Freshly Pressed – THUNDERCLAP “The Littlest Monster”

If you’re looking for the perfect song to get you into the Halloween spirit, the latest single from Niagara Falls artist THUNDERCLAP is sure to do just that. “The Littlest Monster” is simultaneously eerie and fun, in a singalong style that would be right at home among the Halloween classics we’ve all grown up with. We caught up with THUNDERCLAP to chat about the new song, his all-time favourite Halloween track, and his dream musical collaborations.

From The Strait: Tell us about the new single, “The Littlest Monster”. 

Thunderclap: Wellll, I love the idea of holidays mainly from a kid’s standpoint. 

Aside from the song’s framework being based around one night alone with the Littlest Monster, we have to ask ourselves, Well what’s all this  dressing up about? Where did it come from? Well beyond the actual historical  sources, we all just want to be someone else once in a while, don’t we?! For all  sorts of personal reasons- whether it be shallow or profound, we all have our  reasons. So if only for one night, for most it’s halloween  night, let’s be someone else.

I wrote the nuts & bolts of this song on Halloween 5 years ago in the deep woods of Quebec with the celebrated writer Leigh Kotsilidis. On the fly I took some friends out last Halloween to guerrilla film a night of trick or treating knowing that I was going to release it the following year, sooo it was only 3 weeks ago that I finished the song, recorded a demo, edited the video, got my animator collaborator to do his part, recorded the final version (with Matt Keighan) and abracadabra! But my most strategic tool for this particular project: a hard deadline, baby…  

From The Strait: What is unique about the single? 

Thunderclap: From anyone who’s heard it, the chorus gets stuck in their head FAST- so watch out! I toiled for the perfect lyrics although they came relatively fast. I wanted the song to give kids the type of willies that MJ’s Thriller gave me when I was a lad, as well as the spazzy fun of the Monster Mash & I feel I achieved that. It all turned out to have a vaudevillian feel which I didn’t plan for but certainly gives it its own fingerprint. 

From The Strait: Since this is a Halloween release, what are some of your favourite things about the Halloween season? Do you have any fun/interesting memories of Halloweens past to share? 

Thunderclap: As an adult I enjoy remembering how I loved Halloween as a kid, as most kids do. I have fleeting memories of being in school assemblies cross legged on the floor singing weird songs about black cats walking on old fences in the middle of the night, carving pumpkins and cartoony non-threatening ghosts living their lives while we humans observe them from afar- singing about them as children no less. Do they know we’re singing songs about them? And all the dressing up like someone or something else, what a fun grand masquerade!   

From The Strait: What’s your all-time favourite Halloween song (aside from your own, of course).     

Thunderclap: Monster Mash of course, it’s perfect, there never will be a better one created, it’s a masterpiece.  

From The Strait: If you could collaborate with any artist or band, any genre, who would it be and why?     

Thunderclap: Tim Curry would have been great! I even had his agent on the phone when I brazenly tried to get him to be on my 1st LP ‘Hellbent On Success’, but he    unfortunately had started being afflicted by the serious health problems that led to  his passing. Within the realm of possibilities, The Humpty from Digital UnderGround would be rad, Lady Gaga, Cindy Lauper – what a voice, Rufus Wainwright seems achievable, I met him In a movie theatre in NYC while playing a gig, he was approachable and polite. 

From The Strait: If you were a superhero, what would your name and superpower be?    

Thunderclap: The Pretty Pie Man. I would be remarkably pretty, out of my gourd, having the best time, YET strangely in control. I’d visit every adult on the hardest day of their work and splatter them In the face with a pie. That adult would then be transported to their happiest time period as a child, and there they’d live happily ever after. 

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Check out “The Littlest Monster,” the latest single from Thunderclap!

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