Thunderclap Newman
| Thunderclap Newman | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | skirt |
| founding | circa December 1968 / January 1969 |
| resolution | 1971 |
| Website | www.thunderclapnewman.com |
| Founding members | |
| Pete Townshend as Bijou Drains | |
Drums , vocals |
John "Speedy" Keen († 2002) |
| Jimmy McCulloch († 1979) | |
| Andy "Thunderclap" Newman († 2016) | |
Thunderclap Newman was a short-lived British rock band , which at the turn of 1968/1969 from The Who - guitarist Pete Townshend was launched.
history
Former Who roadie John "Speedy" Keen had written his own songs that Townshend wanted to release. He hired the jazz pianist Andy “Thunderclap” Newman and the only 15-year-old Jimmy McCulloch as guitarists. Keen, on drums, took over the vocals. Townshend himself played bass under the pseudonym Bijou Drains. He also acted as a producer , took care of the musical arrangements and enabled the production of a first single.
The single Something in the Air reached number 1 in the UK charts after just three weeks. The band's success came as a complete surprise. Live performances were not originally planned. In view of the great demand, Townshend sent the trio on tour, reinforced by the two guest musicians Jim-Pitman Avery on bass and McCulloch's older brother Jack on drums.
Since the musicians basically couldn't relate to each other, the tour turned into a disaster and led to the breakup of the band. All that remained was the album Hollywood Dream , which was released in 1969.
John Keen later tried his luck as a solo artist as well as a producer; He also played with Eddie Clarke and Phil Taylor (both from Motörhead ) and Billy Wrath (from Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers) as The Muggers . Andy Newman also published a solo album in 1971, on which numerous rather unusual instruments were played.
Jimmy McCulloch played briefly with Stone the Crows before joining Paul McCartney's Wings in 1974 . He stayed there until 1978, then switched to Small Faces and had just co-founded the band The Dukes in 1979 when he died on September 27, 1979 in London . Speedy Keen also died in March 2002 at the age of 57. Jim Avery played with Terry Stamp in Third World War and became a role model for bands like The Clash with his wild and political music .
Thunderclap Newman's number one hit Something in the Air became particularly popular in the GDR because it was part of the soundtrack of the feature film Bloody Strawberries . It was one of the few American films about the 68/69 student unrest in the USA that was also shown in East German cinemas.
After several short-term reincarnations (including as Thunderclap Neumann), Andy Newman put together a new band in 2010, with whom he toured and released an album ( Beyond Hollywood ), which included seven live and three studio recordings. In addition to Andy Newman (piano, wind instruments, vocals), Nick Johnson (guitar, vocals), Tony Stubbings (bass), Mark Brzezicki (drums, vocals) and Josh Townshend, Pete Townshend's nephew, (guitar, vocals) played. Andy Newman died on March 30, 2016 in London at the age of 73.
Discography
|
Chart positions Explanation of the data |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albums
- Hollywood Dream , 1969
- Beyond Hollywood !! , 2010
Solo albums
- Andy Newman: Rainbow (1971)
- Speedy Keen: Previous Convictions (1971)
- Speedy Keen: Y'know wot I mean? (1975)
- Speedy Keen as a member of the Muggers: The Muggers Tapes (1978) (released as a bonus CD for the CD The Best of Motörhead: All the Aces )
Singles
- Something in the Air / Wilhelmina , 1969
- Accidents / I See It All , 1970
- The Reason / Stormy Petre l, 1970
- Wild Country / Hollywood , 1970