8 Tracks: Of Weather With Thunder

 
Music

This weekend marks the close of what has been of the most succesful parties in recent history. Thunder has become an institution of sorts having invited some of the most innovative figures in dance music to London. Always with a smile and a hearty sense of spirit the party has now decided to close. We spoke to Miles Simpson as he prepares to bid a fond farewell to what has been a loving home for many a familiar face….

Thunder is the sound we hear from the sonic wave caused by the expansion of air that has been rapidly heated by lightning. How do you feel that sums up the Thunder parties over the years?

I think that kind of works! It started small, like a little distant rumble, that grew stronger during the year the party was at the The Waiting Room, and by the time we hit Dance Tunnel, with Ron Hardy's protégé  Gene Hunt, did Boiler Room, and played with Derrick May at Barabarellas, it was a fully blown electrical storm! We've managed to sustain that up until now, every storm passes eventually, and now that time has come. We're going to make sure everyone is going to get soaked one last time though!

The Norse God of Thunder, Thor, was also god of strength, agriculture, farmers, free men, rain and fertility.  Which ones are you?

Have you seen my hands? Farming obvs.

Violent thunderstorms are an altogether too frequent occurrence these days. Do you feel that your party has contributed in some way to global warming and these regular storms?

I think clubland  and nightlife is going through own phase of global warming at the moment. Big money, big venue, big line-ups, mass marketing and people buying into it all without the any consideration of the broader and long-term consequences. It satisfies an instant need, it maybe even creates the need in the first place, but it feels like it's be commoditised, and that money drives everything. That's the reality of business, any business, which is fine as long as it doesn't suffocate all other life. I think Thunder is the antithesis of that, it's about passion on every level, one guest DJ, word of mouth, the crowd, the friendship and the music we believe in.

"They say all marriages are made in heaven, but so are thunder and lightning" Clint Eastwood. What would be your perfect musical marriage?

House music and dark, sweaty, smoke filled basements. 

At any moment around 18,000 thunderstorms are taking place somewhere on Earth. The most thundery place on Earth is said to be Tororo, Uganda, where it thunders 251 days a year. I'm assuming you've never been there? What DJ caused the most Thunder on a Thunder dancefloor?

We've never had a dud, everyone who ever played for us was great. I'd like to name check them all really, but as I have to narrow it down, Neville Watson and Domenic Cappello . Neville was our first ever guest, he was brilliant, an absolute inspiration and without him the idea for Thunder may well have died on the vine. Domenic was the first party where I thought, "Fucking hell, this is nuts". Then they both came together and played our second birthday party and it was magical. The less said about the after party the better, but they are two of the best DJs in the UK, as well as being the soundest men you could ever meet. 

Fear of thunder is called ‘brontophobia’. Fear of thunder and lightning is ‘astraphobia’. What are you scared of?

Being irrelevant and spiders.

“Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work,” (Mark Twain). What was your lightning moment with music?

I've never been a fan of work, so I'm most definitely thunder…


The final tickets are available HERE

Mr. Fingers - Beyond The Clouds

Part of the impetuous for starting Thunder was the interest my blog, Beyond the Stars, generated over the few years I was writing it. It was really just me wittering on about house music, at a time it was still pretty unfashionable, but people seemed to like it and that helped inspire me to get my finger out and start the party. I had actually wanted to call that blog Beyond the Clouds, after this track, but some git had already bagged the name on Blogger, so I had to come up with something else. That aside, it would be fair to say that Chicago house and Larry Heard were massive musical influences for Thunder and all involved in the party. Actually, I could have included ‘The Sun Can’t Compare’ but didn’t no one needs to hear that one again, right?

  • Mr. Fingers - Beyond The Clouds

    Part of the impetuous for starting Thunder was the interest my blog, Beyond the Stars, generated over the few years I was writing it. It was really just me wittering on about house music, at a time it was still pretty unfashionable, but people seemed to like it and that helped inspire me to get my finger out and start the party. I had actually wanted to call that blog Beyond the Clouds, after this track, but some git had already bagged the name on Blogger, so I had to come up with something else. That aside, it would be fair to say that Chicago house and Larry Heard were massive musical influences for Thunder and all involved in the party. Actually, I could have included ‘The Sun Can’t Compare’ but didn’t no one needs to hear that one again, right?

  • Unit 2 - Sunshine (Shine On Mix)

    If there was one city music that was more of an influence on Thunder than Chicago, it was probably Detroit. the music we played, the DJs we booked, such as Marcellus Pittman, Rick Wilhite, Keith Worthy, Patrice Scott, and Andres. This one of my favourite Detroit house records, it really does have it all. Massively pumping piano, Mad Mike on production duties, and it was released on Happy Records, Underground Resistance’s house sub-label, home of Davina ‘Don’t You Want It’, which was maybe the biggest record at Thunder in the first year or so. If only she could have shoe horned a weather reference in to the title, I could have just listed that instead…

  • Fresh & Low (Wind On Water) 1996

    The original Thunder residents were me, Rick Hopkins and Joseph Apted. Rick was from a more techno background, having been resident at numerous clubs, including Weatherall’s Haywire and Bloodsugar. I was more New York influenced and most likely to play vocal house. Joe, having been schooled on the dance floor of the Sub Club, was probably somewhere in-between. It might sound like a mish-mash of sounds but it worked and as a trio, we were greater than the sum of our parts . Joe was also a driving force in early days of the parties, which would have never made past the first year without his hard work. Musically, Guidance is label that is Joe all over and this is a record he played a lot at Thunder, so no shoe horning needed here at all.

  • Kenny Dixon Jr. - Winter Breeze

    I have no idea how many Moodymann records we played at Thunder, bloody loads. This was one, ‘Inspirations from a Small Black Church’ was another fav, I remember playing ‘Tribute’ when we did Boiler Room, dividing the dance floor with ‘Lyk U Used 2’ at the end of one party, and maybe most memorably, Domenic Cappello whipping everyone into a wall climbing frenzy down at The Waiting Room with ‘The Third Track’. I’ll never being able to explain the energy in the room that night to anyone who wasn’t there, it was a borderline religious experience.

  • Underground Resistance -The Lightning- (Acid Rain Ep)

    When we started Thunder, it definitely had a harder edge than it does now. Neville Watson was our first guest and John Heckle (with his 707) our second. I remember Joe worrying about John playing too hard and having a chat to him about tempering that slightly, before John just did what he does and spanged the fuck out of it. Everyone loved it though, lots of people still talk about it being the best set at Thunder (it’s on our soundcloud btw), and it kind of set the tone. All the residents played acid at Thunder but Rick was particularly in his element with that sound. This is the sort of thing he would have played. In the warm up.

  • Dj Nature - Foggy Monday Morning

    By this point, you might well be thinking, “This is just a bunch of bloody old records”, but one of the guiding principles of the parties was new music being front and centre. When we started Thunder, most parties playing ‘real’ house music were also only playing old house music. For me that was the house equivalent of Showaddywaddy (ask your mum… actually, ask your grandmother). DJ Nature was and still is one of my favourite contemporary house music producers, one of his remixes was the first record ever played at Thunder, and we were determined to get him to play for us. It took a couple of years but when we did, I think it was our first queues down the street party. Brilliant music and lovely chap too, one of the best.

  • Fast Eddie - Acid Thunder (Fast Thunder)

    I think everyone knows this one, about as good as original acid house gets. It still sounds great too – gritty as fuck, a kick drum that punches you right in the stomach, that searing acid line, and then, just when you think it can’t get any nastier, those delicate, almost soothing strings sweep in and wash away all the pain. Thunder would make a great name for a party actually…

  • Prosumer - Storm

    Achim could have actually made this for us! Deep with a Chicago edge, dreamy keys and it even has thunder claps in the background. Personally, my favourite Prosumer record. Have I mentioned he’s playing our last party? You should come.

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