“For this album we worked so closely on each individual track – each element, each sound, each lyric,” says vocalist Conor Mason. “Everything was so individual for each song to make it stand out from the next song. We hate bands that every song sounds the same. It’s just boring.”
After their debut EP If You Don’t Believe, It Can’t Hurt You came out in 2013, Nothing But Thieves grabbed major label attention in the US and UK. Over the next couple of years they unveiled a series of singles and marked a trail of live shows across much of the Northern Hemisphere. A total of seven singles came out prior to the album, all of which appeared on the record when it finally arrived last October. This is indicative of how far in advance Nothing But Thieves was completed.
“It was funny actually – we came to record the record only after a few months of playing and then we played the record live for a good year/year and a half,” Mason says. “It’s a different way to do it, but it really worked for us – we’re proud of it.
“We figured ourselves out more as a live band after we did the album,” Mason says. “It was a strange way to do it. In a way the songs almost came to life more when we got a chance to tour them. We’ve been touring for two years straight pretty much. You definitely find more love in the songs when you get to play them live and get to play to an audience and see what they react to.”
Nothing But Thieves have had some massive audiences to help them gauge their music’s potential. They’ve toured with the likes of Arcade Fire and Muse, and appeared at such major festivals Summer Sonic in Japan, The Isle of Wight Festival and Rock in Roma. This experience will inevitably influence the band’s next release.
“We have taken so much from playing live and that’s transferred to the new record. We’ve pretty much been writing solidly since we finished the last record, so we’ve got quite a few ideas. Playing with bands like Muse and just touring really profusely has taught us a lot about what we want for the next record.”
Despite the extent of their international profile, the band members are still in their early 20s. Inking a major label deal, working with accomplished pop producer Julian Emery (Lissie, McFly), releasing a UK top ten album and performing live all over the world – it’d be enough to get carried away. But Mason says they’re able to keep their egos in check.
“We always look in the future. We’re never too involved with what we’re doing now. We don’t think, ‘Oh we’ve achieved this, we’re great at this.’ We’re always looking for the next step. It might be playing bigger venues at the end of the year or getting a number five or number one record. We’re always looking forward to the future rather than thinking we’re the greatest at what we’re doing. There’s a lot of bands that believe their own hype. You shouldn’t overthink things.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
