Danny and Ben from Thunder are playing a Rock Radio NI gig in The Black Box, Belfast on 31st August 2013. I had the opportunity to talk to them both on the phone recently and had a lot of laughs in the process of recording an interview for the Friday NI Rocks Show that was broadcast on 12th July.
What follows is a transcription of that interview. Some of the banter may not come across as well as on the live recording, but I thought is was still worth sharing.
NI ROCKS – Thanks for talking to us on Rock Radio NI. You’re doing a gig for us in Belfast on 31st August so it seemed like a good time for a chat. This is your third time bringing the “Evening With Danny & Ben” Show to Northern Ireland. The last two times were in The Diamond Rock Club last year and in the Braid earlier this year. You’ve had a great response so far. How have you found the Northern Ireland audience?
DANNY – The Northern Ireland audience is insane. We love it.
BEN – (Laughs) That was brief and to the point wasn’t it! We’ve played here a few times. Every time, even with Thunder when we’ve played there it’s been a remarkably enthusiastic audience. So it’s a pleasure to come and play. And that’s genuine.
NI ROCKS – And you were here recently with Whitesnake and Journey as well.
DANNY – Yeah we did that and it was the first show of the tour, which was amazing. You couldn’t wish for a better place to start a tour. With a completely mental audience going absolutely nuts from the get go. It’s exactly what you need.
NI ROCKS – We actually went to Glasgow to see you a couple of days later. It was a great show.
DANNY – Most enjoyable. It was a great tour for us.
NI ROCKS – Acoustic performances appeared on some of the Thunder releases such as “Six of One”, “Half a Dozen of the Other” and “Six Shooter”. Is that where the idea of “An Evening With Danny & Ben” came from?
DANNY – To be honest with you, we’ve spent a lot of years sitting around on a bus talking rubbish effectively.
BEN – He means a tour bus! Not a bus bus! We’re not going down the shopping centre are we?
DANNY – No, sorry, a tour bus! Yes. We’ve spent a lot of time on buses over the years and we’ve been waxing lyrically amongst ourselves and other people about our exploits. We did a show in a school. Originally it was supposed to be a lecture to explain to some budding music students about why the music business was the devil incarnate and they should avoid it all costs. But the idiots didn’t believe us and clapped a lot! So we decided since it had gone so well that we should maybe think about putting a show together which encompassed music that we could play between the two of us. Which means Ben playing guitar and / or keyboards, but not both at the same time as he’s only got one pair of hands. And then we thought that’s going to get pretty boring for an audience so why don’t we make them laugh by telling some of our road stories. And to be honest with you we had no more of a plan than that when we started out. It rapidly developed into quite an interesting show as it’s more like a stand-up show with a bit of music every now and again than the other way around.
BEN – Ironically we sit down.
DANNY – And why is that ironic then?
BEN – Because you said it was like a stand up show.
DANNY – Very good! Funnier than I realised. Now you’re getting an idea of what it’s like.
NI ROCKS – I dare say you have a lot of stories from the last 20 plus years so you’ll not run out of material.
DANNY – Yeah, we got loads of them. The man from Live Nation who promoted our London show came to us after the first tour and said to us “How many of these stories have you got?” So I said that probably we could do about another thirty tours. The poor fool thinks he has committed to that!
BEN – And the great thing is that as the Danny & Ben tour goes off, other things happen on the tour so it’s self-perpetuating, we can keep going forever!
NI ROCKS – You play a lot of tracks that aren’t Thunder tunes as part of the gig. How do you select what tracks to play? Is it a case of what you can play as a twosome or is it things that you want to play? How do you select what you’re going to do?
DANNY – There are a bunch of songs that we’d like to do, that we can’t because we’re limited not only by instrumentation, but also by ability. (Laughs). So we have to make some fairly careful choices!
BEN – (Laughing) On that note, I’m going home!!
DANNY – It’s a very interesting process. We fiddle around with songs until we find arrangements that work within the constraints of what is physically possible. As well as what we think will be rewarding for the audience. It’s no more complicated than that.
BEN – You’re right; it’s a combination of the two things you said. A combination of songs we’d quite like to try out – and if they don’t work, we try out something else until they do work. We kinda crowbar them into the set without anybody noticing.
NI ROCKS – Do you still get people turning up expecting an evening of ripping Thunder tunes or have people realised what they are coming to see?
DANNY – Initially, we actually asked people for some suggestions and some from our fans were completely impractical. We realised at that point that they needed a certain amount of education as to what the show was going to be like. So we did make it very clear that it was going to be a two man show that is about music, but also mostly about the comedy aspect of what we do and the stories we tell. There’s a lot of comedy in that. The fact that we spend a lot of time cooped up together means that our banter is on and that’s not something that a Thunder audience generally gets because the show is largely about me telling everybody what to do and the band playing the songs. Obviously with Danny & Ben it’s geared around the fact that there are two of us talking to the audience and Ben makes full use of the fact that he has a microphone
BEN – Yes, at last!!
DANNY – And never shuts up!
NI ROCKS – Yes, I’ve witnessed that. It’s all very entertaining!
DANNY – No! It’s rubbish! Terrible! We’ve been to every gig and they’ve all been useless. I can’t understand why anybody comes!
NI ROCKS – Danny, your daughter Lucie has joined you on stage a few times. I’ve seen the videos. She’s a great singer.
DANNY – Yeah, she’s good. She’s very good. Don’t tell her she’s good though. She’ll want more money!
BEN – She has her father’s ego!
NI ROCKS – And her father’s talent then!
DANNY – Probably more I’d say. I’ve made a very little bit go a long way.
NI ROCKS – Any plans for her to join you again in the future?
DANNY – To be honest with you, yeah, I don’t see any reason why she wouldn’t. It’s always been fun when she has done it. I think the only time it would get difficult is if she starts getting a bit big headed and wants money! There’ll be trouble.
NI ROCKS – You were talking earlier about giving people advice. What was your advice to her about getting into the music business?
DANNY – Don’t Do It!!
NI ROCKS – And she ignored you!
DANNY – Yes, she ignored me in grand style. She’s currently at university doing a music degree and a singing degree and having a great time doing it. I’ve never really encouraged or discouraged her. I think it’s a rotten business and if you can pick good bits out of it that’s great. But I think she needs to find out for herself what it is like so she can make her own mind up. To see if it really is something she wants to do. If she really is that masochistic! But, hey hoe I think the good bits are better than the bad bits otherwise we would have given up a long time ago.
BEN – A music degree and a singing degree; one more degree and she could join the band! The Three Degrees!
NI ROCKS – Would you think of recording any of the Danny & Ben Shows at some stage or do you want to keep that as just a live event?
DANNY – We are probably fairly resolved to the idea of keeping them live and spontaneous. I think that the problem is with live recording of comedy, unless you’ve got it really very worked out and very well drilled. If you look at stand up guys, they have the tendency to do the tour twice. The first time they do it in small places to test the material and then the second time they go back out to the bigger audience and by then they’ve honed it, tweaked it and know exactly what they’re doing. Our show isn’t about that. We’re not comedians; it’s a vain attempt at trying to be funny with a bit of music thrown in. I don’t think we would get away with a live recording. We don’t presume to be that good! But it’s good fun to do it. It’s very in the moment and audiences always seem to go away with a smile on their face, they’ve joined in, they’ve sung, they’ve clapped, they’ve screamed and done everything they’d do at a Thunder show. They just do it sitting down.
NI ROCKS – Is the Belfast date part of a tour or is it a one-off?
DANNY – No, it’s a one-off. Basically the guys came to us and asked us if we’d be interested and we said why not and it’s developed from there really. We haven’t really committed to doing another tour because we’ve done two tours in two years and we’re slightly concerned that people will realise that it is actually rubbish. We don’t want to make it too easy for people to realise that we are charlatans. So what we’re going to do basically is do some shows – we’ve another in Derby to do this weekend at a little festival. Then we’re coming over to do the show with you guys in The Black Box on August 31st. And if you haven’t got your ticket people get one because there aren’t many left. After that we haven’t really got any grand plan.
NI ROCKS – This past weekend two Thunder dates were announced in Japan along with The Union. The Japanese always seem to get some of the best gigs.
DANNY – Yeah, we’re very lucky I think. Because we’ve been around for a while we’ve managed to make good friends with good people and the fact that Thunder has always played good live shows means that we are able to rely on an audience wanting to show up. Promoters love that and that makes a big difference to the kind of offers you get. We’ve always had a great time in Japan and Thunder have always been very popular in Japan, but haven’t played there in four years. When they found out that we were playing some shows this year our Japanese promoter got in touch and said would you like to come over. This happened to coincide with the fact that Luke is pushing very hard to get The Union into Japan and I think up until now has struggled a bit. Japanese promoters have a tendency to watch the American market and The Union haven’t really cracked America right now. So they’ve found a way to combine the two. Luke suggested we that we take The Union over with us. We suggested it to the promoter and he bit our hands off and said that would be great. We’re very, very pleased. The fact that we get to spend some time with both the guys from The Union as well as our bunch is great. We know we’ll have a good time and probably drink way too much.
BEN – It’s nice to take Pete and Dave from The Union along as they’ve never been to Japan. They’re going to have an eye-opening time.
NI ROCKS – Thunder gigs now of course are fairly rare; really just as and when you want them. Is there any chance of seeing Thunder back in Belfast? Should we never say never?
DANNY – All I can tell you right now is that there are no plans to do that. We have not had any discussion about what we do beyond Christmas. Who’s to know? It’s too early to have that conversation.
NI ROCKS – And you’ve got two Christmas shows this year. The first one sold out and the second is well on its way!
DANNY – It’s selling really well and it’ll not be long until it sells out. Tickets are selling quick and regularly. It’s a matter of when rather than if it sells out. Which is great because the Christmas shows are great fun. Very different from a regular Thunder show and there isn’t a regular Thunder show anymore because we don’t play them. They’re loads of fun with special guests, inflatables, snow…
BEN – Inflatable special guests! Last year they let themselves down didn’t they!
DANNY – Yes they did, they let everybody down. If you’re interested in seeing a Thunder show the Christmas one is definitely the way to do it. It’s very different. We play different songs as well as Thunder songs. We play our favourite covers, songs you wouldn’t expect Thunder to do. We do two sets. We sit down the first half and we jump up and down the second half. It’s a very different show. Great fun, everyone gets very drunk and very wet because they get covered in snow.
NI ROCKS – A few non-Thunder questions now. Do you think it’s harder for bands to make a breakthrough now than it was in the 80s when you first appeared on the scene?
DANNY – I think in some ways its easier but in other ways its harder. I think record companies are not what they were in terms of the investment. No doubt about that. They don’t give people the same amount of time. And I think record companies have a tendency to want bands to be successful on their own before they take them on. Its almost like the band has to be really really good at managing themselves and releasing their own material. They always want you to sell a million albums before they give you anything. I think that record companies should be there to help bands rather than just take all the glory but it’s the world we find ourselves in. In some ways the mechanisms are there for the bands to help themselves if they can learn some of the basic principals of making a record and then selling a record. Making a record, whilst it’s hard – you want to make a great record; that’s quite hard – but actually selling a record can be even harder. Making records is probably the easy bit. It really comes down to how you’re made and how your brain works. Some people are naturally pre-disposed to helping to sell their music; other people just want to make records in the hope that someone else is going to help them. If you’re a new band I think you need to be very very switched on if you’re going to be successful.
NI ROCKS – If you had the opportunity to be in any band over the last forty years what band would you want to be in, excluding Thunder of course!
BEN – I went to Glastonbury this year, I would have quite liked to be in The Rolling Stones because it means you get to 70 and you’re still alive. And they still play really well despite some of the reviews that I saw. They were really good. I’d quite like to be in The Stones and I’d like Ronnie Wood’s job. Keith Richard’s job is brilliant but you get to play about four chords per night.
DANNY – I think I would have liked to have been in Benny Hill’s backing band! When he did “Ernie”. For me that was probably one of the best pop records of all time. I like that record and I’d like to have been on it.
NI ROCKS – I could just see that. There’s one you could do at a Danny & Ben show!
DANNY – It’s probably a bit complicated for us
BEN – We’ve gone way past our abilities haven’t we! I thought we discussed this earlier.
DANNY – We’ve strayed into the realms of music and that’s something we should avoid.
NI ROCKS – Speaking of music, what music are you listening to yourselves at the minute? If I had your iPod on shuffle what would I find?
DANNY – I’m listening to all kinds of bits and bobs at the moment. I’m listening to a lot of new bands to work out which ones to get involved with because I’m in the middle of setting something up which is going to help new bands if possible. I’m listening to a band called Hawk Eyes that I think are really great. I’ve just heard the new Black Spiders album that I think is absolutely fantastic. It’s got such a brilliant sense of humour, it’s so good. I love that. Apart from that, loads of old stuff. I’m always listening to old stuff. I don’t hear a great deal of new music that really blows my hair back but certainly those two bands I mentioned I really like. I still listen to loads of records that I listened to when I was a kid. What are you listening to at the moment Ben?
BEN – Nothing after 1979 I’m afraid! Actually a band that came out recently that I like is that Vintage Trouble. I thought they were good. A lot of the bands that played Glastonbury left me cold, they were just awful. Not awful, just not my cup of tea shall we say. Quite few bands now float my boat as they say.
NI ROCKS – Talking about old records, can you remember what the first record was that you bought and first gig you ever went to?
BEN – Yeah, I can do both. First gig I ever went to was Be-Bop Deluxe in the Hammersmith Odeon where they recorded “Live! In the Air Age”
DANNY – What year was that then?
BEN – 1833, Mozart had left Vienna and was on his way to Hamburg. When was it, probably 1977. And the first single I bought was “Bohemian Rhapsody”. I was luck I had two older brothers who had very large record collections so used to steal their records. When I actually bought something it was “Bohemian Rhapsody”, that would be around 1979. Fifty pence voucher! Money well spent.
DANNY – What was the first album you bought?
BEN – I can’t remember. I used to steal them off my brothers….probably “Stanley Gibbons Stamps From Around The World”
DANNY – So you’re a simple philatelist and you help people!
BEN – Absolutely!
DANNY – Now me, my first single was “Hot Love” by T-Rex. Actually I didn’t buy it for myself; I bought it for somebody else. And my first album, I think was probably a few years later after I’d saved up some money as I was only a kid, was “Aladdin Sane” by David Bowie. £2.39 if I remember correctly! And first gig I ever saw was Bad Company in the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, North London on December 14th 1974.
NI ROCKS – Danny, you’d mentioned earlier about working with new bands. Can you say anything more about that?
DANNY – It’s a bit soon to say but I’m in the throws of setting up a new company. I’ve been meeting with some really good people and our plan is to find new bands and help them. It’s no more complicated than that. I’d be grateful if people didn’t inundate me with CDs or music at the moment. I’ve got enough already, but as soon as I’m ready I’ll be announcing it to the world.
NI ROCKS – That’s great guys. Thank you very much. We’ll see you in a few weeks time in the Black Box, Belfast on 31st August.
Remaining tickets for the “Evening With Danny & Ben from Thunder” in the Black Box, Belfast on 31st August can be purchased here - http://www.blackboxbelfast.com/ai1ec_event/an-evening-with-danny-and-ben-from-thunder/?instance_id=607
Check out http://www.thunderonline.com/site/ for all Thunder related updates and https://www.facebook.com/DannyandBenfromThunder for Danny & Ben’s Facebook page.
NI Rocks is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NIRocks and Twitter at https://twitter.com/NIrelandRocks
