Hailing from the vibrant and culturally diverse country of Colombia, White Thunder storms onto stages, shaking the ground beneath and piercing the skies with their electrifying brand of metal! Dive into our conversation with them to discover what fuels their powerful sound.

TheNwothm: Hey there! Please introduce the band and where you guys are from!

-White Thunder: Cheers Rob, so as for all the NWOTHM team…

We are White Thunder, a heavy metal band from Bogota Colombia which is currently formed by Jordan Triana on bass guitar/backing vocals, Sebastián Leguizamon on drums/backing vocals, and me, the person who’s answering this interview today, Stevens Mathieu on guitars and lead vocals. We’ve been active for 15 years enjoying the process of creating heavy metal with a classical sound.

TheNwothm: Apparently you formed all the way back in 2008! What do you remember from that time period?

White Thunder: We were formed back around 2008 or 2009, yet being completely honest, I don’t actually remember about what year exactly it was haha. The fact is that back then, we didn’t even imagine that we were going to deal with all this in such a serious manner. Anyways, those were awesome years for sure. In Colombia around 2008, there were so many bands playing Thrash Metal; we wanted to be part of it, but our influences were quite distinct: we would listen to Saxon, Holocaust, Grim Reaper, Praying Mantis, etc.

So, we decided to do some Heavy Metal in the roots of the NWoBHM. Our first shows were intense. Many youngsters were so thirsty for a different sound which although was already present in Europe and North America – and had been there for many years already -, hadn’t happened here in Colombia.  Therefore, basically, it seemed to be a novelty; we were not used to have traditional heavy metal bands here. I mean, there were indeed Heavy Metal bands… just that they would have some other sort of influences.

Then, we started making a rawer sound, quite more visceral without dropping our main Heavy genre, and that worked perfectly since we were able to share with those Thrash Metal bands, I mentioned before, but as a plus, we would give a different perspective to the gig which would eventually leave the bar fully crowded, making great events for us as a new band. Even though we still sounded bad haha… We could say that most Colombian bands used to be formed by empiric musicians with no musical training at all; we were not the exception, but we were looking forward to make some Rock ‘n’ Roll.

We started in the right time. Many young people wanted to go to the events. Regardless if the band was already known or not, they would attend with the same kind of energy, pay their tickets, buy some bands merch, etc. So, I think that our own Wave of Traditional Colombian Heavy Metal was born haha. It was awesome! And that filled the lungs of all those bands who, like us, still active continue active nowadays, all to do it better each time. That’s what I remember from those old days. They are very grateful memories.

TheNwothm: And how did you come up with the name “White Thunder?”

White Thunder: Perhaps, the name White Thunder didn’t have so much work when we thought about it, haha. We just talked with the band guys, and thought “if we want it to sound classic, then it must include the word ‘white’ ” following referents such as White Snake, White Spirit, White Heat, White Lion, Great White… It basically had to be white “something”!, hahaha.

At the end we decided for White Thunder taking it froam a song of W.A.S.P. called “Thunderhead“, which chorus was really on me, and I thought that it suited us perfectly. I remember it goes like: “White thunder, a gun to your head, the trigger you’re dead, it’s quicker and there ain’t no doubt”.

You know, I even tried to change the name on some occasions, but our friends did not allow us to do so, as one of them had already got a tattoo with our logo on his arm hahaha.

TheNwothm: You guys are from Bogota, Colombia which is awesome! What can you tell our readers about the country and your culture?

White Thunder: Colombia is a country which has been scourged by violence for so many years. I think that is already part of our metal culture. There are many bands with so extreme sounds… maybe you have heard something about Ultrametal… which is said to have been created here in our country. 

There are many excellent bands in the underground and just a few mainstream-ones. In Bogota, for instance the underground has a high flow: you can even find 10 simultaneous metal gigs each weekend everywhere around the city. It doesn’t imply that there are bigger audiences, but there’s always movement, and the band followers are so loyal to the events. It’s always good times to live when there are concerts. I could say that there’s a brotherhood, and thus, we have given our biggest possible support, so that the scene continues its course, while the bands keep on working. Almost everything is DIY. There are not huge labels, but metal here is always a party: there are plenty of rock bars, lots of booze. Perhaps if the country had a better financial situation, we could get to a better place, but you see… as this is Latin America, nothing is that easy.

TheNwothm: And how would youcompare the heavy metal scene there to other South American countries? Would you say it is thriving?

White Thunder: Yes, obviously there are lots of musical influences for us. I think the scene settles on that fact, for Rock is not the music everyone listens since they are born here in Colombia. So, when we listen to big bands from abroad, we think “Hey, that’s what I wanna do”. On our side, we’ve been highly influenced by the NWoBHM and the 70’s Hard Rock. Just to mention some bands and our clearest influences, I would name Black Sabbath, Tank, Motorhead, Venom, Triarchy, Acid…etc. We’ve always been fans of the 70’s and 80’s English Scene so as of the Swedish and German scenes.

TheNwothm: So who do you guys take influence from musically?

White Thunder: Actually, since we first started to play, the band influences have changed in terms of bands, but not so much in regards of our kind of Rock ‘n Roll. We could say that at the beginning we wanted to sound as Judas Priest, but now we would love to sound like Ted Nugent hahaha… It’s just an example, … At the end, we’ve always ended up doing what our way of playing allows us to do, and that gets built from an amalgam of sounds which does not label our own into a single influence.

TheNwothm: “Vomitando Heavy Metal” was your very first demo released all the way back in 2012 Do you remember writing the songs for that demo? How did it come about? 

White Thunder: Of course I remember, Vomitando Heavy Metal contains three songs that we have been played since the band started, and they are still tracks we are asked for to play in our concerts: “Vomitando Heavy Metal”, “Muere Joven”, and “Indomable”.

We didn’t have any kind of issue when making them, since it was something we had been thinking for a couple years. At the end, everything was about shaping them, and I think now that process is harder because our standards when creating songs have grown. What’s even more, that work was written in Spanish which is our mother language.

TheNwothm: Do you guys usually write together in a room or share files on line?

Steven Taylor: We are more prone to compose in the old way. Somehow, I’ve always had the baton in the band, so I roughly write in my bedroom some ideas, then I call Sebastian and Jordan, we meet there and we start to put everything together. There, I listen to any kind of ideas “we should change this” “let’s fix this part”, and so. By the way, we don’t use any kind of software like guitar pro or stuff like that; it’s all on our heads.

TheNwothm: And are there any main songwriters or do you all contribute equally?

Steven Taylor: As I just mentioned, I’m the main composer, so when I show them an idea, I’ve already thought on the bass line, the drums and the lyrics. But the idea is not definitive yet, as Sebastian and Jordan print on it their influence and their ingenuity to get it to its final version, so that way, everyone is comfortable at the time of playing the songs.

TheNwothm: “Muere Joven” was your debut album in 2015!  Can you tell us about the tracks on the record and the themes it explored?

White Thunder: “Muere Joven” ends up being an idea after many years of work that connects the Demo songs and others that were new at that time. It deals with topics that we’ve always thought are part of the metal genre both in Colombia and around the world. A song such as “Juicio Final” portraits the inconformity towards education and the system laid upon the young, on “Látigos de acero” or “Tiempos de guerra”, we talk about our vision regarding the war that’s been lived in Colombian and the world. Many have said that our lyrics have some punk influence, and well… we cannot deny that hahaha.

TheNwothm: Interesting there is a Virtue cover on the album! What made you decide to include that?

White Thunder: We made Virtue’s cover part of our full-length as a tribute to one of the bands that caught us the most from the NWoBHM. When we heard the single, We Stand to Fight, it blew our minds. We also wanted to perform “High Treason”, but the song “We Stand to Fight” was a frequent song in our shows. Back then, we used to have two guitar players, so we decided to do those type of harmonies through two guitars, and for that, recording it was not hard at all. We had it clear on us!

TheNwothm: So moving away from music for a second can you tell us a bit about yourselves? 

Steven Taylor: We are hard-working people. We don’t live off music. I’m a mechanic, Sebastian is a welder, and Jordan is an engineer who works with system in many places. We met when we were kids, we grew up in the same neighborhood, and we lived closed to each other, so every free time we had, we would spend it gathering, sharing music and learning together a way to play Heavy Metal. I think that’s the reason why our line-up has always had the three of us on it, even after having some other friends join and leave. We decided to stay together as a power trio because we know that we feel and have the same commitment with this project. Hence, we avoid a lot of conflicts, we’ve always gathered with the best attitude to work together in White Thunder.

TheNwothm: And out of the three of you which one spends the longest in front of the mirror, packing down gear and gets all the attention at shows?

Steven Taylor: I don’t know who spends the most time in front of the mirrors, but I hope it’s Jordan hahaha. Obviously the one who spends more time taking care after his equipment is Sebastian. Drums will always be a heavy burden when getting on stage, and after performing before going home. 

About the show, we try to do it equally. Since I am the frontman, I am the one who tells the jokes live hahaha. We really enjoy a lot to be ourselves on stage; I think Heavy Metal gave us that possibility. We are not a rehearsed script; we just get on there to play, but we continue being the same people with whom you would share some beers at the bar’s entrance.

TheNwothm: What can you tell our readers about your 2019 EP ‘Only For Headbangers?” And how would you say it compares to your previous material? 

White Thunder: Something happened on the EP Only for Headbangers. We had decided to play something more into Heavy, more Rock ‘n’ Roll… we wanted to sound more classic. Although this EP was recorded at home on a small interface and an old pc, we got the style we wanted to keep doing. We changed the language in our lyrics, and did not do any social critic anymore. We just wanted to talk about sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. We are considering to record some of those songs with a more professional sound since some of them got a great reception from the local audience. They’ve even made us get some requests from other parts of the world. “I’m the One Who Loves You”, “Speed in my Brain” or “Keep Moving” are songs that have a place on the band’s follower’s memory. That’s why we want be just with those tracks; we know they are good enough, but we really wanna hear them with a better production.

TheNwothm: “Concierto Para Delinquir” was your first live dvd release which you did in a limited run and independently! What made you decide to put a live dvd together especially at that time?

White Thunder: Our DVD hahaha… we released it when nobody used DVD’s. We didn’t know people didn’t have those devices at home anymore, and nobody told us… hahaha. The real idea came from a friend, fan of our band, he would tell us that we were so cool live because we knew how to “turn/lit on” the public, so he thought it would be great to have a recording showing how a White Thunder concert was. We agreed and asked him what we had to do…. That’s how our event “Concierto para delinquir” was born. After, we made some other versions, but we didn’t record them. But people know that when we announce our next “Concierto para delinquir”, it’ll be a tough night with much excess, much rock ‘n’ roll, and the bar which holds it will have a lot of problems – at least in regards to its cleansing, yet more than likely they will earn some nice money with the booze sales hahaha. It all turns out to be really dense and the euphoria of the public is always something that can be felt!

TheNwothm: Thinking back what bands have you enjoyed the most sharing a stage with?

White Thunder: We’ve had so many good events here in Colombia. We really enjoy sharing stage with our brother-bands in the local scene… I may mention some of them like Evilterror, Punisher, Bloody Nightmare, Shellshock, Ironclad, Hellroar, Jauría, Revolver, among others… It’ll always be a good moment to share with them as it has a lot of meaning to us, for we are die-hard fans of classic Heavy Metal.

TheNwothm: So musically what is next for the band? Are you working on a new album?

White Thunder: Yes, we are recording at the “Archetype” studio, there we plan to finish our new album “Living like a dog” which we hope to have released by the end of this year.

TheNwothm: And have you got any live show plans for the rest of the year?

White Thunder: Yes, we are booked on some shows for almost the rest of the year. Of course, most of them are here in Bogota, just a few outside since the few ones we do accept beyond the city boundaries have to be events we are really interested to participate on, due to our jobs and families: we can’t be away for long. We’d like to join some events abroad though – we’ve received some proposals, but we really want our music to have more circulation, that way our show will be awaited in other places. It simply isn’t the same feeling to play on empty venues!

TheNwothm: Where can fans buy your music and merch?

-White Thunder: You can contact us to our e-mail whitethunder.rnr@gmail.com or on https://whitethunderrnr.wixsite.com/website on our social media facebook/whitethundercol or Instagram/whitethundercol.

We are always checking to answer any possible question in a timely manner.

TheNwothm: Anything else you would like to mention?

White Thunder: I would only like to thank my friend Rob for allowing us this space. It’s been so pleasant; that you for taking some time to make this interview. We really hope to stay in touch! NWOTHM diffusion is absolutely helpful for Colombian bands. We hope to be able to reach Europe one day, to meet personally your NWOTHM team and enjoy a nice live concert together.

Thanks, and see you soon We Are White Thunder – Rock ‘n’ roll bringers.