Luke Morley is best known as the lead guitarist and chief songwriter for the British rock band Thunder, a group that has earned a loyal following and critical acclaim since their formation in the late 1980s. With a distinctive blend of hard rock swagger and melodic sensibility, Morley has been instrumental in shaping the band’s sound across a string of successful albums, including ‘Backstreet Symphony,' ‘Laughing on Judgement Day,' and, most recently, ‘Dopamine.' Beyond his work with Thunder, he has also collaborated on various side projects, including the band The Union with Peter Shoulder, showcasing his versatility as a musician and producer in that project. Most recently Morley has joined fellow UK rockers, The Quireboys as their six-string wizard.
Now stepping further into the solo spotlight, Morley returns with ‘Walking on Water,' his new solo album and a bold follow-up to 2023’s ‘Songs from the Blue Room.' The new record reflects his growth as a songwriter and artist, blending bluesy guitar work, soulful vocals with a Morley's trademark biting lyrical approach. In this interview, Luke talks about the inspirations behind ‘Walking on Water,' how it differs from his previous work, and why stepping outside the band framework continues to challenge and inspire him creatively.
Lovely to talk to you today Luke, we appreciate you giving up your time. Before we dive into ‘Walking on Water' – looking back on the ‘Songs From the Blue Room' album and that phase in your career – what would you say was the most positive effect that came out of that album and period?
I think, probably, the reaction to it was much better than I anticipated! (laughing) People seemed to really enjoy it. The tour was great fun too – i wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it……. but I did! The whole experience was a really positive one for me. Obviously circumstances dictated everything with Danny (Bowes, Thunder lead singer) not being well and had that not happened I probably wouldn't have done it. I think doing that album also made working on this one a little easier too.
When we spoke around the release of ‘….Blue Room' and the tour you were not 100% convinced about the voracity of your vocals. Did that phase also give you more confidence as a vocalist because I think the vocals on ‘Walking on Water' are much stronger, not that there was anything wrong with them on ‘Songs From the Blue Room'!
Possibly, yes. I've not thought about that angle as much. I've always sung at home making demos for Thunder but it was the tour that really gave me the confidence to have that belief in myself. I wasn't convinced I could sing live seven shows in a row! My voice got stronger as it went on which gave me a major confidence boost which meant going into this album I was much more relaxed about it.
Writing for my voice is not something that I've done a lot of so, hopefully, the more I do it, the better I'll get at it! (laughing)
Off the back of that album you stepped into a role as guitarist with The Quireboys. Was it odd stepping into another band set up after all those years of knowing how and why Thunder worked?
Yes and no. Yes, from the point of view that Thunder has always been a very well oiled machine and runs in a certain way. There are protocols in place for pretty much everything there – The Quireboys? You can forget all that! (laughing)
It's utter chaos! Just before I started I did a phone call with Willie Dowling, who obviously plays keys with The Quireboys at the moment, and we both agreed to just embrace the chaos! That's how it is and that's how Spike works and functions. He knows what he's doing and has always worked in that way.
Was it refreshing rocking up as a hired hand and not having the commercial weight and marketing responsibilities on your shoulders like you do with Thunder?
That's true although I did end up producing the last Quireboys album! I've known Spike since the mid 80s, we've played on the same bills numerous times all over the place so for me it wasn't so much of a hardship or too difficult to integrate into that organisation.
The general vibe and feel of ‘Walking on Water' is rockier, to my ears, than ‘Songs From the Blue Room' was. Did you go into the project with that intention or is that just how the songs organically emerged?
No, that's just how they came out. The possible influence there, maybe, is that I haven't written a Thunder album for three or four years now so maybe some of those influences were at play and maybe some of the songs would have gone in a more ‘Thunder direction' if we had been putting something together for the band.
A few people have already commented that it sounds a bit like Thunder and my general reply is usually something like, ‘Well, it always is going to sound a little bit like Thunder!' (laughing)
The title track does have a ‘Devil Made Me Do It' vibe. Is it about anyone in particular or is the song more about a type of person?
It's kind of….. look, if you're looking at people like Donald Trump and Putin and those dictators or would be dictators, you'll find a massive amount of vanity. I thought it would be interesting to think that if Jesus did actually come back, there is no guarantee that he would be a nice guy. He might be like a Trump or Putin – vain and seeking power and fame, so the song is about that.
The suit that you wear in the video to ‘Walking on Water' is some flashy piece of gear! Is it hanging up in your wardrobe or did you rent it?
(laughing) It is hanging up in my wardrobe! I'll let you into a little secret, actually. It was probably the last song I wrote for the album. My good friend Jason, who was responsible for the artwork for the album, showed me this water platform and said that we could actually make it look like I was walking on water. I decided to try and write a song with the same name, which is how it actually originated.
That water platform normally gets used for car adverts – you get a perfect reflection in it and I had the idea to go looking for a silver suit. The one that I'm wearing was about £60 all the way from China! (laughing) I thought for £60, if it looks like crap, it doesn't matter, right? Suffice to say, before you ask, I won't be wearing it on tour! When we took the photographs it felt like it was about 80 degrees so god knows what it would feel like under stage lights! (laughing)
If ‘Walking on Water' was the last song written for the album, was it originally going to be called something else?
I didn't have a title until I wrote the song so when we finished it, it took care of that! The art work, the concept and the title all emerged after I'd finished that song.
You've always had a good line in ‘diss-songs' about reprehensible people – even dating back to songs like ‘Fly on the Wall' right through to ‘Just a Grifter.' ‘Snakeskin Parachute' feels like its in that wheelhouse too.
Kind of. That song is more me talking about and looking at myself and saying that if my solo career is a complete disaster I could always start a new heavy rock band! That's the snakeskin metaphor and the ‘parachute' aspect of it is me very softly landing back in the heavy rock space that most people associate me with.
The song is kind of about me, I suppose.
The reference to ‘loser' in the first verse – is that a cheeky little reference back to the Thunder song of the same name?
Sort of, yeah. As I was writing it it occurred to me that it was a call back to Thunder so I decided to leave it in there.
“Natural High' seems to be a perfect antidote to these times of political troubles, uncertainty and chaos around the world. Is it more harder to write songs like ‘Natural High' now than it was 30 years ago or is it more important that they exist now?
That's a good question. There's a lot of negativity around in the world right now so to write a kind of happy, positive, uplifting tune is a good thing. One of the things that music should do is make you feel better. That song fell out of me quite quickly once I had the idea – I've always like a balance of dark and light and the yin and the yang on the albums that I've made.
So the yang to ‘Natural High”s yin is probably ‘Bullets' then, which is a scathing indictment of modern life!
(laughing) That's a nice way of putting it because you could just say that that song is just an old git complaining! We all become the thing that we look at when we're younger when we say ‘We're not going to become like that!' (laughing)
The twist to that song is that it is about a 20 year old me cast forward into today's world – so it does have a narrative and isn't just me moaning all the time! I imagined how 20 year old me would feel cast forward in time to 2025.
As a fan of yours right back through the the Terraplane days – do you feel like you've got more militant as you've aged? Because usually get more conservative with age.
Crikey. That's a good question. I have little periods where things bother me a lot and I feel the need to write about them. The ‘All the Right Noises' album came out at a time where I was really pissed off with the state of things, so that came across as quite a political or societal album. I oscillate between being pissed off and feeling like there is nothing I can do about it anyway! Somewhere in the middle is the truth I guess.
My politics have always been slightly towards the left but these days it's so difficult to tell one party from another so I'm not sure what I believe in anymore….. no, that's wrong, I know what I believe in I'm just not sure who represents me any more.
The flipside of a song like ‘Bullets' is album closer, ‘In Your Light,' which seems to tap into the ‘que sera sera' side of you that says there isn't a lot you can do about the state of things.
That song is really about getting older and knowing what is important to you. During lockdown…… which I know wasn't at all good for many, many people but my wife and myself had a great time. We haven't got any kids, which made it easier and the weather was great so we spent a lot of time outside drinking wine! It made our relationship stronger, if anything, and ‘In Your Light' is reflecting on where I am in my life now and where we are as a couple. It's also about the beauty that exists in everyday life and simple things, which is easy to forget at times with modern life being the way it is.
I'm very proud of that song – it's so simple and the hardest thing to do as a writer, sometimes, is lean into simplicity because there is always the temptation to add in more rather than just be happy with what you've got.
There's a hell of a guitar solo in ‘Breathe' and ‘Don't You Cry Now' has a great guitar solo in too. Do you have a favourite guitar solo at all? I think I've seen you play the solo to ‘Love Walked In' at least 30 times now.
I have one that I dread playing! (laughing) And that's the solo in ‘Don't Wait For Me.' It's so bloody difficult and it changes key three times – there's no escape clause! It's a lovely thing to play guitar – those two songs you mentioned won't surprise people in the way they sound. ‘Breathe' is a kind of power ballad that people are used to hearing from me and ‘Don't You Cry Know' is a bit more bluesy – something in that Gary Moore-esque area. I love that kind of music – I'd love to go and play in a little blues band a couple of times a week. I'm very much more like a Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Paul Kossoff or Dave Gilmour kind of guitar player rather than these technical whizz kids you see crunching away in their bedrooms on Youtube.
Technique is all well and good and it's great if you are able to play guitar in that way but to me, playing is more about the feelings, the emotions and what the music is saying rather than how it looks.
Danny (Bowes, Thunder lead singer) was out on a speaking tour recently and I know you went to see him at his Brighton show. Can you share with me your feelings about seeing him back up on stage again?
It's fantastic that he did that tour. It just shows that he's very determined to get his life back in a positive way. When you've spent most of your life on stage it's very difficult not to be on stage. This gave him an opportunity to do something that, whilst it was still taxing for him, wasn't as taxing as singing would have been.
I went and had a beer with him at his hotel after the Brighton show and he looked absolutely knackered! He's still building up the stamina levels and they are getting better all the time. It's quite an undertaking to get up on stage and just talk for 90 minutes….. probably not for Danny, actually because he can talk the arse off a donkey! (laughing) To just sit and talk…. I admire him for that so much and hope it's another stage on his way back to be able to get up on stage and sing again.
Luke Morley's fabulous new album, ‘Walking on Water' is out in all the usual places right now.
