an American orientation. The band doesn't overdo it in an “outfit-wise” way like Rox or Silverwing . Martin Popoff wrote in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties about Don't Take Forever that the group sounds like Def Leppard to the poor. The band succeeds in capturing the atmosphere of the NWoBHM, with similarities to Heavy Pettin , Tokyo Blade and Pretty Maids being audible. The songs would sound very similar and commercial and have a strong focus on the groove . On the album, the group drifted completely into commercial melodic rock and hard rock. The music is characterized by crooked vocals and keyboards, which would remind you of a worse version of Nightwing . For Hank Sloterkerk from Metal Hammer , maneuvers had nothing to do with heavy metal . Instead, it contains Adult Orientated Rock in the style of Foreigner and Saga .
Discography
- 1982: Demo (demo, self-published)
- 1984: Don't Take Forever (EP, Bullet Records )
- 1984: Maneuvers (album, Bullet Records)
Web links
- Sam Thunder at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Manfred Kerschke: NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days . Iron Pages, Berlin 1995, p. 134 .
- ↑ a b c d Biography. rockdetector.com, archived from the original on June 30, 2016 ; accessed on June 15, 2017 .
- ^ A b c Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 510 f .
- ↑ Sam Thunder. nwobhm.com, accessed June 15, 2017 .
- ↑ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , pp. 307 .
- ↑ Hank Sloterkerk: Sam Thunder . Maneuvers. In: Metal Hammer . February 1985, p. 66 .