R&B superstar Thundercat has a remarkable CV, having previously played bass with artists such as Ariane Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Herbie Hancock, Snoop Dogg and Erykah Badu, and collaborated with the likes of Gorillaz, Justice, Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald.
His forthcoming album, Distracted, the follow-up to 2020's (Best Progressive R&B Album) Grammy-winning It Is What It Is, features guest spots from Tame Impala, A$AP Rocky, Willow Smith, Beck, Lil Yachty and more, a testament to his elevated profile in the music industry.
But before the world came to know him as Thundercat, Steve Bruner spent nine years touring the world as part of Californian hardcore/crossover legends Suicidal Tendencies, who he joined at the age of 16.
My main memory is thinking if I stood still for too long, I’d get hit with a beer can," the 41-year-old Californian musician recalls in a new interview with The Guardian. "Actually, I think that principle applies to every stage of life: stand still too long, somebody’s going to hit you with something."
"Whatever brain disposition that lets you know you’re in a dangerous situation, I don’t think I have. I think constantly performing has allowed that to not be such a problematic thing to me."
In 2018, speaking to Australian radio station Double J, Thundercat dived deeper into his history with Mike Muir's pioneering band, who he played with from 2002 to 2011.
"I knew who Suicidal was growing up," he told Double J's Zan Rowe. "There was always references to them in pop culture in some form or another. Mike Muir with the Pepsi, people in comic books wearing Suicidal Tendencies shirts drawn in the background, Beavis and Butt-Head, it's just a kind of thing."
"Mike Muir pushed me," he reflected. "From the day I joined the band Mike Muir always pushed me to do better. There'd be a bass solo in Send Me Your Money or the intro line to Possessed To Skate, he'd say, 'If you don't play it right, someone's gonna pelt you with a full bottle of beer'."
"I felt like Burt Reynolds in Cannonball Run the whole time," he continued. "It was fantastic. You had these hardcore fans - everything from Neo-Nazis to these little emo kids - they'd be staring you right in the mouth. It made me feel comfortable with that level of energy.
"Seeing people screaming the lyrics, or somebody might get on the stage and rip my bass off me and throw it in the audience - these were likely things. Being spit at, having dirt and coins thrown at you... Somebody getting on stage completely naked... I turned around and there was a full set of balls right next to my ear."
Good times.
Watch a clip of Thundercat inserting a reference to jazz bass legend Jaco Pastorius (Weather Report) while performing with Suicidal Tendencies below.
