Who Is Thunder Jackson?
11.14.2019 @ Ponyboy in Oklahoma City, OK
interview by Liz Watts + photos by Madelyn Amacher
“My biggest problem with the identity thing is I think everybody just gets sucked into a face before they listen to music, “ said Kyle Bradley, our answer to “Who is Thunder Jackson?”
“I’ve looked at people and…you already judge what’s coming out. I just think it’s cool to listen to music and create your own image of how it is.”
Before I sat down to chat with Kyle at his hometown gig in Oklahoma City, all I knew about Thunder Jackson was that no one really knew who he was. His tune “Guilty Party” had been dancing around in my head after hearing it on friend’s Spotify playlist while driving around a tiny town in England. Fast forward a few months and I see a promo post for a Thunder Jackson show in OKC. Without skipping a beat, the perplexed and quizzical voice from the beginning of his debut track asking “What exactly is a Thunder Jackson?” played in my mind.
I searched the internet for more information who Thunder Jackson is, but I didn’t come up with much. Article after article taught me that “Guilty Party” was one hell of a debut that came together after a guy from Oklahoma City and a guy from Cardiff met in a taxi- and that was it. The track went viral in 2017 and even after the fame, the popularity, and the success was right there, all Thunder Jackson gave us was a phone number and a scribbled out face.
You’ll find that these thoughts, conceived as songs and characteristics of Kyle Bradley’s mysterious musical persona, are what gives Thunder Jackson his sound and relatability- and why Thunder Jackson and that infamous question have been floating around the pop scene.
HPM: Do you think it should be a whole new experience seeing someone live?
TJ: Totally! I think seeing an artist live is, to me, more important than making a record. When we finally finished the record, I was like “Thank fucking God.” We worked on it for three and a half years. I’m more of a live guy. I can sit in a studio for so long- but like my producer hates playing live and only wants to sit in the studio. I love the studio, but I wanna perform, I wanna be theatrical. Like Prince, I think he’s an example of separating live from album. His albums are great but his live shows made him the biggest artist in the world.
Listening to this, if you didn’t know who Prince was, you’d be like “Ok, it’s poppy, it’s upbeat.” I think that’s what is beautiful about separating identity and music. That’s just my opinion, some people would probably disagree.
How did you get that idea planted in your head? Separating your real identity from the music you’re putting out?
TJ: Me and my producer Pete started making record in 2014. Nothing like what it is sounding like now. When we came up with the name, we were in the woods camping, like tripping on mushrooms, and we were like “We’ve got to come up with a name!” And Thunder Jackson came around and we kinda laughed about it and the next day we were like “Yeah, let’s roll with the name and then maybe that’ll help with the music.” Once you have the name, you can kinda base it on that.
Do you think that ties back to the identity thing though? People see the name and say “oh!”
TJ: Yeah, Thunder Jackson is a loud name, so exactly. It goes hand in hand with identity. You have this name and it just helps. I have this name now and I ask “What would this name do?”
Is that how you’ve written this album then? Based on the name?
TJ: So, Thunder Jackson is a character- more than it is me.
Are you the character when you’re writing and on stage?
TJ: Not the character all the time. Writing lyrics, I write it from a different perspective. I write it from Kyle Bradley but ask “If Thunder Jackson was in this circumstance…?” It just makes it so much fun because I’m writing stories. Obviously a lot is based off of things that have happened to me personally, but I’m able to be a little bit more creative. Say I had a heart break- if I wanted to go write a ballad, I would have to be like “How was I feeling? How do you think Thunder Jackson felt?” It just helps progress with music and songs. I think that’s how the whole face thing came about. We had this name and this brand and what we did was we got a phone number and we put a video out and we were like “Let’s not show our faces and have everyone contact us through a phone.” So everyone called us- labels, management, everybody was like “Hey is this uhhh…Thunder Jackson?”
Was this after “Guilty Party?”
TJ: At the end of the “Guilty Party” video, it had the number because that’s how I wanted people to get ahold of me. I didn’t have any social media- no Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook- all I had was this fucking phone number. And it was fucking amazing! I compiled this whole resume and it helped with signing and stuff. It was amazing how my producer and I were on the same page about separating my face and from reality and just letting the music carry it’s own weight. It’s old, definitely. It could’ve just gotten like a thousand views and I could’ve been a nobody, but somehow it worked. Now I show my face but what it’s turned into- “Who is Thunder Jackson?”- kind of turned into not literally who is Thunder Jackson, but who we all are- finding yourself along the journey of life and music. Theres a song called “Find Yourself” on the record and it’s all about personal journeys.
That’s what the whole record is about- the whole project. Who are we? Who are we gonna be? Who do we wanna be? And I think thats really powerful. Everyone can relate to that.
There have been mornings when I’ve woken up and been like “Who the fuck am I? What the fuck am I doing? What’s the point of this?” And once I finally figured out who I wanted to be, it was amazing. And I hope when people listen to the music, they think “I wanna find myself. I need to go on this journey. Who am I?” Nothing I do is literal. When I write something, theres nothing just on the surface. People ask “Who is Thunder Jackson? It must be you!”
Do you think you’ll always have this persona? As you change and grow do you think Thunder Jackson will as well?
TJ: For sure- everybody constantly grows. If I stayed the same that I was right now until I fucking die, I’d live a pretty boring life. But I think the Thunder Jackson persona grows too. There’s something beautiful about consistency in art though, as well. If I stay consistent in who I am, that’s great… but I’ll also go through changes in life just like everybody else. That’s what’s beautiful about humans, people on the journey understand that you might know who you are or you’ll never figure it out and thats’ totally fine as well. So, will I stay the same? I don’t know. But will I live vicariously through the first character I ever created? For sure.
Do you think after releasing “Guilty Party” and having that incredible feedback that there is pressure to make more songs, more albums, more content, that gets that same feedback?
TJ: When you have a song that goes mainstream in a way that it gets millions of plays, there is a pressure for sure. It’s like “The next song I put out, if its not like “Guilty Party,” will people even care?” It took me a long time. I was having crazy panic attacks lilke, “Dude we’re making the wrong kind of record.” When we were making “Guilty Party,” it was amazing but I wouldn’t say the rest of the record was like it. I was like “Dude we fucked up. We made an amazing song and put it out and now like, what do we do now?” I think a lot of artists feel that- they don’t wanna be that one-hit. It took me a lot of growth and maturity to realize that having one song doesn’t defy you. What I put out is what I have and if you wanna take it, take it. As long as I know I gave the rest of the album all I could and didn’t just base it off one song, I’m happy. I hope other people are- it’s hard.
You have to understand that setting a goal is invisable. I think there are songs better than “Guilty Party” but he might not or you might not. And that’s what makes art amazing as well. I might release the album tomorrow and people might be like “‘Guilty Party’ is the worst song on the album!” And I’ll bee like “Hell yeah!” Because art is subjective. Anyone can interpret it in anyway. But to answer your question, there is pressure- But it’s non- existent if you think about the whole arts perspective.
Yeah! And who says that having one big hit means the rest of your stuff won’t be as good?
TJ: It’s just rules I make up in my own head that I think is the way to go.
Do you think you look for validation in numbers, the people you love thinking what you do is great, or just what you feel is great?
TJ: I’ve never been like a social media or a numbers guy, but the biggest validation I’ve ever gotten from making this music was at a big party in Joshua Tree for my buddy’s birthday with like 30 people there. Somebody threw on “Guilty Party” and all 30 of my best friends were dancing and singing every lyric.
And that was the most validation I’ve ever gotten from anything I’ve ever done. I just sat back and was full of tears. If my life ended that next day, I would’ve been so content. In my eyes, I was like “ I made an impact.” If it was 30 people for 1000 people, it doesn’t matter.
The numbers of it, it is great to have 2 million plays. There are people that are like “You have that many plays so you must be legit,” and I think thats kinda bullshit but, I know some things that I don’t like that have way more. It’s more about the people around me- my friends and family who are behind it. Not even just my friends, but like the random people at the bar that are like “Oh, you’reThunder Jackson?” And they say “‘Guilty Party,’ that song, I play it at every party I have!” And that’s where I started getting the validation. Especially when I moved out here [to Oklahoma City], I didn’t show my face so when I did, it started to catch on and all these local people are like “I love what you’re doing for the community moving back and claiming OKC!”
I want my friends and family to be apart of this. I want Oklahoma to be a part of this whole journey. So that where I get the most validation- more than numbers.
Did it feel like a step back coming to OKC?
TJ: Never. Obviously it’s complete different than Los Angeles but it’s amazing. I found an amazing band. I moved back because I could’ve found a band in LA easily but I know there’s people here that would love the opportunity and they’re just as good as anyone in the world. I hired my best friend as the tour manager, my sister, and two people that I met when I moved and it’s been amazing.
I will claim this state until I die- I’m an Oklahoma artist. Never a step backward, always forward.
Did you feel like you had to move out of here to find out who you were/who Thunder Jackson was?
TJ: Yes, unfortunately. I wish I didn’t have to say yes. But, just like I hand picked this band and think they’re one of the best Oklahoma bands, if Swin Fan (the band opening) played in LA, they’d be one of the coolest bands. It’s just the fact that there is support in the local scene, but there’s not labels, there’s not management, there’s not talent agencies that push it hard enough.
They’re always trying to get people to come to Oklahoma instead of trying to start here and then go outwards. It’s sad and unfortunate and I hope one day I’m in a position where I can come and totally help people. Theres nobody to say like “I wanna take advantage of this amazing music scene and help manage these artists and get on tour. I wanna help them get merch and do all this.” People here are like “Yeah, we started this in our garage and we’ll take any gig we can get.” Theres killer artists out here. It’s frustrating, but it does benefit you to leave.
Do you make artists want to stay here so they can get somewhere else? Or do you make them want to stay here and grow here? I feel like around here, you get a band and say “Ill help you grow so you can get to NY or LA.” Is there a cap on how big you can get?
TJ: I think theres definitely a cap. In LA, there’s a cap. You can only get so big. You play a 400 cap venue, and it stops. theres a band I saw 6 years ago and then again a few months ago, playing the same rowd. theres nothing wrong with realizing you have to leave. Just know where you came from. theres Oklahoma bands I’ve met in LA and they don’t claim Oklahoma. Its so frustrating to me- like why do you want o be an LA band? Prince claimed Minneapolis until the day he fucking died. He lived in LA and Europe, he lived everywhere. But, Minneapolis Minnesota was his town and he claimed that. That’s why he was the coolest. There are so many artists that do that. People leave here and say “Fuck Oklahoma! They didn’t give me anything!” Its just so…upsetting to me, because you’re missing a big part of your journey.
Do you feel like its a duty of yours to get to a certain point and then come back to help the community?
TJ: Totally, 100%. I want nothing more than to work my ass off until I’m at the point where I can come back and help every sing oklahoma artist. And not that I’m some god r hometown hero of any sprt, but I hope I’m in that position- or another band. If its not me, maybe its some other band that blows up and helps me. I hope that community happens in Oklahoma.
Since you have already had such great viral success and it’s already ticked off your list, what are you focusing on?
TJ: It’s one tick out of a thousand…an infinite amount of ticks. As an artist, you make a tick and then say “Well what’s fucking next?” But it is great- I reached a milestone that 16-year-old me never would have dreamt. I’ve been on a tour for the last two months, I’ve played to lots of people, I’ve made an album, I’ve lived in LA, I have management, signed to a label- done everything anyone could dream of. But there’s a thousand more.
