It’s been a great year for all girl band ThunderMother. They’ve signed with Warner Records, released their debut album “Rock n Roll Disaster”, played the Sweden Rock Festival and most recently supported Michael Monroe on his tour of Sweden. The band which consists of Irish lead singer Clare Cunningham, Swedes Filippa Nassil on lead guitar, Linda Strom on bass and Tilda Stenqvist on drums and Italian Giorgia Carteri on rhythm guitar, kick off a tour of Ireland and the UK on 7th November. That tour includes a show in The Pavilion, Belfast on Sunday 9th November. Ahead of the tour I spoke to Clare in Stockholm via Skype. Unfortunately we had a few technical issues so the whole interview wasn’t included on the Friday NI Rocks Show which was broadcast on 24th October (and is now on MixCloud -http://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interview-with-clare-cunningham-from-thunder-mother-on-the-friday-ni-rocks-show-24th-oct-2014/)
but we managed to broadcast most of it. A transcript is provided below.
NI ROCKS – Hi Clare, thanks for taking some time to talk to Rock Radio NI ahead of ThunderMother’s upcoming tour of Ireland and the UK.
Obvious question to start with I guess and one you’ve no doubt answered before! How does a girl from Drogheda find herself in a band alongside 3 Swedes and an Italian?
CLARE – Yeah, a question that is asked quite a lot. (laughs) It’s quite a long story but I’ll cut it short. Filippa, the founder of ThunderMother, decided to put a band together four years ago. She had a few different line-up changes. She’d met Giorgia, the Italian, in a club one night and explained that she needed a logo for the band and as it happened Giorgia was a graphic designer so she said she’d do the logo. She’d been planning on selling her guitar but Filippa convinced her not to! They then got together with Linda and Tilda who were both friends of Filippa a year and a half ago. Then I was located through YouTube and got a call out of the blue from Sweden. It took a bit of persuading but I eventually made the move.
NI ROCKS – You were living in Cardiff in Wales at that stage so did you move to Sweden straight away?
CLARE – The band I had in Cardiff were a covers band. That was coming to an end then anyway so it was a really good time to make the transition. I didn’t move over completely. I’d fly back and forth for a while. Now I’m probably in Stockholm almost 90% of the time.
NI ROCKS – You played the Sweden Rock Festival this year. What was that like as an experience?
CLARE – It was amazing. A much bigger scale than playing in small clubs (laughs). The sun was out that day and it was Sweden’s National Day too and all the Swedes were in top form. It was a really really good atmosphere. We also had a live recording of our official video for our second single just to add to the pressure (laughs).
NI ROCKS – Sweden Rock always seems to have a great line-up. I’ve friends who’ve been and they say it’s fantastic.
CLARE – Yeah, and the line-up even for next year has just been announced. Some really great names like Motley Crue. There’s just awesome bands coming in and out year after year so it’s always worth getting to if people can get over to it. People do travel from far and wide to come to it. You get people from the States, Europe, all over. It's pretty awesome.
NI ROCKS – Sweden just seems to have such a great rock scene. There are so many bands coming outta there it’s unbelievable.
CLARE – Music is like there biggest export. They’re throwing out music here and it’s where it’s at. If you’re anywhere in Scandinavia it’s just absolutely fantastic.
NI ROCKS – The band are now signed with Warner Music. How did that deal come about?
CLARE – We played a gig, in Lapland actually, on 3rd of August last year and the A&R guy for Warner was there and liked our stuff. There was a bit of negotiating and then in January or February of this year everything was agreed. It just goes to show that you never know who is watching you perform.
NI ROCKS - The band’s debut album “Rock n Roll Disaster” was released in April. Who did you work with on that and where was it recorded?
CLARE – It was actually recorded in several places. In fact Filippa had recorded parts of it with her previous line-up and we used some of the instrumentation on a couple of songs – the drums and stuff. The girls recorded in a couple of studios in Sweden and I recorded the vocals in the UK. It’s a strange kinda concept because most bands like to be in the one room or together when recording, but unfortunately due to the resources and time we had to get it out we just had to do it individually.
NI ROCKS – The band’s break out track was “Shoot to Kill”. It looks like you had a lot of fun doing the video for that track?
CLARE – (Laughs) Yeah, there’s a good story behind that. We had a show cancelled, I think for health and safety reasons, because we were due to play outside the venue as people were coming out, so it wasn’t going to be possible. So instead we decided to party with all the stars themselves! It was a late night and a drunken night for every single one of us. Management told us in the middle of the night that they had something lined up for us the next morning. It was about 10am or even earlier that we were told we might be doing a video but we had no idea what was ahead of us. All of the promo shots that you’ll see were taken that day too and we always joke that we’re looking kinda tired and that we’d look better in the next shoot! But we went with the flow and it was a lot of fun. We were very tired girls at the end of it. But like they say, that’s rock n roll.
NI ROCKS – I notice on the webcam that you’re wearing your Michael Monroe hat. You’ve just come off tour supporting Michael Monroe. What were the highlights of that tour for you?
CLARE – It was fantastic. Michael is such a performer. He went out every night and gave 110%. He’s absolutely awesome. We saw six or seven of the shows. The highlight would have been the home show in Stockholm which was sold out. And my own personal highlight that night was that a good old friend of mine, Lauren Batterby, who I used to live and study with back in the day in London and who I hadn’t seen since around 2009, flew in with her boyfriend for that show just to see us. But the Michael Monroe crew were fantastic. Really nice guys and they helped us out and we had a great laugh for the whole tour. It was a really great experience.
NI ROCKS – The Ireland and UK tour kicks off in your home county on Friday 7th November and takes in Galway before arriving in Belfast on Sunday 9th. Will those be the band’s first appearances in Ireland and are you excited about the prospect of playing here?
CLARE – It’s a real privilege to kick off the tour in my own county playing the Spirit Store in Dundalk. It’s a really exciting time and I think everyone at home is looking forward to it because they see everything on Facebook or YouTube but to actually come with the girls to my hometown is something else. It’s the bands first time playing Ireland or the UK. Some of the girls have been to Ireland before though. I keep telling them that the best Guinness is served in Ireland and I think there will be a bit of partying going on.
NI ROCKS – The UK tour finishes at the prestigious Hard Rock Hell festival on the 15th November. Are you looking forward to playing there and are there any bands appearing there that you’re particularly hoping to catch performing?
CLARE – We’ve a few people coming to see us so it’s another high pressure gig at the very end of the tour. We’re really looking to it and there’ll be a great buzz around it because it’s the end of the tour. Unfortunately I don’t think we’re going to be there long enough to catch many bands because we arrive in on the morning that we play and then have to head back out again.
NI ROCKS – I’ll finish with a few questions that I like to ask everyone.
Can you tell us the first gig you went to and first album you bought?
CLARE – Well, that’s a bit embarrassing really! The first concert I ever went to was S Club 7 when I was about 14, or probably younger. The first album, well there were actually two cassettes that I bought at the same time. Oasis “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory” and Alanis Morissette “Jagged Little Pill”.
NI ROCKS – If we were to borrow your iPod or whatever and hit shuffle what five bands might we find?
CLARE – I listen to a lot of Country & Western stuff, some of which people may not have heard of, such as Love and Theft. Then there’s bands like Halestorm, Airbourne and Def Leppard. I’ve a really wide range. You’ll get a bit of AC/DC and of course Thin Lizzy – great Irish music.
Tilda would be more into R&B, hip hop, country and that kinda stuff as well as the rock. The other girls are more into their metal and hard rock. We’ve The Donnas, Runaways, Janis Joplin..that kind of thing. The girls of course are big fans of a lot of the local bands here in Sweden.
NI ROCKS – Finally, what do you hope to have achieved with ThunderMother by the end of 2015?
CLARE – We’d like to have the second album released. To play a lot of festivals hopefully next summer, like Download and Sonisphere. Try and hit the big ones. We’re hoping to tour more and we’re working on organising a tour of Japan.
NI ROCKS – You’ll target Japan before trying the States?
CLARE – Yeah that will probably happen before the States. That’s something we’ll have to take our time to plan - where to play and when. It is hopefully on the cards for the next couple of years.
NI ROCKS – Thanks again for taking the time to talk to us. Hopefully we’ll catch up at the show in The Pavilion on 9th November.
You can find out more about ThunderMother on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thundermother and on their website http://www.thundermother.com/
The full playlist for the FRIDAY NI ROCKS SHOW on 24th October is:
THE ANSWER – Spectacular
THUNDERMOTHER – Shoot to Kill
Interview with Clare
THUNDERMOTHER – Rock n Roll Disaster
THEORY OF A DEADMAN – Savages
MILLION DOLLAR RELOAD – Smoke ‘n’ Mirrors
BLACK SABBATH – Children of the Grave
VEGA – Neon Heart
DOWN ‘N’ OUTZ – One of the Boys
ALLEN / LANDE – Lady of Winter
ADRENALINE RUSH – Change
TYKETTO – Wings
TRUCKER DIABLO - Drive
