| No band needs to be told that getting anywhere in the music business requires dedication and compromise. They’ll travel for days at a time to play at out-of-state venues in front of crowds that may contain anywhere from two to 200 people. But while traveling is one thing, relocating completely is another.
Just ask San Diego’s Thunderhed, who for the sake of their craft trekked all the way from the almost perpetually snow-covered Alaskan landscape to the sun-soaked sidewalks of San Diego.
“If you want to be in any kind of band up there, you got to play other people’s material,” says lead guitarist Jason Carter of the band’s old stomping grounds. “You have to play these little dives and there’s no market for original music up in Alaska.”
The band formed in the mid-90s and christened themselves Thunderhed in 1995. The following year they performed as an opening act for Ozzy Osbourne. Due to what guitarist “Rippin’” Ronn Thomas calls “power trippers in the band,” Thunderhed broke up not long after, only to reform in 1997, when Thomas met lead singer Jeff Sturgeon.
“It’s been full force ever since,” Thomas says.
After reuniting, Thunderhed found themselves sharing the stage with notables such as Pantera and Megadeth, but the nevertheless floundering music scene wasn’t helping the band get its name out.
“There’s no clubs up in Alaska that really open their arms to original music, unless they dedicate specific night of the month for it,” says Carter. It’s just all about ‘come in here and play everybody else’s shit.’ It just didn’t make sense for what we were trying to do.”
In 2001, the band decided to leave the nest and transplant itself to San Diego, a decidedly different atmosphere than that of Anchorage. The move wasn’t exactly a cakewalk.
“It was rough. Not all of us arrived at the same time,” Carter says. “Three of us got here and we waited a year and a half for the other three to arrive, and then only two of the three showed up.”
Thunderhed’s original drummer opted to relinquish his duties in the band and stay in Alaska. Luckily, Justin Evans stepped up to the kit to fulfill drum duties in the band until early 2005, when he was replaced by Sean Cameron.
“It was a rough transition,” Carter says. “We were down here twiddling our thumbs for quite a while.”
Compared to the veritable wasteland that was the Anchorage music scene, San Diego was thriving, and Thunderhed soon found themselves playing alongside several other bands that specialized in their style. Where once they were the only game in town, they had now become one of many local hard rock acts on the circuit, which according to the band can also be a positive. |
“You see other bands that are good, it just makes you try that much harder,” says bassist Jake Mamula. “So, it’s not really a bad thing.”
For now, the band is focused on cultivating its fan base.
“It’s the ultimate point, to get fans,” Mamula says. “Work the circuit, work the scene and play everywhere we can.”
After building a considerable following in Alaska, starting from square one in San Diego has been tough, but the band soldiers on nonetheless.
“We had gained a pretty good fan base in Alaska. Whenever we played a show, there was a good amount of people there,” says Mamula. “So, when we came down here and there’s two people in front of us, you just have to suck it up and play your best.”
Despite their history and following in the far north, Thunderhed are currently comfortable in their own skin and don’t have any plans to return to Alaska.
“Maybe if we’re signed some day,” jokes “Rippin’” Ronn.
Currently, the band just wants to keep hammering away, playing their old-school brand of gritty, 80s-rooted power metal to whoever might be listening, using whatever resources are available to promote themselves.
Recording is also another future goal for Thunderhed, who have amassed a large wellspring of material in the time they’ve been playing and writing songs.
Of the new material Ronn says that even though the music has evolved, “It’s still heavy and it’s still metal.”
“That is definitely a big talk in the band right now, is to get a new recording, because we’ve got a bunch of new music that’s just sitting there and needs to be promoted and put on a CD,” says Thomas. “Money is everything.”
He means, of course, collecting the funds to record, produce and distribute a new recording, which never come easy for unsigned bands trying to penetrate a local audience.
As important as money is, the last thing on Thunderhed’s mind is compromising their integrity as artists and musicians for the sake of commercial success.
As Carter rather amusingly puts it: “(People have told us,) ‘If you choose this verse and you rewrite this chorus here, we’ll put it on the radio for you.’ They’re going to get a couple of big middle fingers.”
The band concedes, however, that some amount of financial gain is something of a necessary evil for bands to stay afloat, much less branch out.
“It’s all about the money, man,” Carter says. “And that’s not why we’re in this. We’re in this because we just love to play music. But to one day get paid for your hard work sure would be nice. We’ll keep our day jobs for now.” |
