Jade Thunder: “No Time To Die” by Billie Eilish

The Bond theme has been a big hit!

In just 24 hours, Thunder, Hughes and Phythian have had over 2.5K hits on Facebook with their version of No Time To Die, originally by Billie Eilish.

On Tuesday 23rd June 2020,  Jade Thunder, Toni Hughes and Carl Phythian released their cover version of No Time To Die, the new Bond theme song, into the world of Facebook.

Billie Eilish’s theme for the new James Bond film is a dramatic, unsettling ballad that hints the plot will centre around the secret agent’s betrayal.

The lyrics to No Time To Die reference lies and deceit, as Eilish sings: “You were never on my side.”

The song was released at 00:00 GMT, at the same time as the latest trailer for the film, starring Daniel Craig.

Eilish, who turned 18 in December, is the youngest singer ever to record a theme for the franchise.

No Time To Die opens with a haunting piano motif, with the star’s voice weary as she sings, “I should have known I’d leave alone“.

A familiar tremolo guitar ushers in the chorus, where the singer develops her theme: “I’ve fallen for a lie… Are you death or paradise?”

“Now you’ll never see me cry,” she concludes. “There’s just no time to die.”

The words seem to confirm a fan theory that Daniel Craig’s final outing as Bond will see him double-crossed by Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), his love interest from the previous film, Spectre.

Eilish wrote and produced the title song with her elder brother Finneas O’Connell late last year. Speaking at the Grammys in January, she said working on the franchise had always been one of their goals.

“Subconsciously and consciously, we’ve been trying to write a Bond theme for our whole lives,” she told E! News.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit so many industries hard. As the UK is starting to lift certain restrictions, musicians and the arts are accepting that they are probably going to be one of the last sectors to ‘get back to normal’.

Thunder, having had a major success with The Coronavirus Sessions, asked Toni Hughes and Carl Phythian to embark on a more challenging song – No Time To Die by Billie Eilish.

Using the Spitfire Audio, BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional software, Hughes was able to pick out all the parts and recreate the track, from his home studio, using Cakewalk by BandLab.

Thunder recorded the vocals at home, using a Shure Beta58A microphone, Marshall headphones (both featured in the video) and Garageband.

Using Cubase, Phythian was able to create the classic, timeless, Bond guitar sound using his Fender Telecaster guitar.

Take a listen to their version of No Time To Die.

Quoted text from BBC