Thunder On The Left became a wonderful discovery after we of The Moshville Times attended the Loud Women Festival 2017. At 5:30pm that evening a three-piece exploded my ear drums, engulfed the venue with heavy drums, powerful guitar riffs, a freaky bass solo… and this lot smashed their way into my psyche for the next thirty minutes. Vocalist/guitarist Carla, on stage, has a presence many only dream of.
We managed to ask a few questions.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Carla is from Belfast, Arun is from Berkshire and Adam is from Beijing.
How did you meet?
A Tinder group date that went strangely wrong but right at the same time.
We are all really glad we swiped left. Nobody thought it was odd to meet at a graveyard at midnight during a full moon. It was meant to be.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
A book we all wrote in a past-life, called (drum roll) Thunder On The Left. The book is about being disillusioned with society, which sums up our music perfectly.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
TOTL is a melting pot of each of our experiences and influences in terms of the sound, and we tend to blend elements of riff based rock, progressive rock, hip hop, and R’N’B.  What makes us unique is that we play it, simple as that.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Words, mainly.
If you could describe your music in the form of a fictional character, who would it be?Â
Gotham City.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Carla called out a sound engineer who was really sexist towards her in a sound check (at one point he asked her was she deaf even though the monitors were f$%ked) and generally tried to demean her in front of other people in the sound check. During the gig she called him out on it and told the audience about it, and then the audience ended up getting involved and shouting at him during the gig. Everything got pretty raucous. We use our own sound engineer normally so as not to have to deal with shit like that.
Recently we heard you at the Loud Women festival. How did that come about?
We got asked to play it as we played a couple of LW shows before.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Carla – Fender Telecaster, many pedals, Fender Deluxe Reverb ’65 re-issue Amp.
Adam, Gibson SG bass and Fender Rumble V3 Amp.
Arun, Zildjian cymbals and Sonar Drums.
Who came up with the idea for the cover of your Art of Letting Go EP cover?
All of us, then Adam actually designed it with our logo on top of the two faces it. It was originally an old creepy Halloween photo from the 1920’s.
Now, I’m a tattoo fan, so can you tell me where you got your ink and what you have?
Ivan Bor at Hammersmith Tattoos – he is the man. Tattoos are meant to be seen, not heard.
What are your plans for the rest of 2017 and the start of 2018?
That would be telling…
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before.
We would love to support Idles, and would fit really well with them.
We would love to have Dead Arms open for us, and are doing a show with them this Thursday at The Black Heart on the 14th of September.
A question from previous band of the day Crystal Ignite:Â Have you been to Australia? Do you think it’s true they have pet kangaroos in their back yard and what is your opinion on drop bears?
*Tumbleweeds*
And from The Blend:Â What do you put on your toast?
Cynicism.
See them at the  Old Blue Last,  28th September in East London. Do it. You won’t regret it. We will be there.
Header image by and (c)Â Aaron Thompson
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFM7C4073mc
