QSC Aspiring Interview: Thundermother on the Kiss Kruise & Dirty & Divine

Thundermother have been broadcasting their classic rock sounds from Stockholm to the world for 15 headbanging years, with a steadfast dedication to paying homage to their heroes AC/DC and KISS. Having just celebrated the quindecennial anniversary of the band, lead guitarist Filippa Nässil speaks to Headliner about some of the high points including performing on the Kiss Kruise, and their hard-hitting new record Dirty & Dive.

The Swedish quartet live by the mantra “Thundermother don’t just play rock ‘n’ roll. Thundermother are rock ‘n’ roll!” And it’s an apt one that continues to power them onward. Nässil, born in the Swedish county of Skåne, relocated to the Swedish capital and it was in 2009 that Thundermother was righteously born.

The band are ramping things up for their new LP. It began with Rock 'N' Roll Disaster in 2014, and most recently, Black and Gold in 2022. Statistically one of the world’s most active touring bands between 2017 and 2021, Thundermother have innumerable international tours under their belts; their most pinch-yourself moments include being asked to share a stage with their idols KISS on the Kiss Kruise, as well as joining Scorpions on a North American stadium tour.

“I started playing electric guitar when I was 12, and I was pretty good by the time I was 14, as I was practising four hours a day, every day,” Nässil says. “I left home at 16 to go to the music conservatory in Stockholm to study electric guitar. I was the only girl among 90 guys. 

“After graduating, I hung around in a local studio and I remember watching a band called Bite The Bullet record their album. It sounded so much like AC/DC. So I went home and listened to loads of AC/DC and totally fell in love with that sound. I felt saved by rock and roll! [laughs] I then started Thundermother in a basement because I had basically no money.”

It’s fascinating that Nässil had this particular form of rock awakening as a Swede, as her home country is not known for the classic rock sound. It is the Swedish death metal scene that put Sweden on the rock map. Unlike the more jubilant, singalong sounds of Aerosmith and Guns ‘N’ Roses, hand a typical Swede an electric guitar and a microphone and you’ll most likely hear the deep, chugging riffs and guttural growls of bands such as Meshuggah, Arch Enemy, Opeth, and At The Gates.

On the more typically Scandinavian-sounding spectrum of metal, Nässil says, “I have no interest in that kind of music. It’s a small country, so we all know each other and are friends. I saw that they were all hanging out with each other at the Pantera Stockholm show the other day.”

If you had been hoping to hear that a huge night of outrageous debauchery took place on the 15th birthday of the band, Nässil only reveals that, “We toured as usual. We chose to keep the tour in Sweden for the 15th anniversary, except we were playing bigger venues, not the clubs of the early days.”

When asked about her all-time favourite moments with Thundermother, she recalls: “The KISS Cruise was fantastic. We got to hang out with them the whole time, by the piano, playing ping pong, it was crazy. Also, my bag got crushed when it was being delivered, and the staff just said, ‘Paul Stanley [KISS frontman] says you can have his spare bag!’ It’s like a family cruise for them. The other big highlight for us was being asked to support Scorpions — White Snake jumped off that tour, so we were then bumped up to main support. We did their North American tour, and then they asked us to join them on their European tour as well. That was a big honour.”

With the new album almost upon us, the 2025 Thundermother lineup is a combination of new faces, and welcoming an old friend back into the fold. Linda Majsan returns on bass after a brief departure, while Joan Massing from France is the new face behind the sticks at the back of the stage. The new frontwoman is Linnea Vikström Egg, someone Nässil has been trying to enlist in the band for some time.

“Yes, Linda is returning as our bass player,” Nässil says. “She was on the pandemic tour, and got really tired after that, wasn’t getting on with the other band members at the time, and she wanted to have a more firm job with better income. So she started studying and quit the band. I'm so happy she’s back, she’s a good friend of mine and also one of the best bass players I’ve played with. She said she’d just been waiting for me to call!

“And then our new drummer, Joan Massing wrote to me on Instagram when she heard that I was in need of a drummer. We have common friends who told her to apply. She's just a kick-ass drummer. I think she will change the industry for drumming girls because she doesn't hit like a girl. [laughs] And then there is Linnea Vikström, an old friend of mine. It feels really good now to have a close friend in the band singing and as a frontwoman.”

Besides the powerhouse vocals Vikström brings, she also made herself a key songwriting member of the band right from the off.

“She said when she joined the band, I want to be part of the writing. Then it didn't take long until she sent me a whole song. It ended up being the first single we released because I loved it so much. I'm stoked that she is so fantastic at writing melodies. And great lyrics. So we've been sending stuff over to each other a lot, and wrote a lot on the album together.”

The first single from Dirty & Divine released last year was I Left My License In The Future, which opens with a delicious lead guitar melody, and a bassline and drums that will get audiences rhythmically nodding their heads in unison. The obligatory classic rock singalong ‘whoas’ will go down a storm on their upcoming tour also.

The latest single, Can’t Put Out The Fire, is a big homage to the rock stylings of KISS, with layered guitar harmonies, delightful call-and-answer backing vocals, guitar solos, and those irresistible big, bright drum parts with just the right amount of cowbell. It’s enough to make you want to grab a Jack Daniel’s and douse your hair with hairspray.

“The KISS tribute is most obvious in the video where we’re all dressed up,” Nässil says. “That was Linnea's idea, I will not take credit for it!”

Nässil then reveals what else we can expect from the new album, saying “Every song has to be like a band. For example, Feeling Alright is like The Darkness. We need some framework when we write songs, and we always hold it more to the classic rock side. I don't want to go to the ‘80s. I want to stay in the ‘70s. Can You Feel It is the AC/DC song. Can’t Put Out The Fire is the KISS song. We really took our time with this album and wanted to make sure we were inspired and not forcing anything. All recorded live, lots of analogue recording equipment, and no copying or pasting anything in a computer!”

Nässil is the perfect person to ask what the phrase Play Out Loud means to her: “Be yourself. Be yourself on stage. Be proud of what you achieved, and crank up the volume.”

Dirty & Divine roars into the world on February 7, and looks set to continue Thundermother’s mission to keep making them one of the biggest classic rock acts in Europe and beyond. And of course, that mission involves a big tour, with Thundermother and all-female support bands heading across Europe, with stops in London and Manchester. Rock and roll lives on, and thunderously so.