''Bang!'' is the ninth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by English

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

. Recorded at Walton Castle in

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 in 2019. It lies ...

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The council is based in Weston-super-Mare, the area's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Clevedon, Nailsea ...

, it was produced by the band's lead guitarist

Luke Morley Luke Morley (born 19 June 1960 in Camberwell, London, England) is the guitarist, chief songwriter and producer for the hard rock band Thunder from 1989 to present (with a break from 1999–2002, and 2009–2011). Previous to that he was a memb ...

. The album was released in the UK by

STC Recordings Thunder are an English hard rock band from London. Formed in 1989, the group was founded by former Terraplane (band), Terraplane members Danny Bowes (lead vocals), Luke Morley (guitar, backing vocals) and Gary James, Gary "Harry" James (drums) ...

on 3 November 2008, and later in Europe by

Frontiers Records Frontiers Music (formerly Frontiers Records) is an Italian record label that primarily focuses on hard rock. The label was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is headquartered in Naples. History In 1996, Serafino Perugino began his care ...

and in Japan by

Victor Entertainment is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Entertainment operates the RC ...

. The album was released alongside the

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

''The Joy of Six'', containing six previously unreleased tracks. ''Bang!'' debuted at number 62 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and number 2 on the

UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The ...

. No

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

s were released from the album, although "On the Radio" was issued as a promotional release. Following the album's release, Thunder completed a short

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...

in the UK before announcing that they were due to disband for a second time in August 2009, with the final run of shows dubbed "20 Years & Out: The Farewell Tour".

Background

Prior to working on their ninth album, Thunder recorded and released two

s (EPs) of new tracks and live recordings – ''Six of One...'' and ''...Half a Dozen of the Other'' – which were released on 8 October 2007 and 7 April 2008, respectively. A third EP, ''The Joy of Six'', was issued on the same day as ''Bang!'' and came in a box designed to house both previous EPs. Sessions for ''Bang!'' began in February 2008, with the band working at Walton Castle in

. Ben Matthews recalls that "Recording at the castle was a real experience. Taking our

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

rig and a big box of microphones, we turned one castle turret into a control room and another turret into a recording studio. Linking them with a long cable, I had to climb up and run it along the top of the castle walls." Matthews likened the production process to that of

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

's 1972 album ''

Machine Head A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses, and others, and ...

'', which was recorded at the Grand Hotel in

Montreux Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, Swiss municipality and List of towns in Switzerland, town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut (district), Riviera-Pays ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. ''Bang!'' was released in the UK by

on 3 November 2008, following a launch party on 27 October at the

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a chain of theme restaurant, theme bar-restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos, hotels and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

featuring an acoustic set from the band. The album was later released in Europe by

and in Japan by

, the latter of which featured two bonus tracks. It debuted at number 62 on the

, number 2 on the

, and number 73 on the

Scottish Albums Chart The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...

. Outside of the UK, it reached number 99 on the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon A ...

in Japan. The album's opening track "On the Radio" was released as the only

promotional single A promotional recording, promo, or plug copy is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as mu ...

from the album. ''Bang!'' was promoted on a short eight-date tour of the UK from 21 to 30 November 2008, before the band announced in January 2009 that they were due to break up after a farewell tour running until August.

Track listing

Personnel

Danny Bowes Daniel John 'Danny' Bowes (born 14 April 1960, West Ham, Essex, England) is a British singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the hard rock band Thunder. Education Bowes was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College. Life and career B ...

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

* Ben Matthews – guitar,

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing * Chris Childs –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Gary "Harry" James –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Charts

References

Bibliography

External links

''Bang!''
on Thunder's official website * {{Authority control 2008 albums Thunder (band) albums Frontiers Records albums Victor Entertainment albums