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In September of 1984 Philip De Liser (vocals), Erwin Suetens (guitar) and Serge Bastaens (bass) completed their first band's (SKUNK) line-up again with the addition of guitarist Olivier Mathei and drummer Dirk Van De Velde. Actually, they met Olivier in De Gans, their favourite pub, while Dirk was recommended through mutual friends. And, as the band’s style changed from “punky” to more of an overall Hard Rock feel, SKUNK became THUNDERBOLT in September of 1984.

By December of 1984 Olivier Mathei had already been replaced by Peter Michielsen. The ties with Olivier weren’t entirely broken though, as he became the band’s guitar roadie from then onwards.

On March 22nd 1985 THUNDERBOLT played live for the very first time, at the Ahoy venue in Wijnegem. More live experience was gained at a small festival in Boechout, on April 20th , as well as on April 11th at the Cultureel Centrum in Berchem. The setlist that night read like this : Intro - Hot Night - Ancient Eyes - Nightchaser - Message Of Love - She’s Gone - Evil Dreams - Fascinating Lady - Wishing Well (FREE / GARY MOORE) – Stormchild - Running Free (IRON MAIDEN) - Paranoid (BLACK SABBATH) - Let It Go (DEF LEPPARD) - Wild Thing (THE TROGGS) - She’s Gone (encore). As you can see, the various bandmembers were clearly inspired by the likes of BLACK SABBATH, GARY MOORE, IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST, and THUNDERBOLT’s own repertoire turned out to be in the melodic Hard Rock vein as well, including some speedier passages here and there. Also, on some occasions JUDAS PRIEST’s Breaking The Law couldn’t be ignored either.

In May of 1985 another line-up change occurred : vocalist Philip De Liser was replaced by Wim Opdebeeck. As a result the band’s style slowly started to change from traditional Hard Rock to a more aggressive and up-tempo kind of Heavy Metal. Besides, the lyrical content of the songs started to shift from (primarily) love song stuff to more death & destruction type stuff. Songs that were created with this new line-up include Battlefield, Death On Two Legs, Legion, Pleasure Screams, It’s Up To You, The Watcher, There’s No Tomorrow, Never Trust Your Shadow, Lost In The Memory, In For Treason and Hunt ‘em Down. The band also continued to play live, mostly in and around Antwerp, including gigs at Jeugdhuis Kruispunt in Edegem (September 13th), JH Frelus in Deurne (October 11th) and at the Josto Bunkerfestival in Borgerhout (October 19th).

In early 1986 THUNDERBOLT acquired yet another vocalist : enter Dennis Nagels. After intense rehearsals with Dennis, THUNDERBOLT was finally ready to hit the stage again. Then, even before the first gig was booked, Dennis suddenly disappeared from view and THUNDERBOLT was back at square one.

In late 1986 longtime guitarist Peter Michielsen called it quits as well. He was soon replaced by Alain Smits. And a replacement for vocalist Dennis was found in Lieve Brusselmans, sister of CROSSHEAD’s bassist Hans. This new line-up didn’t stick it out for a long time either, as Alain started to get tired of playing metal, and wanted to pursue his musical career by playing Jazz. New vocalist Lieve didn’t exactly turn out to be the white blackbird that the band was looking for either, and things only went downhill for THUNDERBOLT from then onwards.

Filip Lemmens (ex BLIZZARD, ex HEAVILY MAD) offered to audition for the vocal spot (he even proceeded to sing a couple of tunes during rehearsal) but in the end he had to back out because he was too busy pursuing a career in the army, leaving him hardly any spare time for rehearsals, let alone gigs. This was yet another blow in the face for the already struggling outfit.

THUNDERBOLT came to a complete halt on May 1st 1987, when guitarist Erwin Suetens announced that he was leaving. Erwin had been asked to replace Chris Van Nauw in a band called FAIRCHILD, an offer he couldn’t resist. It was an easy decision, really : by joining FAIRCHILD Erwin would be part of a complete band again, and thus being able to play live again.

Thanks to Eddy Vermeiren for the English bio...