Description
The Lexington based Sleaze Hard Rock act THUNDERTRAIN was built around main songwriter, bottleneck guitarist Steven Silva and frontma Mark ‘Mach’ Bell. Founded during 1974 the group debuted the following year with the single ‘I’m So Excited’. A residency at Boston’s Rat Club prompted the issue of a follow up single in 1976, ‘Hot For Teacher!’, this track garnering heavy regional radio play. The 1977 ‘Suicide Train’ album (boasting a rather macabre cover) was recorded live in the studio. Oddly, press reports were issued stating that the band were New York natives. Although untrue, this deliberate masking of their real origins added the group’s mystique. THUNDERTRAIN, reaping a reputation for raucous behaviour at gigs and the extreme volume on which they insisted upon at gigs, were regulars on the live circuit but had dissolved by 1980.
‘Cowboy’ Mach Bell was to later record with the JOE PERRY PROJECT, appearing on the group’s final album prior to Perry rejoining AEROSMITH. Bell later created WILD BUNCH with ex-JOE PERRY PROJECT and NEW ENGLAND drummer Hirsch Gardner and LAST CHILD bassist Mark Normand. Bowing out of the music scene Bell indulged himself in motorbike racing before finding a new career as a chef in Beverley Hills…
