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An Interview with Rockers, Nothing But Thieves, On Their New EP, “Graveyard Whistling” and More!
Posted On 05 Jan 2015
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Tag: Arcade Fire, Ban All The Music, British Summertime, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, Dollis Hill, Elvis, Fleetwood Mac, Graveyard Whistling, Jake Bugg, Kasabian, Led Zeppelin, MUSE, Nothing But Thieves, Pink Floyd, Razor & Tie, Ron Aniello, Tempt You (Evocatio), The Great Escape, Thom Yorke, Van Gogh, War Road Music, Washington Square
The UK band, Nothing But Thieves recently find themselves vindicating the journey that led them to this point, trusting each other’s intuitions to form a definitive and unique sound.
On their latest album, they draw inspiration from the bombast of Muse, the playfulness of Kasabian and the unpredictability of Arcade Fire. On October 7th, Nothing But Thieves released their EP, Graveyard Whistling on War Road Music in association with Washington Square, the label imprint formed by Razor & Tie.
Learn more about about this talented group of musicians in the following interview:
Can you please list everyone in the band and what instrument they play?
Conor – Vocals
Dom – Guitar + Keys
Joe – Guitar
Phil – Bass
Price – Drums
Can you remember when you all decided to start this band? How did you come up with the band name?
January 4th 2011, 5:17pm. We change the story behind the band name every time. We recently did an interview before a gig in Newcastle and the interviewer had done some research and discovered it was an anagram. He then came up with a few suggestions as to what he thought the solved anagram may be, one of which was ‘unbent soviet thigh’. Brilliant.
How have you grown since you started?
Vertically. Probably somewhere between the region of 1 to 2 inches.
To someone that has never heard your music before, how would you describe your sound?
Atmospheric Rock with touches of electronics.
What sets you apart from other bands?
The blueprint for the band before we started was to try and create something unique sounding, that only sounds like our band playing it. Hopefully it does. Oh and Price has no knee caps – top that, Beatles.
Can you tell me about the process of making your EP, Graveyard Whistling?
We started writing for the EP early last year. Once we felt the song were in good shape we spent a couple weeks at a studio in Dollis Hill and laid down the tracks. We tend to get our demos into good shape before the recording proves starts but leave enough room for experimentation in the studio.
What are some of your favorite songs on this collection?
It’s different for everybody and seems to change. Currently, we’re into two songs called “Ban All The Music” and “Tempt You (Evocatio)” which we secretly released recently…
More times than not, influences tend to bleed through. What bands have inspired the music that you make?
Everything that we’ve ever listened to probably plays a part one way or another, whether we like it or not. We all meet in the middle with bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac. More recently, we tend to take influence from bands that are doing their own original take on traditional rock music. We’re big fans of the latest Arcade Fire album.
Living or dead, are there any artists that you would love to work with and why those in particular?
Dave Grohl. Thom Yorke, Van Gogh.
Thus far, what’s a favorite memory or something quirky that’s taken place with the band (in-studio, onstage, or elsewhere)?
When we visited the states a few years ago we met with different producers to basically learn the craft of songwriting and get some experience. One of which was Ron Aniello who’s produced the last few Springsteen records. Was pretty cool to be able to work with him. He had this amazing guitar collection which included one of Elvis‘ guitarist’s guitars which we got to jam with. Won’t be forgetting that in a hurry.
Do you guys have any pre-performance rituals?
Not rituals as such. We just tend to blast songs and have a few drinks. Maybe we’ll get more creative and start stretching.
What’s the biggest mistake someone’s made while playing?
There haven’t been too many, touch wood. Joe misjudged the placement of a drum riser the other day so completely stacked it when he tried to jump onto it. Cables get pulled out all the time. No one’s fallen of stage, yet.
What was it like playing at The Great Escape festival, supported by Arcade Fire and Jake Bugg?
It’s was actually called the British Summertime festival but it was great. The crowds were amazing and it was cool to be able to walk over to the main stage and catch Arcade Fire and Jake Bugg. We were planning to get tickets before we found out we were playing!
Where do you see the band does in 10, 20+ years?
Ah man, who knows! Things have grown pretty quickly over the last year so we just want to continue on that path. It would be cool to play a stadium one day, wouldn’t it?
