GOING IT ALONE

Thunder guitarist Luke Morley on his new solo album, singer Danny Bowes' illness and rehabilitation, fans' generosity, and feeling old when hearing his songs being covered

- Dave Ling

With his partner in crime, vocalist Danny Bowes, sidelined for the foreseeable future following a stroke suffered last August, Thunder guitarist Luke Morley is finally set to release Songs From The Blue Room, a solo album he has tinkered with for the past couple of years. We caught up with him to find out more about that record, and also about his optimism regarding Bowes returning to the live stage at some point.

Your debut solo album, El Gringo Retro, was released in 2001 during a hiatus from Thunder. Now, regrettably, the same seems true of its follow-up, Songs From The Blue Room.

I hadn’t thought about that but, weirdly, you’re right. El Gringo was just a bunch of random songs I had hanging around, but this time there was much more structure. I wrote a lot during covid to keep sane. It was my wife that suggested putting out the songs under my own name. And why not? It’s been twenty years, I think the world is ready.

What’s your mind set with these extracurricular activities – just a bit of fun, or do you still have something to prove?

Probably a bit of both. I’m sixty-two years old, and I’ve learned that it can be healthy to step away and do other things. That was certainly true when I did The Union with Peter Shoulder. Returning to Thunder with lots of new ideas, I saw the band much more clearly.

You’re a rather decent singer on the sly.

I don’t know about that.

Don’t be modest, it’s true.