After listening to Thundermother‘s third album ‘Thundermother’, the first album with the brand new line up, I couldn’t help but to be curious about the story behind the album. What were the influences and were there secret messages in this album? The answers will follow in this interview with Filippa Nassil and Guernica Mancini. If you want to read the review first, go here.
What are your favorite bands to listen to? Does this have an influence on your songwriting? It does sounds like there are some riffs of other rock ’n’ roll bands like Airbourne and AC/DC in the songs.
Filippa: I take inspiration from Rolling Stones, Blackberry Smoke, Deep Purple and much more. And of course AC/DC and Airbourne. Sometimes I just need my guitar and the highest volume on my amp and then suddenly I have a great riff to lean on and then I write the lyrics afterwards. If I have a purpose with the song it comes easily. To just write a song without a purpose is more difficult. But all these bands play rock’n’roll and that’s what I love.
There are not so many instrumental solos on the album. Why did you decide to minimize the solos?
Filippa: I think there are too little solos too on the album, haha. But there’s so much to play all the time as a single guitarists. We put in a bass solo instead in ‘Racing on Mainstreet‘.
‘Fire In the Rain’ is the first power ballad you’ve written. Why choose this album for the first ballad? The lyric goes: ‘Cause you’re my fire in the rain’. Was it written with somebody in mind?
Filippa: As many other rock bands do on their 3rd album, we also felt the urge to do a power ballad. ‘Fire in the Rain’ is a tribute to unconditional love. Someone that’s beside you through thick and through thin. In my personal case, that’s my boyfriend who I’ve been with for 6 years now and through all my highlights in my Thundermother-career. I wrote this song for him.
The main word in ‘Racing on Mainstreet’ is definitely ‘trouble’. Have any of you got in trouble for something? And if so, for what?
Guernica: I got caught in high school, when I turned in a paper for my biology class that I had found online haha.
Some songs like ‘Whatever’ and ‘Hanging at My Door’ end on a point that I personally don’t expect them to end. It sounds like the song isn’t over, but yet it is. Why did you decide to end the songs the way they do?
Guernica: We though it was cool and wanted it to be like that.
This is the first album with new band members. How do you feel about the album with the new line up?
Filippa: We have played together a year now, and it is obvious we rock well together. We rehearse a lot and we are all very good instrumentalists and all carry a responsibility of the contribution we all give in a four piece band. We want to do this and that is the key. Our new album is about this and the songs comes from our hearts. It’s about the music first of all, the groove. We all speak our minds and that is important, never build up a grudge or talk about each other instead of towards each other. We treat each other and ourselves with respect and loyalty. This experience is truly amazing and we are so proud of what this album has become.
Even though the bands line up is changed, it sounds like you still have close to the same formula for creating songs. How do you accomplish that?
Filippa: I write most of the music and have produced the previous two albums. I told Plec Johansson, our producer from this album what we wanted. We have a sound and I write how I write haha. Who knows what happens in the future thought.
It looks like the names of the song titles point to the other band member leaving and you standing all by yourself. Can you tell something more about this?
Filippa: Inspiration often comes when you are feeling down. It was a hard time but it was easier after writing these songs. I have no grudge only happy memories.
You are playing Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium on Saturday, June 23 2018. What can we expect? Or is that going to be a secret?
Filippa: It is one of our biggest festivals this year and it will be epic. We will give 110% raw energy on this show.
The song ‘Follow Your Heart’ says: ‘You can achieve it if you can believe it’. What is your dream for the future?
Filippa: To live solely doing music and quit our jobs. Haha. Sorry work.
In short: Keep on going forward, but also don’t ignore the things that are happening. Thundermother brings straight-forward music with a lot of love for rock ‘n’ roll and for each other.
