New solo album from Hove-based Luke Morley from the band Thunder.

SussexWorld

A second solo album was one of the outcomes of all the lockdowns for Hove-based Luke Morley from the band Thunder.

Transcript

00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt,

00:04 Greek Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers.

00:06 Fantastic to be speaking to Luke Morley,

00:08 resplendent in a Rolling Stones T-shirt,

00:10 which impressed me. Do stand up, do stand up.

00:12 Brilliant. But, Luke,

00:14 you've been with Thunder for

00:16 approaching 25 years, something like that?

00:18 But you've just...

00:20 Yep, sorry, since dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

00:22 It's actually 13 years.

00:24 Yeah, let's not say they're the same breath

00:26 as a Rolling Stones T-shirt, though, obviously.

00:28 But you've been with them since

00:30 1989, I believe, across 14 albums,

00:32 but you've now brought out your

00:34 second solo album. Tell me

00:36 about the thinking behind that album. How did it

00:38 happen and why?

00:40 It was something actually to preserve my sanity

00:42 during Covid and the pandemic.

00:44 I just went to work

00:46 and it was nice to have the opportunity

00:48 to be able to spend a lot of time

00:50 writing and

00:52 you know, Covid

00:54 did afford me that luxury, so it was great.

00:56 And I managed to write during that

00:58 period of 'Thunder Owl', which is a double album

01:00 and most of this

01:02 new solo album. So it was

01:04 written without any kind of

01:06 particular sense of direction or what

01:08 I was trying to accomplish, anything.

01:10 It's like, I've got these songs, I'm going to

01:12 get them finished, get them out there and then

01:14 we'll think about what we do with them afterwards, sort of thing.

01:16 And then when you had them, you realised

01:18 that they came together to form something?

01:20 Yeah, yes, it felt

01:22 like an album and at that point I started talking

01:24 to labels and here we are.

01:26 Yeah, and it's so interesting, you were saying

01:28 that you were really productive during the lockdown.

01:30 I've spoken to so many musicians, you said they just

01:32 couldn't write, that there was no

01:34 incentive, there was no motivation, but you

01:36 found that. How come?

01:38 I think it's just the

01:40 sense of having a lot of time

01:42 and not knowing when

01:44 that period would end and wanting

01:46 to kind of use it rather

01:48 than sort of tempting as it was to

01:50 sit in the garden and drink beer and wine.

01:52 I just come out of this

01:54 with something to show for it.

01:56 I can't let this...

01:58 I try to see it as an opportunity

02:00 to actually get a lot of things done

02:02 that I'd kind of put to the side for ages.

02:04 It must be so interesting to have

02:06 that solo album. Does it feel like

02:08 a very different kind of baby to

02:10 a Thunder baby? Yeah, obviously

02:12 there's several

02:14 fundamental things in that,

02:16 the main one being it's me singing,

02:18 so there's a lot more kind of, I'm writing

02:20 for my own voice rather than Danny's voice.

02:22 And obviously

02:24 I'm not having to collaborate and I'm...

02:26 being a control freak I am, it was brilliant.

02:28 Although I did have to

02:30 have a serious word with myself on a couple of occasions

02:32 obviously. Good, yeah, and the last

02:34 solo album for this was more than 20 years

02:36 ago. You're not going to wait another 20 years for the next

02:38 solo, are you? Well, I'll probably be dead in another

02:40 20 years, so no,

02:42 I mean, we'll see.

02:44 It wasn't my desire to be a solo artist,

02:46 really. The first time

02:48 I did it, it was for a large

02:50 check from EMI and the second time, this time

02:52 the pandemic obviously affected

02:54 that. So you just have to

02:56 wait for a good reason then? Yeah, really,

02:58 pretty much. So we'll see.

03:00 You never say never, but

03:02 at least I've got this one done and

03:04 we'll see what happens in the future.

03:06 Fantastic. Good luck with that, really lovely

03:08 to speak to you. Thank you for your time, Luke.

03:10 Thank you.

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