BARRY GRAHAM PURKIS/THUNDERSTICK

THUNDERSTICK

💿Hi, it’s a pleasure for us to have on Hardrockheavymetal, BARRY GRAHAM PURKIS, well known as THUNDERSTICK, a legend in NWOBHM history! Hi All, can I say that it is a real pleasure talking to you, to be called a ‘legend’ is really something thank you. So, what would you like to know? 💿We’re all happy for the new platter "SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES"! Can you tell us somethin’about this new album and its composition process? Sure. Well THUNDERSTICK as a band has been inactive now for over 33 YEARS, why would I after such a long time want to record an album now…..? Last year the vocalist for the band in the eighties Jodee Valentine died his came as a result of having early onset Alzheimer’s. Unbeknown to me she had been living in an assisted care home for 5 years. When I found out about this it really shocked me and hit me quite hard. The more that I thought about it the more I thought that I should do an album of material that we used to play live back in those days but had never been released. So I put together a band and went into the studio. There are 7 songs that I have re-arranged and reformatted for the album, as well as 3 new ones, (one of which was by way of a tribute to Jodee). I had already put out an album of Remastered Material back in 2011 called ‘Echoes from the Analogue Asylum’ this contained a large body of work that we were doing live and had previously been recorded as both an EP ‘Feel like Rock’n’Roll? and an album released as ‘Beauty and the Beasts’ these were all tracks that had Jodee had been on.. The new one however is material that has never seen the light of day….until now. 💿Can you tell us somethin’about the line up of this album? Well there is Dave ‘Kandy’ Kilford a guitarist that was with me in 1986 in one of the last incarnations of Thunderstick. So it is great to finally get to record him doing the material that we were doing then. The other guitarist is Martin Shellard - one of Wales’s finest. Both Martin and Dave really complement each other’s style on the album. Then there is my Right-Hand man on Bass Rex Thunderbolt (a name that he had before we even met) so he was obviously right for the band, and a fine bass player. The singer I chose for this was Lucie ‘V’. I needed someone that was vocally very different from Jodee as having someone similar would’ve been a little too ‘raw’ for me. She has a very bluesy tone and has done my material proud.. 💿 It’s great to talk about the early days of your career. When is this all begun? Which bands have influenced you? I think the first professional band that I was in was a band called ‘The Primitives’ which were based in Sicily, touring all over the Mediterranean. Great times 1974. Then on my return to the UK a folk-rock band called ‘Archer’ then my own band ‘OZ’. Then on ‘Iron Maiden’…..Bands that have influenced me? Probably far too many to mention because I am and always have been a musical ‘sponge’ absorbing stuff from everywhere. So a little list for here would be…Hendrix, Mountain, The Tubes, Zappa, Gong, Van Der Graff Generator, Alice Cooper……. 💿 Paul Samson was great but, in our opinion, an underrated musician; Can you tell us somethin’about him, both musician and man? He was a friend. Even when we were not playing together we would call each other up every week to ‘catch up’. As a guitarist I would totally agree with you -a very underrated player. Playing with Paul was the same as playing with two guitarists, he had the ability to sound so big, without all of these processors that guitarists seem to need these days. 💿 The real “news” in music industry is the return of vinyl; What’s your feeling with this classic format? Furthermore, what’s your opinion about the renewed interest for NWOBHM and traditional hard’n’heavy? Vinyl..!? I love it. The ‘warmth that you get from it as well as the way that it compresses To give the listener the ‘whole’.. OK digital can give that very clinical separation and clarity but from Rock music you don’t always want that..give me vinyl I have over 2000 albums on it.! As for NWOBHM and Hard Rock it is a really ‘honest’ music, loud and proud saying ‘this is us’ no frills just putting it out there. 💿 Are provided some live gigs to promote the new album? That is my intention to put together a ‘THUNDERSTICK’ show once I have stopped concentrating on the album. 💿 Thank you so much for your time! See you soon on HARDROCKHEAVYMETAL! It has been a pleasure talking to you keep it rockin’

B Thunderstick