Thunder’s Luke Morley says the band’s appearance at the Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington in 1990 was the moment their lives changed forever.
The guitarist was speaking with Classic Rock magazine in October about his early days in Terraplane along with Thunder’s debut album Backstreet Symphony.
Asked when he realised the band were becoming a success, Morley replied: “That first year, as well as doing God-knows how many club dates on our own, we opened for Aerosmith, Heart and a few other people as well. Until we stepped on stage at Donington, though, we had no idea what we’d become.
“You could see the album was selling nicely, but Donington was the moment that crystallised it – 80,000 people, we started the first song and all the hands went up.
“I was like, ‘Fucking hell!’ The hairs are going up on the back of my neck even thinking about it now. All that previous year of graft and the four years that had gone before with Terraplane, it all kind of led to that moment and it was fantastic.
“That gig changed our lives. I’ve never been nervous on a stage since. Never.”
Backstreet Symphony was produced by Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor – and asked about the collaboration, Morley said: “The first time I ever sat in a room with him, he had this proper rockstar pad.
“It was on top of an old mental institution in Wandsworth, London. It was this mental flat, too. A couple of The Thompson Twins were in the flat next door – a real weird place, with castle turrets and a Jacuzzi.
“I took a guitar over there and we sat down, had a couple of beers and wrote She’s So Fine. We were off to the races at that point.”
Last month, Thunder announced a 2020 UK tour with Ugly Kid Joe which will take place throughout November.
They’ll play shows in Cardiff, Birmingham, London, Glasgow and Leeds in support of their new studio album, which will be released next year on a date still to be confirmed.
