Artist: Thundermother
Herkunft: Växjö, Schweden
Album: Heat Wave
Genre: Hardrock, Rock ’n‘ Roll
Label: AFM Records
Links: https://www.thundermother.com
Bandmitglieder:
Gesang – Guernica Mancini
Gitarre – Filippa Nässil
Bassgitarre – Majsan Lindberg
Schlagzeug – Emlee Johansson
I am a fan of the four Swedes since several years. I follow the rise of the girls since I came to know them behind the Beergarden Stage at Wacken 2017. Now the fourth album was released. The Corona-impacted tour is finished and the preparations for the big main tour are ongoing. Reason enough to get in touch with the girls.
Time For Metal / Norbert:
Moin Moin from Northern Germany. Thanks for taking your time to give me this interview. We know each other for three years now and this is the first official interview.
Thundermother / Emlee:
Moin! 🙂
Time For Metal / Norbert:
First of all, congratulations to your really amazing album Heat Wave. Position 6 in Germany, position 8 in Sweden and position 15 in Switzerland. What do these chart positions mean to you?
Thundermother / Emlee:
Thank you! It means a lot, it’s a proof to us that we are on the right path. The German position was just pure love for us, we love to be in Germany and it’s our main country right now. Sweden really surprised us, we haven’t felt any big interest from our own country, so it was fun to see that we are growing in Sweden, too. Overall we feel really happy with the chart positions, we always felt that we turned Heat Wave into a great album, and it is just so fun to see that people enjoy it as much as we do!
Time For Metal / Norbert:
The Corona-edition of your tour is over now. You have played 75 minutes Best-Of-Shows in locations, which couldn’t be more different to each other. What did this tour mean to you?
Thundermother / Emlee:
We really wanted to celebrate our release in Germany. We have everything in Germany, the label, the management and music publishing, and we wanted to celebrate with our crew and our German fans. We were so nervous that this tour would not happen, I couldn’t relax until we walked out of the airport in Hamburg. And the tour was really fun and successful and it just meant a lot!
Time For Metal / Norbert:
Why did you only play 75 minutes? Normally your shows last at least 90 minutes.
Thundermother / Emlee:
Normally we need a day off after 3-4 shows, but we decided to maximize this tour and didn’t have any day off at all. Instead we played a little shorter sets, just to save our bodys, muscles and voices!
Time For Metal / Norbert:
Either fire brigade trucks, drive-in cinema, Hafenbarkasse at Hamburg or theatre hall, during these two weeks you had all kinds of shows. Which of these shows was the most fun?
Thundermother / Emlee:
I really enjoyed the fire truck! It was really fun, and it felt really good with the setup and monitors. And – finally I was in the front of the stage instead of the back, haha 😉
Time For Metal / Norbert:
You are always looking to get close to the fans. What does this contact mean to you?
Thundermother / Emlee:
It means everything, without our fans we would be nothing. They are so amazing, and give us so much love and positive energy! They always make us better. I am thankful to every single one of them.
Time For Metal / Norbert:
On the inside of the new album it is clearly visible that you have a lot of fun with the fans, because it contains a lot of fan pictures. Are these also memories of special moments for you?
Thundermother / Emlee:
We asked our fans to send photos to us, because we wanted them included in our album so they know how important they are to us. The fan photos were mixed with some of our own photos from tour life, a lot of fun and special moments!
Time For Metal / Norbert:
I would like to come back to the locations. When you play at festivals like Wacken you always seem to be a little bit lost on these big stages. On the other side, these festivals are important for you to present yourself to some new audience. Am I mistaken, or how do you cope with the circumstances?
Thundermother / Emlee:
We’re not as used to big festival stages as we are with club stages, so we just need to do it more! We were really looking forward to this festival summer, that unfortunately got postponed til next year. We love to play festival shows, meet a lot of people and reach a new crowd, so we are now very excited about summer 2021!
Time For Metal / Norbert:
Hamburg Management, Hamburg Record Company. Incredibly large fanbase in Northern Germany. Additionally, two of the new videos have been produced in Schleswig-Holstein. What about your knowledge of the German language? Are there any plans to move to Germany?
Thundermother / Emlee:
Ich lerne Deutsch, weil wir so viel in Deutschland sind! Ich liebe Deutschland und fühle mich dort zu Hause. Ich überlege, eines Tages dort hinzuziehen…
Time For Metal / Norbert:
Hey nice!
In May 2019 Majsan came from the Swedish Thrash Metal band Tyranex, but she preferably wears shirts of the Blues Rock legends ZZ Top. Also, Filippa can be often seen with such a shirt. Your music reminds of the Australian Hard Rock from AC/DC, Rose Tattoo or The Dead Daisies. What are your musical roots and your current preferences? In which bands did you grow up before you teamed up to Thundermother?
Thundermother / Emlee:
Majsan is a true blues rock bass player! She has played in different cover bands before Thundermother, a Thin Lizzy cover band for example! We all have a lot of roots in classic rock. Filippa loves all the bands you mentioned. Guernica is a big Prince fan, and before Thundermother she studied at MI in Los Angeles and later fronted a band called The Royal Ruckus. I have John Bonham as my main influence on the drums, and before Thundermother I played in bands like Frantic Amber and Spitchic.
Time For Metal / Norbert:
Before she fell in love with the drums, Emlee has tried to live out here addiction as guitarist. Wouldn’t it be a nice moment if she would play a guitar solo together with Filippa, or has she completely finished with the guitar by now?
Thundermother / Emlee:
We actually talked a lot about that, haha! I have started to play a little more guitar when we do acoustic shows, and it is just so much fun. I love to play guitar, and even though I don’t play it as much as I used to, I will never quit. We’ll see, what the future brings ahead, maybe we can have a guest drummer on one song and I join Filippa on guitar, how fun wouldn’t that be?
Time For Metal / Norbert:
I have a question specially for Filippa. You have written the songs for the first three albums completely on your own. So, you had to be incredibly creative. For the new album the team has written the songs and the dynamic in the songs is indeed remarkable. Do you meet in the studio to write the songs or are they created mainly in the tour bus where you have to spend a lot of time together?
Thundermother / Filippa:
Hey! We did six of the tracks in the studio together and some in the rehearsal room, where we brought our ideas. I’m still making many things at home and then show everyone in real life or via email. I’m always creative and I live to write. It was a new experience for me to do it the way we did. I am open for any possibilites to develop myself.
Time For Metal / Norbert:
I know from you, Filippa, that you have an extensive vinyl collection. What does a release as vinyl mean to you, and what is the share in sales in comparison to a CD?
Thundermother / Filippa:
The vinyl is coming back and I’m so glad! Especially in Sweden no one ever buys CDs anymore. We have many collectors reaching out to us to get our original vinyls and first presses, and I totally understand them. We are excited now, that our old record label is releasing the first 3 Thundermother albums via cassette, so watch out for that!
Time For Metal / Norbert:
Thanks again for taking the time for me. Is there anything left you want to say at this occasion, or do you have any question you always wanted to ask an online magazine like Time For Metal?
Thundermother / Filippa:
Thank you for all your support, and we sure hope to see you soon on a show! Till then, stay safe and healthy!