Venturing back up the mountain this year for a headline appearance, Thunder will be rocking the Steelhouse Festival for the first time since 2016. Chris Andrews spoke to singer Danny Bowes about longevity and rainy festivals.

They’ve rarely played a rain-soaked festival, claims Danny Bowes, lead singer of British rock icons Thunder. That is indeed music to the ears of fans of Steelhouse Festival, who have suffered more than their fair share of bad weather over the years. This year’s Saturday night attraction at the annual classic rock gathering, Thunder have survived a number of different trends over the years, hair metal, grunge, Britpop, so I put it to Danny: just what is their secret to staying at the forefront of the rock world?

“I think it’s our close relationship with our fans. Trends come and go but if you are true to yourself and the music you love, and just keep plugging away it becomes a very honest, two-way exchange.” Remaining relevant is in fact one of the band’s biggest achievements in Bowes’ eyes, something that he feels comes from constantly pushing the boundaries, within the rock confinement, of what can be achieved.

“I think it’s very challenging to constantly test yourself and bring your audience along with you, so to be able to still do that after 30 years – and on top of some of the things we’ve done to ourselves over the years, we’re just happy to be functioning in some way, shape or form.” And that’s just 30 years of Thunder. Danny has been playing in bands with Thunder guitarist Luke Morley since 1975 and puts a lot of their success down to Morley’s songwriting ability.

“The rest of us have dabbled, but he’s just too bloody good at it!” adds Bowes. “He writes the tunes, I just shout over the top.” He’s selling himself short, of course: where did the frontman get those pipes from, who were his influences growing up? “Paul Rodgers!” is the immediate answer. “When I heard Free Live, I knew I wanted to be a singer. I had a blinding moment where I realised that this guy makes the noise, that matches how I feel about music and I wanted to do it like that. It set me on the path – and after that I heard Stevie Wonder and it changed my life again.”

Thunder’s last album, 2017’s Rip It Up, was their highest charting release since the classic Laughing On Judgment Day back in 1992. How have they caught the attention of the music-buying public this far down the line?

“I think a lot of it is to do with timing: it probably says a lot about the market at the moment. But from our point of view – coming back in 2015 with Wonder Days, after not making an album in six years, a lot of people didn’t think we had an album that good in us. So we wanted to raise the bar again and so everything was taken up a notch, from the writing and recording, down to the mixing. We made it hard for ourselves deliberately, to ensure that we gave our everything.”

So, with Thunder currently riding the crest of a wave, is there a new album in the pipeline? “The hunger is very much now to write another rock album,” Bowes says. “We have about half an album written, we’ve done one session in the studio and we are going to go back in later in the year when we have some more tunes and see what comes out, but we’ll release another record next year and there will be more shows too.”

So having played Steelhouse in 2016 what are Danny’s memories from up the mountain. “Just how warm it was. People had told me about the rain and the mud and I was expecting a nightmare, but it was glorious, so heads up to the Steelhouse guys. Get your sun cream out – you’re going to need it…”

Thunder play the Steelhouse Festival on Sat 27 July. Info: www.steelhousefestival.com