Thunderclap Newman Band, featuring Andy ‘Thunderclap’ Newman, wants to acquaint the public with ‘Hollywood Dream’, the long lost classic album which will be performed in public for the first time ever in its entirety.
For this reason, six musicians of various nationalities and with different musical backgrounds, have come together to celebrate the music of Thunderclap Newman and to honour the legacy of John ‘Speedy’ Keen and Jimmy McCulloch.
Songs written by Andy, Speedy and Jimmy after the original band went their separate ways will also be incorporated into the live set, alongside original material written by the current band members. This is a truly exciting project with many musical possibilities waiting in the wings
- About Thunderclap Newman
- Andy ‘Thunderclap’ Newman
- David Buckley
- István Deréky
- Antonio Spano
- Stefanos Tsourelis
- Brian Jackson
Based on the biography from Wikipedia available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details).
Thunderclap Newman was a late 1960s one-hit wonder group from the UK. Their single, “Something in the Air”, a 1969 UK Number One hit, remains in demand for television commercials, film soundtracks, and compilations.
Career
In 1969, Pete Townshend, The Who’s guitarist, created the band to play songs written by the former Who roadie, drummer/singer John ‘Speedy’ Keen (miscredited as “Keene” on the single’s label). Townshend produced the single, played bass guitar on it under the pseudonym Bijou Drains, and hired for it eccentric GPO engineer and jazz pianist Andy ‘Thunderclap’ Newman (born Andrew Newman, in 1943) and the fourteen year old guitarist Jimmy McCulloch from Cumbernauld, Scotland.
Originally titled “Revolution”, but later renamed because the Beatles released a single of that name, “Something in the Air” captured post-flower power rebellion, marrying McCulloch’s sweeping acoustic and glowing electric guitars, Keen’s powerful drumming and yearning falsetto, and Newman’s felicitous piano solo.
The single was Number One in the UK charts for three weeks, dislodging “The Ballad of John and Yoko” by the Beatles from the top spot and holding off “Honky Tonk Woman” by the Rolling Stones in the process. The scale of the song’s success surprised everyone, and there were no plans to promote Thunderclap Newman with live performances.
Eventually a line-up, augmented by Jim Pitman-Avery (bassist) and McCulloch’s elder brother Jack (drums), played three UK tours and two European tours. A tour of the US was planned but it was abandoned when the group broke up.
“Something in the Air” appeared on the soundtracks of the films The Magic Christian (1969), Almost Famous (2000), The Dish (2000), The Girl Next Door (2004), and The Strawberry Statement (1970); the latter helped the single reach No. 25 in the United States. In the UK, a follow-up single, “Accidents”, came out only in May 1970, and charted at No. 44 only for a week, and an album, Hollywood Dream, peaked in Billboard at No. 163. “Something In the Air” played at the end of the March 26, 2007 episode of The Riches on FX.
The members of the band had little in common. Newman once commented, in a 1972 interview with New Musical Express that he got on well with Jimmy but not with the style of his music whereas he liked Speedy’s music and songs but found him difficult to get on with as a person. Two more singles followed before the band split.
Andy ‘Thunderclap’ Newman
Born in London, Andy attended Bulstrode Secondary Modern School in west London where he learned to play the piano. He formed a group with Rick Seaman and later another one with Mike Carver and John Brown. He was introduced to Pete Townsend by Rick Seaman. In January 1969 he recorded “Something in the Air” with Speedy Keen & Jimmy McCulloch and, later in the year, an album called “Hollywood Dream” produced by Pete Townsend.National and international tours with Thunderclap Newman followed, on one tour supporting Deep Purple. Thunderclap Newman eventually broke up in 1971. The following year Andy started another band called “Thunderclaps Incomparables” with John Tappenden, Tex Makin and Graham Preskett.Late 1972 he worked a double act with Roger Spear’s Kinetic Wardrobe. From 1973 to 1975 Andy did production work with ex Polydor Records producer Chris Parmenter. In 1976 he started a double act with Bob Flag performing with Angie Bowie’s Krisis Kabaret.
Andy stopped music as a principal activity in 1982 but carried on doing intermittent gigs with Bob Flag, Dave Borman and others until the end of the 1990s.
David Buckley
Born in Lowell, Mass, David moved to London and joined the legendary Barracudas who were signed to EMI in 1978. After extensive tours in the UK as well as on the continent, supporting the Tourists (later to become the Eurythmics) and the Stray Cats, David concentrated on his songwriting. He also played and recorded with several other bands. In the early 90s he formed acoustic duo “East Meets West” with István Deréky. They played in clubs and coffee houses mainly in London and toured on the continent and Eastern Europe. They recorded an album in Vienna, Austria which is as yet unreleased. In 1994 David organised a music event in London called ‘Acoustic Cafe’ at the ICA, presenting a cross-section of unplugged London artists of that time. In 1995 he finished his collaboration with István. In August 2000 he played an impromptu gig with Andy Newman and István at a venue in Battersea, London. This was the start of Thunderclap Newman Band, an exciting project to which he is now fully committed.David is also an artist and writer. He graduated from the Boston Museum of Fine Art School and has had several shows of his painting over the last few years.
István Deréky
Born in Budapest, István is a Hungarian musician/songwriter based in the United Kingdom. After he left Hungary, he spent time busking all over Europe. He finally settled in London where he teamed up with David Buckley, an ex-Barracudas member turned singer/songwriter. Together they formed an acoustic duo called East Meets West. They toured Europe in 1991 and the following year they played at the Glastonbury festival.In 1995 East Meets West went their separate ways. In 2001 István started to perform again in London, this time as a solo artist. In April 2001 his song “Yuri Gagarin”, which he wrote for the 40th anniversary of Yuri’s historic flight in space, won a special prize in a Gagarin competition organised by Moscow’s Voice of Russia radio station. Having met Andy in 1985 István feels privileged to be able to play alongside him in the Thunderclap Newman Band.
Antonio Spano
Professional drummer and percussionist. After a period of studies with Francis Seriau in London and Valerio Perla in Florence, has worked, as session musician, with several known Italian musicians and artists, also producing some interesting original latin music.Living in London since the early 90’s, enjoys playing live and recording in rock and rock blues bands in London and the southeast of England.A rudimental drummer by formation, he draws musically from the work of drummers like G. Bissonette, D. Weckl, V. Colaiuta, D. Garibaldi, Omar Hakim.
In the mid 90s he met and collaborated with singer/songwriters David Buckley and István Deréky, working on original material. Later has focused his attention on jazz induced by the work of drummers like Jim Chapin, John Marshall, Massimo Manzi, John Riley and the great Billy Hart. In the jazz idiom he has played with a diverse palette of musicians, from American trumpet players Bill Simmons (Michael Bland band) and Tom Hartman to guitarist Andre Emond, trombonist Adrian Clift, sax player Raymond Hardy and pianist Jon Goble.
Established contact again with D. Buckley and I. Deréky when it became impossible to involve the late John “Speedy” Keen in a project with Andy “Thunderclap” Newman, he is now committed to playing with the Thunderclap Newman Band.
He plays exclusively Fibes Drums and Turkish Cymbals.
Stefanos Tsourelis
Born in Larisa, Greece. His music experience started at the age of eleven as rhythm and lute player. At 14 he became interested in the electric guitar which he taught himself. Later on he started taking lessons in modern guitar and harmony. Alongside this he carried on studying the classical oud. Having initially explored rock music, he gradually developed his skills as a Progressive Rock and Jazz Fusion player.Since the age of 17 he has performed professionally at concerts as well as taking part in recordings with various Greek musicians as a guitarist and oud player. Over this period he explored different styles from rock, blues, funk to reggae, fusion and world music. In the last five years he has experimented with world music, mixing Mediterranean sounds and rhythms. In 2005 he moved to London and subsequently joined the Thunderclap Newman Band.
Brian Jackson
Brian grew up in Kent, the “Garden of England”. In the last 15 years he has played in various rock and blues bands one of which was Parisienne Blonde. With this band he toured the UK. They made one album and four singles.Another project he was involved in was a band called “So What”. This band was fronted by renowned rhythm guitar player Brian Pendleton who was the guitarist with the Pretty Things. The music was mainly rhythm and blues with a touch of jazz.Before joining the Thunderclap Newman Band , Brian played bass with a band called “Blues Company” where he met István.