Detailed History of Brett Marvin & the Thunderbolts


Detailed History of Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts

	The Formative Years (cont’d)

		Their success continues ...


	The atmosphere at Studio 51 was always relaxed and welcoming; anyone could get up and sing as did Meg, a lovely old bag lady who used to sing Danny Boy without the need for a microphone. Pat and Vi didn't actually have a licence to sell alcohol on a Sunday back then. Instead they would give you an empty teacup and saucer which they would fill with 'tea' in the back room.


	It was while playing at Studio 51 that they had met John Lewis. Studying sociology locally at Kingston, he was also on the blues club circuit, holding down various interval spots playing blues and boogie woogie on piano, to supplement his student grant. John's love of the band was instant. He recalls, "Here was Blind Lemon Jefferson meeting Robert Johnson and playing hypnotic delta boogie, right here in London!" Following a gig at Wolfie Witcher's blues club at the Nag's Head, where the Bretts and John Lewis were separately booked, John discovered that the piano was unplayable for a solo act. The Bretts suggested that he sit in with them instead. As a result, he joined the band as the 6th member in 1969.

	In 1970, Tony McPhee from the Groundhogs invited Brett Marvin and The Thunderbolts to contribute to the recording of a British Blues Collection on the Liberty Label, "Gasoline". Later some of these tracks were reproduced on "Son of Gutbucket", which has been reissued on CD. Soon afterwards, they started a 5 year relationship with Sonet record company and released their first album, 'Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts'. Further details of both recordings including sound bytes, are covered fully in the the The Music section of the website.

The band's unique Delta influenced country blues style, together with some eccentricities in the instrumentation department, including oil drums, zobstick, ironing board, kitchen sink as well as Kid Ory style trombone, ensured their popularity at blues clubs and on the college and university circuit. The Bretts could get whole audiences up on their feet, quite a feat, when the trend was to sit cross legged on the floor, nodding heads in time to the music. Band bookers soon took to putting them on last, or top of the bill, because they knew that the audience would go wild.


	Not only did they sound different, there was always something to look at on stage too. They were true performance artists and audiences learned to expect the unexpected. Keith Trussell might fill the entire stage with brown paper bags, pelt the audience with a dustbin full of oranges, or turn up with an entire three piece suite, standard lamp and vacuum cleaner.