With a voice and range often – and fairly – compared with the likes of Jeff Buckley, the classically-trained singer is sensible when it comes to protecting his tool of trade.
“When we first started, we were about 18, 19, and I thought it was the kind of life where I could drink, go out and go mad, but I quickly learned I couldn’t,” he says. “When we were rehearsing for our first album, I came in really hungover and I couldn’t sing. Our producer was like, ‘Are you mad? Well, now you’ve learned your lesson.’
“Ever since, I’ve looked after myself as well as I can. I exercise regularly, sleep as much as I can, and drink lots of water. I know I can stretch my voice, but I need it to be on point every time. But the other guys are at the complete opposite end. They’ll be out partying and destroying their lives.”
Formed in 2012, the UK-based outfit knew each other from school and around the traps. Guitarist Joe Langridge-Brown was a couple of years ahead of Mason at school and both had been in bands since they were about 12. Guitarist and keyboardist Dominic Craik ditched the high school across the road to join Mason, because his school didn’t have a music program, and the two became best mates.
Officially though, Nothing But Thieves only became a unit after Langridge-Brown hit university and Mason was approached by managers with the invitation to start a band. With Craik naturally in, Mason gave Langridge-Brown a shout, and rounded out the band by poaching bassist Philip Blake and drummer James Price from other local bands. “It’s all been closely connected,” Mason says. “In fact, Phil our bassist is Dom’s cousin. It’s all a bit incestuous.”
In the early days, the band holed up in Craik’s garage to nut out tunes. Subsequently, they had the chance to hone their craft in the States under the watchful eye of pros. “We learned loads of different lessons,” Mason says. “Part of it is that there’s no set way of doing it. When we were in Nashville, we were working with country writers who had a formula based around an ending lyric, which then becomes the title of the song. They base the chorus on that, and there are set verses: pre chorus, chorus, middle eight, ending. It’s a standard-format writing, and so many country songs follow that pattern. We learned that and it wasn’t something we particularly enjoyed. It was too formulaic, too set – like a business.
“But then we went to New York and did some stuff with hip hop writers and that was completely different. Nothing set, just hooks and rhymes and doing what works best. Then we went to LA and we wrote in more of an acoustic setting. We learned so much that we could take on board and use in our own writing, with so many different starting points.”
Since then, the band has toured repeatedly with the likes of Muse (in fact, Muse have them slated to support them again on their Oz tour in December), and they’ve played Glastonbury twice, something which Mason described not too long ago as a pipe dream. “It’s insane, isn’t it?” he reflects.
Amid frenetic touring, the band has also recorded an eagerly anticipated second album, Broken Machine. Written primarily while the band was on the road, Broken Machine has the hallmarks of an alt classic. It’s quite a sad listen with lashings of longing and regret. “We’re not morbid, but generally we do write songs that are a little bit more on the sad side,” Mason says.
“That said, the album does have an uplifting undertone. The title, Broken Machine, encompasses the whole idea of a system with flaws. Things can give the impression of perfection on the surface but underneath they have cracks and crevices. That sums up the idea of mental health, politics, religion or love. It’s a study of those things. But in some songs there’s a message of hope. We always have a silver lining.”
The band’s next goal is playing arenas and headlining their own shows. Given their fans’ levels of devotion, it’s definitely on the cards – punters are getting inked with the Nothing But Thieves symbol, travelling crazy distances to catch a glimpse of the band at in-store appearances, and (according to the band’s Facebook feed) threatening to “die in the middle of the crowd if you guys play Lover, Please Stay.” It’s crept up on Mason unawares, but he’s digging it.
“I always remember when I was at school and there were kids with band names all over their notebooks. That really inspired me. I thought, ‘I’d love to be in a band that was over people’s notebooks.’
“About a year ago, we went back to my school to do a little video of where we grew up and this kid came out and said, ‘Oh, I’m going to your show next week,’ and he showed me his workbook with our band on it and I was like, ‘That’s awesome.’”
