Interview with Thieves!

-Who is Thieves? Where are you from? How did you all meet? Did you know each other before Thieves?

T:Thieves formed from a couple local bands and mutual friends in Austin, TX. Chris (guitar), Andy (drums), and Nathan (bass) played in a hardcore/metal band (The Cabaret) for about three years. Many years before that, Chris and I, Billy (guitar/vocals), played in a pop punkish band (Tomorrow’s Too Late). Nathan even came out to a lot of our shows when he was younger. Anyways, shortly after the break up of The Cabaret we were all hanging out one day listening to our buddies With The Punches (the vocalist is an ex Tomorrow’s Too Late member). We talked about how much fun it would be to combine the two styles of The Cabaret and Tomorrow's Too Late type stuff. After a few jam sessions, it just turned into something more serious.



-How would you describe your overall sound?

T: To us, Thieves sounds like a group of friends, who primarily listen to metal and hardcore, deciding to revert back to their pop punk roots. We really feel our music reflects the reasons we got into indie/underground music in the first place, mixed with the reasons why we listen to the music we do now.



-What does Thieves have under their belt?

T: We haven’t gone out on any huge tours. However, we have played a few 3-4 day (mini) tours around Texas, as well as some very big local shows. We have shared the stage with such acts as The Wonder Years, Therefore I Am, Man Overboard, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Dance Gavin Dance, Alta Ave, With The Punches, Carridale and many other great bands/friends of ours.





-How many shows have you played so far? What was the most memorable one and is there any you consider to be a total wreck?

T: We've been together for about ayear, and have been playing shows constantly for about 8 or 9 months. I would say our most memorable show so far was a house show we played with our good friends Cities and Years (RIP). That was the first time we saw people singing along to our songs and having as much fun with them as we were. That was a great time. That house got destroyed during our set...our bad. The worst show we've ever played was definitely at Red7 with our buddies in Carridale. They came down from Alabama and played with us for a few days and we just played a bad show. They were great but we were just sloppy. No one was there, our equipment kept messing up and it just flat out sucked. We've never played like that since. Lesson learned.



-What are some best and worst memories connected with the band?

T: Worst memory is probably just that awful show I just described. The best memories are the shows where I'm not able to sing because people run on stage and steal the mic. It's a good feeling knowing someone wants to sing your stuff so bad they'll steal the mic from you. Also, on our first little Texas tour we played in Bryan, TX to hundreds of people who'd never seen us before and they went off the whole time. That whole trip was incredible. Basically if we can all travel together in the same car and pass the time by making fun of each other or coming up with new ideas for the band, we will have a blast.



-What’s your goal with this band?

T: The goal of this band since day one has been to have as much fun as possible while emphasizing how important friendship and meeting and forming relationships with kids has on us and the music we play. Of course we’d like to do this every single night.



-What is the toughest lesson you ever learned while being in the music scene?

T: Hard work pays off. Keep playing, keep practicing, keep writing, keep rewriting. Push yourself and never let anyone tell you how to make your music. People will only be into it if it's genuine.





-When it’s all said and done what do you want as a band to be remembered for the most?

T: I want people to have fun and find inspiration in our music.



-What do you guys love to eat? Any particular places you remember from being on tour that you'll never forget?

T: Shout out right here to Gourdough's and Torchy's Tacos in Austin, TX. Those people are doing it right with fresh ingredients. Also, shout out to Aranda’s for bringin the breakfast taco madness at all hours. Eat real food if you have the time and money to. We don't know many out-of-town places... when we're on the road it's drive-thru after drive-thru. Fast food is killing us.



-Thanks for the interview! Any Last words? Anything you would like to add?

T: Thanks to all the kids who dig our music and come out to the shows. Listen to all the bands on our top friends. Listen to good music. Support your local scene damnit (local before global!), and stop listening to Attack Attack and other kids who sing through synthesizers. Also, thanks to Jose for setting this up.

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