Bishop Auckland stalwarts, The Thieves, are a band with a lot to say. Optimistic about the future, and converting their big ideas into big melodies; they’re the sort of band you can’t help but take notice of. Damian Robinson caught up with the band to find out more about their debut EP and the excitement of taking on new venues.
The debut EP, ‘Youth and Innocence’ is out now and has a great reception already. For those who haven’t heard anything by the band yet, how would you describe it’s sound?
That’s a tough question. We think we’re a high energy indie rock band, with a lot of focus the punkier elements of rock.
So ‘Youth’ is a collection of your punkier elements?
That’s right yes. We had about 7 tracks to pick from for the EP but we wanted to go with the strongest, and the songs that seemed to fit well together. We ended up choosing the tracks which we felt had the most power and energy and the tracks that sounded like us live. A lot of the sound of the EP had to come with the environment we recorded it in, and the amazing work of the studio team.
So in a way the EP is an invitation to people to come and hear you play live?
It is. We’ve been on the live scene for about two years; starting off playing covers and gradually developing our own sound. When we first started we were 14 and now that we’re older, and can play some of the bigger venues which might have an age restriction, we’re gearing up with our own material.
One of those gigs will be with The Jet Reds at the o2 Academy. It’s rare that such a young band gets to the play the o2 so earlier in their careers.
We can’t wait. It also helps that our friends and family are now old enough to get into the venue as well, so we’ll try to bring a load of people with us. But yeah, the o2 will be amazing to play and a great experience for all of us.
And then there’s a few other high profiles gig after that as well?
Yeah we’ll be playing the Cluny in October as support to The K’s and then across to Manchester’s Gorilla in November, so we’re excited to playing really high prestigious venues in between some of the other shows we’ll be playing. We’re excited about the future of the band, our EP is just the start and to be picked up by bands already to support them, we think it’s a good sign.
‘Youth and Innocence’ is out now. Guidance about the EP, and future tour dates can be found on https://www.facebook.com/officalthieves/