We’re super-excited to be speaking today with acclaimed singer/songwriter and performer extraordinaire, THUNDERCLAP; greetings and salutations, my friend! Before we dive into the musical Q&A swimming hole, how has your summer of ‘23 been treating you?
Thanks for humouring my existence one and all; not to start this off on the wrong foot but It’s been weird, sad, and filled with horrible anxiety. I’ve been swimming in the Chippawa Creek most days. That fast flowing water way has magical and healing powers, I usually feel half right by the end of every summer.

Major congratulations on the upcoming August 20 release of your new LP Strange Songs for Strange Times! Starting from the top, what was the genesis of this unique gem of an album? How did it come to enter into your psyche/stratosphere?
Well, Covid was hard on all of us in one way or another, and it seems that we all individually came to our own epiphanies and how to reconcile with those insights. Lets face it, it’s been weird all around, soooo the album essentially journalizes (if only abstractly) the last 3-4 years of western society. Welcome to the strangest times of our lives. . .

Joe Lapinski co-produced, recorded and mixed Strange Songs for Strange Times. What was your collaboration process like with Joe in the studio?
Joe’s up for any ideas, he takes his own risks when given the chance, he’s a great multi instrumentalist, really knows his way around a studio, he brings me tea upon request, and he smells just great.

In your humble opinion, what differentiates Strange Songs for Strange Times from the distinguished competition on the 2023 music scene?
Well although music is of-coarse subjective; I’m not drake, Harry Styles, or the Weeknd (to name a few) sooo I guess I’m already ahead of the pack in that regard!  Discuss amongst your selves. . .

Alongside the musical tracks, Strange Songs for Strange Times features six spoken word pieces which enlists the talents of the legendary George Noory of Coast to Coast AM fame. Was it always your intention to work with George on this album, or was this a late-in-the-day development? How did the collaboration with George come about?
Joe Lapinski and I were both long time fans of Coast to Coast AM.  For years we’d commune and laugh like hell at this one indie song that Coast to Coast would play during their commercial breaks & we’d toy with the idea of collaborating on a brand appropriate original composition to submit for their station breaks! (like if that terrible aforementioned song could attract their eye, then surely we could present something better). So many years later when Joe & I found ourselves actually working together, I jokingly brought up the idea of trying to contact Mr. Noory to collaborate, and not long after that and a dozen dozen emails later I got the man in question in direct correspondence and he agreed to be involved after reading my submitted transcript. Still hard to believe that he’s on my album, it just works on so many levels.

You’re originally from Niagara Falls, ON. How do those roots inform you as a musician?
Niagara Falls is like a smaller, spookier cheesier version of Las Vegas. Its a blue collar community teaming with misfits, outcasts and lone wolves. I don’t have ONE goddamned friend or family member who owns a cottage up north OR would even think about inviting me to their cottage IF they even had one. Interpret that as you may.

Who inspires you, musically and otherwise?
Musical Documentaries, human psychology, the intricacies of human behaviour, stories, the unsolvable puzzle which is the modern music industry and how to be self sustainable within it’s voracious unrelenting death grip.

On the heels of the August 20 release of Strange Songs for Strange Times, can fans look forward to seeing you on the performing/touring circuit?
Yup, I’ve intentionally kept performing to a minimum as I’ve needed to concentrate on the business side of things. Beyond Sept 23′ I’m ramping up live performing as much as possible, I’m really looking forward to revamping my stage show for a future of much more touring.

We’re big admirers of the tune “An Afterthought” off of the upcoming Strange Songs for Strange Times. Is there a story behind this song?
Well spank you very much! An Afterthought, is just that (although it works as a separate stand alone piece), it’s the afterthought of the prior song We All Lose Someone Sometimes; which is my theorizing that the severe grief experienced after the death of a loved one COULD be mistaken as OR said to be in actuality: A nervous breakdown.  Soooo An Afterthought is essentially my personal thoughts about what we can personally do after the big grief, after the big loss that eventually strikes us all down and devastates our mind.

At the end of the day, what do you hope listeners walk away with after giving many-a spin to Strange Songs for Strange Times?
I can only hope to whisk the listener into my world for a brief time and share my angle of thinking. Perhaps some of my listeners will see things the way I do and yes, be entertained, but more importantly perhaps feel a bit less alone? perhaps? maybe?

As a songwriter, which generally comes first for you – The lyrics or the music?
The lyrics always comes first and then I force the music over them; like stretching an ill fitted tweed onesie onto a difficult screaming child, the child is coaxed with treats, the treats turnout to be mustard pops, the child then learns to love both the tweed fabric and the biting tang of the mustard seed.

Thanks for spending some time with us, THUNDERCLAP! Where can fans go to find out more about you and the upcoming release?
In order to know me, I’d advise you to abolish your ego through the possible experimentation of various psychedelics (safe doses of coarse), and you know, live a healthy mixture of tragedy, hijinx & hilarity, and look in the bushes out side your window, that’s me in the red pants, hellooooo!!!! :).  . . .other than this: https://www.thunderclap.ca/