Pete Townshend Remembers the ‘Great Adventure’ of Who Offshoot Band Thunderclap Newman

Thunderclap Newman have largely gone down in rock history as a one hit wonder band thanks to their psychedelic masterpiece “Something In The Air,” which went to number one on the UK charts in 1969 and has been covered by everyone from Tom Petty to Labelle, Eurythmics, and Elbow. But early Seventies rock aficionados know about the profound brilliance of their album Hollywood Dream, and the role that Pete Townshend took in assembling the group alongside Who manager Kit Lambert. 

Core Thunderclap Newman members John “Speedy” Keen,” Andy Newman, and Jimmy McCulloch have all died, but writer Mark Ian Wilkerson poured through their history to create Hollywood Dream: The Thunderclap Newman Story. It’s the definitive guide to their history featuring 50 new interviews. (Click here to purchase it.) Pete Townshend wrote the intro, which you can read in full right here.

Mark Wilkerson has brought into the present my early years at Ealing Art College in 1963. That was when Andy Newman — alias Thunderclap — enchanted me with his piano playing. And according to a legend I had almost forgotten, went on to advise me how to build my first home recording studio.

Andy, with the very young Jimmy McCulloch and John “Speedy” Keen, ended up in Thunderclap Newman, a band I created named after Andy, which — had I had my way — would have had a few more members. It was in 1968 I was attempting to gather a group of artists for a new record label I wanted to call “Talkus.” They were, Andy Newman, Jimmy McCulloch, Tiny Tim, Arthur Brown, Steve Baron, Ron Geesin, Chris Morphet (known mainly as a photographer) and even some of the lunatics who ended up in a band called Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. One thing was missing for all those folk, and that was a hit song (although Arthur Brown had “Fire” which was a big hit in his back pocket, I didn’t know that at first). I had a feeling I could write a hit for them, or that my friend at the time Speedy could come up with something. Speedy wrote the divine “Something In The Air,” and became the lead singer and studio drummer for the band, the only three I could keep my grip on that is.

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Mark brings the many strands of this story together, one that unfolded even as I was bringing Tommy to The Who and beyond. My dedication, to help the waifs and strays and eccentrics of the music world together, continues to this day. I must admit that I learn more from working with other artists than I do working alone, and through them all have, like Rick Rubin, produced a philosophy of recording studio craft that sustains me every day. Creativity sparks creativity, and eccentricity in an artist is sublime — look at the list of chart-topping superstars of the past: they are all slightly nuts. They are all slightly brilliant too.

For me Thunderclap Newman was a great adventure and one I try to relive often. The recording studio at worst can be a grinding machine in some ways, but a happy place for me in particular, especially when I am in charge. For all three of them the success of their one big hit “Something In The Air” saw each of them move on to new lives, and new adventures, some wonderful, some tragic. Who knew that great music could be created this way? Well I did even if the three members of the band were unsure at first.

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I will turn to Wilkerson’s book again and again to be reminded of my three dear friends who comprised the band Thunderclap Newman. It’s carefully and devotedly researched with lots of input from all kinds of other friends of mine who shared their journey, and that itself builds a unique picture of the kind of Boiler Room world that musicians thrived in during the mid to late Sixties. When the Beatles were hauling Mellotrons into the studio, Andy Newman was hauling his massive Contrabass Saxophone along with his Kazoo.

This book says it all, that creativity and even hit-records sometimes, can be more about play than work. Musicians play, and when the hard work begins as it must, they sometimes fall by the wayside. The tragedy I spoke of earlier is simply that there was only one Thunderclap Newman album, the beautiful Hollywood Dream, recorded entirely in my home studio which was in a room meant to be a small bathroom. The saddest part of it all is that they don’t exist today. This book brings them back to life.