Up next in 10
Rhea Thompson from Tailgunner (Episode #53, Recorded: April 15, 2026) #guitarist
May 10, 2026
In this episode, we sit down with Rhea Thompson, guitarist of the rising British heavy metal band Tailgunner. Known for her blazing lead guitar work and energetic stage presence, Rhea joined the band in 2023 and quickly became a key part of their modern take on classic heavy metal. We talk about Tailgunner’s journey, life on the road, the new wave of traditional heavy metal, guitar influences, and what it takes to carry the torch for the next generation of metal. Expect riffs, stories, and pure heavy metal passion.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:05
Okay guys, in the new episode of Denim
0:07
and Leather Podcast, I present you shred
0:10
guitar queen
0:12
Rhea Thompson from
0:14
Tail Gunner. Hi Rhea. Hey.
0:17
Uh thanks for for coming to the to the
0:19
podcast.
0:20
Um
0:21
Uh it's a pleasure to to have you.
0:24
Uh I got to know you I don't know maybe
0:26
half a year ago when I when I start to
0:28
follow
0:30
start to follow Tail Gunner.
0:31
And um and I I think maybe it was uh
0:36
also uh
0:39
the girl from Spain, Yara.
0:41
Yeah, that that she substituted you.
0:43
Yeah, I I followed her and then I found
0:46
out about about you as a guitar player.
0:49
And uh and I was I was in awe, you know,
0:51
you you're shredding and then started
0:54
reals to come come up and to see that
0:57
you you are real shredder, you know.
1:00
>> [laughter]
1:01
>> Um
1:02
Tell me how how did you start before we
1:04
go into the into into Tail Gunner? How
1:06
did you start with in your history in
1:08
music as a little girl
1:12
started playing guitar and
1:14
and listening to that kind of music?
1:17
Yeah, so I started playing guitar when I
1:19
was nine and no one in my family really
1:22
plays an instrument. I I was learning I
1:25
developed my music taste through my
1:27
guitar teacher at the time who
1:28
introduced me to the very entry level
1:30
bands, you know, like Guns N' Roses,
1:31
AC/DC.
1:33
And then when I was around 12 to 13, um
1:35
I had a big Guns N' Roses phase and that
1:37
just kind of opened up the door to so
1:38
many other artists and it just kind of
1:40
took off from there really. So I've been
1:41
playing guitar for about 12 years now.
1:46
12 years. Uh
1:48
so uh
1:49
maybe you started your own bands before
1:53
you got Tail Gunner you had other other
1:56
bands as a as a teenager?
1:58
Yeah, so as a teenager, I was in quite a
2:00
few different bands and projects. It was
2:03
nothing that really took off. I released
2:05
a few singles with a few people,
2:08
but it was nothing that I was able to,
2:10
you know, tour really heavily with.
2:13
But it was Yeah, that's how I met True
2:16
Talinger. I was actually supporting them
2:18
with one of those bands that I was in at
2:20
the time. So it definitely opened the
2:21
door to a lot of opportunities.
2:24
Great great.
2:26
Did you tour also with those bands or
2:27
no?
2:29
It was local.
2:30
It was just local, yeah. It was nothing
2:32
super serious. Yeah.
2:35
Yeah.
2:36
You mentioned Guns N' Roses and other
2:38
bands. Guns N' Roses is my
2:41
also
2:42
it was my favorite band when I was
2:44
growing up. But but I caught them
2:46
because I'm I'm born in the '80s, I
2:48
caught them when they were at the top,
2:49
you know.
2:50
Uh
2:51
So I started listening to them when uh
2:55
when Terminator the movie came out, you
2:57
know.
2:58
>> [snorts]
2:58
>> Yeah.
2:59
Uh and
3:00
and I just saw them
3:03
in in 2 years I saw them twice now, last
3:06
year and and year before, and I was, you
3:08
know, living my my dream as a kid. Did
3:11
you see them live? I have, yeah. I saw
3:13
them when I was a kid. Um I saw them
3:16
when I was 12. And then we're we're
3:20
playing on the same day as them at
3:21
Download Festival
3:23
this year. So
3:25
This year?
3:26
Yeah, this year. So I'll be catching
3:28
them cuz we're on the same day, so Wow.
3:31
Wow.
3:33
Are you playing on the same stage or
3:34
it's different stage? Uh no, it'll be a
3:36
different stage, yeah. They're playing
3:38
the main stage. I was hoping you you you
3:40
can hang backstage with them, but
3:44
>> [laughter]
3:45
>> Um
3:46
Okay, tell me how did you
3:49
Did Did you
3:52
uh form Tailgunner with the other guys
3:54
or it was already a existing band?
3:57
When I joined, they were already an
3:59
existing band for about 2 years prior.
4:02
>> Uh-huh. Um, I joined on the first UK
4:06
tour.
4:07
I joined just in time for that tour.
4:10
Um, they'd already been a band for 2
4:11
years before that, yeah.
4:13
When When was that? What Which time?
4:16
How many years ago? It would have been
4:18
I've been in the band for 3 years, so it
4:19
would have been 20 23. Oh.
4:21
>> Yeah.
4:22
Okay, so so they they they play about 5
4:24
years.
4:25
Uh um
4:26
I I I love your your style of Tail
4:28
Gunner. It's It's like It's not only
4:30
classical heavy metal, but it it has
4:32
power power metal in it. It has uh
4:35
It has some epic metal and stuff like
4:37
that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I love I
4:40
love that and and I I read somewhere
4:43
that you that you toured with uh Armored
4:45
Saint and Riot.
4:47
And um
4:49
uh and and I can hear I can hear a Riot
4:51
influence
4:53
in uh in your music, but
4:56
uh in Tail Gunner, but also I can
4:58
I can sense
5:00
uh when I hear now when I hear Tail
5:02
Gunner, I can tell it's Tail Gunner, you
5:04
know? Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Yeah,
5:07
yeah, of course. That's probably
5:09
That's where you're going to.
5:11
Um
5:12
What's happening with the band? I mean,
5:13
you had previous
5:15
3 years of touring?
5:18
Um what prior to joining Tail Gunner or
5:21
No, no, no. With Tail Gunner, the the
5:23
last 3 years, you you were touring a lot
5:26
of times or
5:27
Yeah, we were touring really heavily
5:28
after the Guns for Hire album. We toured
5:31
for about
5:33
10 months.
5:34
Um and then obviously we write we wrote
5:37
Midnight Blitz. We really start and now
5:39
we're touring that album cycle.
5:42
Um, the touring obviously Tail Gunner
5:45
I've come off tour with Fozzy, and
5:49
um uh HammerFall, and we'll be going
5:51
back on tour starting summer time for
5:54
festival season.
5:56
Well, also it's amazing to see you and
5:58
HammerFall together. It's power
6:00
power, you know, to the to the core.
6:04
Yeah, yeah, it's you know,
6:06
resemblance in uh the clothing and in
6:08
the music and, you know, stuff like
6:10
that. Yeah.
6:11
Uh I'd love to see that.
6:13
Are you touring whole whole Europe
6:16
probably or
6:17
It will, yeah. It's all It's mainly
6:19
Europe. We're only doing a few UK dates,
6:22
so we're mainly focusing on Europe.
6:23
We're doing the except We're doing a big
6:25
tour at the end of the year with Accept,
6:26
which is all Europe.
6:28
Yeah.
6:28
Okay.
6:29
Did you guys did a world tour until now
6:32
or or no?
6:34
Uh we've been kind of constantly doing a
6:36
world tour um because we've just been
6:39
We've not had a break.
6:41
So, the whole thing is yeah, the whole
6:43
We've not played the States yet. That's
6:45
in the That's in the works. I guess when
6:47
we do the States, then it can be finally
6:49
considered a world tour. What what what
6:51
about South America? Yeah, you were
6:52
there?
6:53
South America, uh that'll be next year
6:55
probably, yeah. Uh and and and maybe in
6:57
the East, Japan and stuff like that? Uh
6:59
Japan and America will be They'll be
7:02
close together when we do them, probably
7:04
fingers crossed next year, yeah.
7:06
Yeah, so you're you're you're playing a
7:08
lot of festivals every summer probably.
7:10
Yeah, yeah. For this for this summer,
7:13
we're just doing festivals, yeah.
7:15
Well, good great, I mean,
7:18
I I saw that you were playing that you
7:20
played with you toured with Riot and I'm
7:22
going to see them
7:24
in the fall, so
7:25
I I I can't wait. I I love them since
7:28
back in the day, but never saw them.
7:31
Uh
7:32
Uh tell me tell me about your your
7:35
albums. How many albums have you
7:37
recorded with with El Gunner? With the
7:39
band, uh one, Midnight Blitz. I joined
7:42
when Guns were High was already
7:43
released.
7:44
>> Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Okay.
7:46
Okay, so how how was the how was the
7:48
recording process for you with with
7:50
them? Is Is it easy for you or
7:53
Yeah, uh I mean, I've I'm quite
7:55
comfortable in studios. Um I've recorded
7:57
with a lot of people in the past, so
8:00
um I was pretty comfortable with that. I
8:02
think it was good to have
8:04
a collaborative writing experience on
8:06
the second album. Obviously, the first
8:08
album
8:09
>> [music]
8:09
>> um it wasn't like that, and the second
8:11
album was much more of a collaborative
8:13
experience, and we wrote, you know, it
8:15
was produced by K.K. Downing, so being
8:18
in the studio with him was was really
8:21
good. Yeah, it was really fun.
8:23
Yeah, he's a legend, of course.
8:25
Uh
8:26
I I saw that I saw the connection that
8:28
you have with K.K. Downing. You toured
8:30
with K.K. Priest, right? Did in 2024, or
8:35
I want to say it was 2024 or 2025, yeah.
8:38
Oh, so and after that you
8:40
recorded with him.
8:42
Yes.
8:43
Uh one of So, that that was probably one
8:46
of your uh highlights in the career
8:48
because you're a guitar player probably
8:50
inspired by K.K. Downing.
8:52
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it was it's just
8:54
really it's just been great experience
8:56
getting to know him. Um and he's such a
8:58
humble guy. He's just He's just lovely,
9:00
so it was really fun to have him in the
9:02
studio. We We all learned a lot from
9:04
having him there.
9:05
It It did happen to me something
9:07
similar. 2015, I play I play in a band
9:10
for 25 years, a drummer. So, uh we
9:14
opened we opened for for Judas Priest,
9:16
but K.K. was not in the band,
9:19
uh you know.
9:20
But, I I did meet uh Glenn and the other
9:23
guys. It was a It was amazing. And I And
9:26
I saw them before with K.K., so uh
9:29
So, uh
9:31
is Priest also one of your, you know,
9:34
bands that you, you know, like?
9:36
Yeah, it was a band or for me
9:38
personally.
9:39
What? Uh sorry, do you mean as a full
9:41
band as an influence for the band or for
9:43
you?
9:43
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
9:44
yeah.
9:45
Your influence, yeah. Yeah, we're very
9:47
inspired by Priest, definitely. Yeah,
9:49
yeah. Yeah, I saw I saw that you guys
9:52
play
9:53
play Painkiller live.
9:55
Yeah, we cover of that, yeah. And it's a
9:57
it's a pretty
9:59
heavy song to to learn, you know,
10:02
especially the solos. The solos are
10:04
tough.
10:06
Yeah, I mean, I remember when we were on
10:08
tour, we were on the UK headline tour
10:10
and we played Wolverhampton, we played
10:12
KK Steel Mill, which is his venue.
10:14
And he came down to watch and we played
10:16
Painkiller and I saw him at the back of
10:18
the room and he was watching me play his
10:19
solo and I was like, no pressure.
10:22
>> [laughter]
10:24
>> That that's tough, man.
10:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:29
Uh
10:30
tell me
10:32
if you released any singles, I mean, not
10:34
the album the whole album, but any
10:36
singles, any videos with with the band.
10:39
Yeah, so we released four singles before
10:42
we dropped the full album.
10:44
We have one more single which is yet to
10:46
be released with the music video.
10:48
Obviously, it's already been released in
10:49
the album, but we've got a music video
10:51
dropping for that. That that's from
10:53
that's from an up
10:54
upcoming album, right? From the upcoming
10:56
album, yeah. How's the how's the new
10:59
album called?
11:00
Midnight Blitz. Oh, that that will be
11:02
the new album, right? Oh,
11:04
okay.
11:05
Yeah, Midnight Blitz is the album that
11:07
we dropped in February this year. Okay,
11:09
okay. I heard I heard the song live that
11:11
you played. It's a
11:13
amazing song. I love it.
11:16
Um I wanted to ask you about more about
11:19
the
11:20
releasing of albums. I mean,
11:23
as a younger generation, I'm I'm, you
11:25
know, from the older generation where
11:27
where I love vinyl and stuff. Do you
11:29
like do you still like Spotify or or do
11:32
you maybe like more old school, you
11:33
know,
11:34
as it was back in the day, you know,
11:36
hard copies and stuff?
11:38
Yeah, for me, I mean, for me I just use
11:40
Spotify. I'm not generally I I know how
11:43
bad they are for artists and I do buy
11:46
vinyls
11:47
and I do buy merch in person
11:51
but for me I use Spotify.
11:53
Yeah. Yeah, it's
11:56
of course that you use it but but for
11:58
your music not not for not for listening
12:01
but
12:02
for your music as Tail Gunner is it
12:04
better on to be on Spotify or on digital
12:07
platforms or maybe better to sell
12:10
physical copies at the shows? Well,
12:13
obviously the merch the merch is where
12:15
the money is so for us physical copies
12:18
100% the Spotify we don't you don't get
12:21
many royalties at all from Spotify. It's
12:24
it's obviously it's important to have a
12:26
strong monthly listeners
12:28
but for us touring being able to tour
12:32
the the the money is in the merch so
12:34
yeah, definitely the hard copies.
12:37
So so is is the is the merch money more
12:40
than than when you get paid for the for
12:44
the show, yeah?
12:45
Maybe? Uh
12:46
it depends depends how much depends how
12:48
much merch we sell but yeah, it really
12:51
depends to be honest.
12:54
Yeah.
12:54
>> Yeah, yeah, the depends if it's a
12:56
festival or if if it's a private gig.
12:59
Exactly, yeah. People tend to People
13:00
tend to splash out more on festivals.
13:03
Yeah.
13:06
Do do you guys play like small clubs?
13:08
You play probably small clubs and then
13:10
big festivals with 20,000 people. Uh we
13:14
do so when we do the headline tours we
13:18
we we headlined the last club we
13:20
headlined was the Underworld in Camden
13:22
which is about 5 600 capacity. So we do
13:26
play small we do play small clubs. We
13:29
have done for the for the tour that
13:30
we've got for the next headline tour for
13:32
Midnight Labyrinth. I think we'll be
13:34
we'll be expanding past past that
13:37
capacity. But, yeah, there's definitely
13:41
a jump between that and then when we hit
13:43
festival season and you know, we play
13:44
Download and Bloodstock and Sweden Rock
13:46
and all that stuff. Yeah. Is uh are you
13:49
is your is your full tour announced? I
13:52
mean, scheduled in in the
13:55
uh everything you know, announced or
13:57
not? No, we've got a few dates that are
13:59
still in the works that we're planning,
14:01
yeah. So, you will announce it. Are you
14:03
are you coming down to to southern
14:05
southeastern Europe, maybe?
14:08
Probably. Yeah?
14:10
I want I I I
14:11
I want to catch you live, you know.
14:13
Yeah, whereabouts? Whereabouts?
14:16
Specifically?
14:17
Yeah, I'm I'm in Macedonia. It's
14:20
next to Greece, next to next to Serbia,
14:23
next to Greece, next to Bulgaria.
14:25
Oh, we played we played Bulgaria. We
14:28
have
14:29
Yeah, yeah. We played it with Udo.
14:32
Where where which festival was that? It
14:34
wasn't festival, it was a support tour.
14:36
It was years ago, yeah. We supported
14:38
them. Ah, okay. I missed that. I saw Udo
14:41
in Bulgaria in 2017, but that was
14:45
another time in a festival.
14:47
Uh tell me tell me
14:49
something about your future plans with
14:51
the band and maybe if you do some solo
14:53
work. Do you do something like solo
14:56
album or or some collaborations and
15:00
stuff?
15:00
Yeah, so my future plans with Tailgunner
15:03
is it's just tour as much as possible,
15:05
push the album, gain just be as big as
15:08
possible. Um and then obviously, we're
15:10
writing album three now in the process
15:11
of that. So, I want to be much more
15:13
involved with the writing process now
15:15
I'm in the band. Um and that will just
15:19
be
15:20
six weeks in the studio and then tour
15:22
the album, repeat. But for me as an
15:24
individual, I think um it's important
15:27
for me to work with other artists as I
15:30
do a lot of session work.
15:32
Um and that's something that I really
15:34
enjoy working with other people. And so
15:36
that's something I would always always
15:38
want to be doing in the background of
15:39
things.
15:41
Yeah, I I I I saw that you missed some
15:43
some shows on your last tour maybe where
15:46
where where Yiannis was substituting
15:47
you.
15:48
Uh
15:51
Do you maybe plan on doing
15:54
uh because she's a shredder also, maybe
15:56
with her some some
15:58
some collaborating or something? Yeah,
16:00
that would be cool. That would be cool,
16:01
yeah. I always like to collaborate with
16:03
with shredders. Yes, yeah.
16:06
Yeah, that would be very cool. I mean,
16:08
you you you both
16:10
play amazing, so uh
16:12
um
16:14
What do you What do you do on a on a
16:15
level of a of a solo
16:17
as a solo artist? You don't You don't do
16:19
some
16:20
solo album or some solo stuff? I would
16:22
love to do a solo album in the next few
16:24
years, yeah. Definitely that's
16:26
on the list, yeah. But there's nothing
16:28
in the works, I mean. Not right now.
16:30
Not right now. But it will be something
16:32
that will happen at some point, yeah.
16:33
Would it be something instrumental or
16:35
would it be with
16:37
vocals and stuff? I don't know.
16:39
Um I haven't thought that much that far
16:42
into it yet. I think I mean, I think it
16:44
would be a bit of both. Like I say, I
16:45
love collaborating with people, so I
16:47
would probably like to to choose a few
16:49
people that I've worked with over the
16:50
years, that I've toured with to get on
16:52
the tracks, yeah.
16:53
>> Yeah, or probably probably guests on on
16:55
a lot of songs.
16:56
>> that's it, yeah.
16:57
Yeah, yeah, okay. Okay, okay, yeah.
17:00
Thank you Thank you for for this
17:01
interview, and
17:03
wish you wish you great tour this whole
17:05
year, and
17:07
the new album to to to pass by great.
17:10
And I hope to catch you on tour. Yeah,
17:12
thank you so much.
17:13
>> and I I know you're busy having a lot of
17:16
interviews, so thank you Thank you
17:18
again.
17:19
And yeah. talk to you again. All right.
17:22
See you later. Bye-bye.
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