A genuine NWOBHM legend, few people can have claimed to have played with two of the biggest bands of the era but Barry Graham Purkis, better known as Thunderstick, can with stints with Iron Maiden and Samson under his belt.
Always an incredible showman, his musical and visual contribution to Paul Samson’s superb troupe brought them massive attention and a cover of the seminal Sounds weekly.
Forming the titular band in the 1980’s, Thunderstick toured relentlessly and released some superb albums in their six years of existence before splitting in ’86 but reforming thirty years later and haven’t looked back since.
This double A side single is the band’s first with new singer Raven Blackwing and has all the excitement of the emerging movement back in those halcyon days when Saxon et al were poised to conquer the Earth but with way better production.
‘Go Sleep…’ is a 100mph punky delight with a rockabilly spirit with enough juice that it could light up a small town and, in a rather delightfully perverse move, the flip side is an acoustic driven, folky power ballad that really highlights Blackwing’s terrific vocals and the song writing skills of the ensemble. Two tracks, two very different sides of the same coin, two reasons to check out the single immediately.
Review by Paul Monkhouse for MPM