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 Thunder Road have toured for the main part of the year so far and this is partly down to their frontman Brian Richards working class mentality. He has recently finished record Thunder Road's debut album Great Expectations and perfect title for the bands debut album which has had a lot of positive things said about it so far. Here frontman Brian Richards has given us an exclusive interview about Thunder Road's upcoming debut album Great Expectations, life on the road, love and music.Brian: It’s been pretty slow today, with the album recorded and no gigs it’s a bit weird, Although I have been able to come back to New Jersey and see my family which is always a bonus.NME: So I’m guessing your very passionate about your home state?Brian: Yeah definitely. I grew up in Jersey and I’ve spent the last three years mainly in New York so for me, both New Jersey & New York are my home. But when I cross over the Hudson bridge and see New Jersey on the horizon, I get a little bit of a lump in my throat. It’s not the most glamorous city in the world but it’s home you know, everyone has that place where they have fond memories of and they feel safe and coming from New York where you don’t really know anyone there makes it all that more special because in Jersey everybody knows who you are. NME: What do you think you have picked up from growing up in New Jersey?Brian: I dunno, I guess hard work. It’s kind of drummed into you from an early age that you have to work hard to make things happen, things don’t just happen for you and that’s something that has helped me with my music, because I probably would have given up the thought of getting signed but because my parents sort of taught me that if you put in enough effort you can be who you want to be and have any kind of success.NME: Your more well known in the UK than in the USA why do you think that is?Brian: I guess because we’ve toured more in the UK than anywhere else, I love England, they have such an amazing music history so for me it’s a good thing that our fan base is more UK than anywhere else. But hopefully it will even out once we start to tour in the USA but we’re happy with the level we’re at right now, we’re not too famous that we can’t go anywhere but we’re also not totally unknown so I’m pretty happy about where we are right now.NME: What are you plans after the album is released?Brian: We’ll probably tour for the rest of the year. Probably even until like May 2011. But we’re planning on putting out an EP near Christmas time which could be good. It’s not a Christmas EP though, it’s just a bunch of songs we’ve written over the years and they didn’t end up on our album so we thought we should put them out at some point. NME: Your pretty obsessed with touring aren‘t you?Brian: Yeah, It’s why I’m in a band, I love touring, if I could tour for the next 2 years straight that would suit me fine, but we have to record and also take a couple of breaks every now and then. But yeah the more gigs we can do the better, we just got back from Animal Fest and that was incredible, Max Armstrong joined us for a song at the end which was great.NME: So your personal life is pretty quiet, are you dating anyone?Brian: I dunno if you’d call it dating. But I’m actually married, I don’t mention it because it may take away from the music but also nobody has ever asked.NME: I don’t know how you managed to keep that secret, what’s her name?Brian: It’s not that hard, I don’t want to be seen as a celebrity, I’m in a band that’s all. Her name is Amy and I’ve known her since I was 6, we began dating when we were 16 years old and we’ve been together ever since, we got married last year and it was low key event.NME: So how does she feel about all the touring?Brian: Amy’s fine with it, It’s usually only a month away at the most so we do well, she does her own thing and I do mine. It’s not like I’ve been trying to keep it a secret, if you listen to some of my songs, you’ll hear her name in the lyrics.NME: Yeah but you say many names in your music?Brian: Yeah it just gives it that little bit more I think. Obviously being a big Springsteen fan, he’s like the master of the name check in songs, all the Mary’s and stuff. But yeah some of the names in my lyrics are real people and some are just names.NME: What’s your opinion on modern music?Brian: It’s great, there are so many great bands around today, Infinite, Quarantine, Reckoner, The Voyd, 4th Street Band, Vulker & the Millions, Saburban Sunrise and so many great bands, you’ve just gotta look out carefully and you’ll find something special.NME: How would you describe your debut album Great Expectations?Brian: It’s just a straight forward rock record, it has little elements of everything really I think pop fans will enjoy it because it has it’s commercial elements, catchy choruses and that kind of thing, I think punk fans will like it because it has punk roots in it and straight up rock fans will like it because like I say it’s a rock record. It also has elements of soul and it has a very youthful vibe to it. I’m proud of it, I think we couldn’t have made a better record at this point in time. NME: Well thanks for you time Brian and we all at NME hope you have huge success with this debut record. |
