Thieves

Jocelyn: Have you ever written a lyric that was so startlingly personal that you felt apprehensive about sharing it?  
Thieves: DIVIDER on the whole was a really emotionally taxing experience. A lot of the lyrics seem to revolve around a handful of topics that were at times really difficult to talk about. “In House. In Host” specifically was though. It’s about an irrational fear that took over my life for a couple of years. Lying in bed at night feeling terrified of nothing at all. By far the most personal of all the tunes.

J: What song does the band collectively agree is the most fun to play live?  
T: 130. It’s a very easy song to get lost in. It’s anchored by several layers of programming that allow us to step away from our instruments and each kind of go off and do our own things. Because of it’s electronic nature, I think people find it very easy to be involved in it. 

Is music your only creative outlet?  We all tend to dabble in other things here and there. It’s mostly just for fun though. As a whole, music and songwriting is the only thing we invest in on a regular basis. 

J: Why did you choose to title the E.P. Divider?  
T: There are a lot of things that finally led us to settling on “DIVIDER”. The overall mood of the songs and the lyrics were very fixed on a couple of ideas that seemed to keep coming up. Some of us were researching things in our free time that we were finding really hard to deal with. Political structures. Social networks that allegedly connect to the rest of the world. Despite the excessive amount of things put in place to bring us together, everyone feels isolated.  It’s about our love for comfort and the expense that it comes at. It’s about the things we buy into that divide us from the world around us and sometimes ourselves. 

J: Does the band have a designated writer or is lyric composition a collective effort?  
T: Musically we usually take an initial idea or concept and all help mold it into fruition collaboratively. Lyrically, Ryan usually crafts the lyrics based off of what we are dealing with at the time, or whatever comes in passing day in and day out.

J: As an artist myself, I know that inspiration can often seem sort of elusive in a way because it pops up here and there, never quite in the same place.   Have you ever found something that was continually inspiring to explore? 
T: Tough to say. I think on a surface level, there are things that come and go that cause you to entertain an idea or that pull something out of you that you didn’t know was there to begin with. If you look at the life of any given artist, there’s a progression of ideas that takes place. Sometimes it’s a very linear progression where the ideas and inspirations of the past only become more and more refined until that artists feels like they have communicated perfectly whatever it is they intended to say. Sometimes, that’s not really the case and the progression is the artist themselves. Sometimes the only commonality and continuous thread running through their work is the fact that it has their fingerprints all over it. I think for us, we tend to fall into the latter category. With exception to some of the constants, like our personal relationships within the band and things like that, I think our ideas and the places we draw inspiration from will continue to change and widen in scope as we evolve and change as individuals.

J:Have you found literature or film inspiring?  Definitely. A lot of the time not consciously. t: There are countless lines in books and scenes in films that make very lasting impressions whether we know it or not. They both seem to create this sort of head space that allows us to tie strings to things we already think and feel and connect them to something more tangible. 

J: Excluding lyrics for a moment, your music has the ability to tell an emotional story purely through sound. When you compose, do you consciously think about making the music reflect the emotions in the lyrics?  

T: Yes and No. We were very intentional about creating songs that could stand on their own two legs in terms of composition. Songs that could change the vibe in a room based solely on the way they sounded. Because there wasn’t really a formula for any of the songs when it came time to writing, the music and lyrics didn’t always necessarily  happen in that order. Sometimes we’d have an idea that would set things in motion, while other times we’d be working around a very simple lyric. Ultimately, both we’re coming from the same place though, which allowed them to work together in a way that made sense to us.

J: The Divider EP has some sweet beats (something that can be lackluster in music these days). Do you guys favor any musicians for their well composed rhythm sections?  

T: It is very much a rhythmic record. We were drawing a lot from electronic artists like Aphex Twin, DJ Shadow and Telefon Tel Aviv. On the more organic side of things, there was a strong John Bonham/John Paul Jones influence as well as from bands like Liars and The Talking Heads. 

J: I hope this question doesn’t give the impression that I’m a terribly literal thinker, but was "While You Were Sleeping" inspired by a dream?  It feels like a dream.

T: Quite the opposite. I think the lyrics are far more alarming than people realize. It’s surprisingly sinister in subject matter. It’s perfect though. You have these lines about self deception and selling people off like animals set to this warm and comfortable sort of lullaby. The friction between the two almost drives the point home harder than either of them could by themselves. 

J: Is music your full-time focus? 

T: It’s definitely at the forefront of our minds and our efforts. Unfortunately, we’re not really at a place where we can drop everything and pursue it full time just yet. The hope is that eventually we’ll be able to do that but for now we’re caught in that strange balancing act between where we are and where we want to be. As frustrating as that can be sometimes, I think a lot of good has come of it.

J: A little while ago Thieves opened for Glasvegas. Are you fans of the band? What was the crowd like?  

T: The show was great. Because we’re musically across the board, some of us tend to like it more than others. It was none the less, a really great experience. They were very kind and gracious. Far more so than you would ever expect from an international act. The night of that show also happened to be Ryan’s 21st birthday, so shortly after our set they hand delivered a bottle of wine and had a few words with us before they played. As far as the crowd, it’s always fun to play to new faces. We were a little unsure about how that crowd in particular would respond to us, because most of them had come to see Glasvegas but they were very receptive and involved.   

J: was the Divider release show?  I wish I could have been there.  Was it magical?  Wait!  Don't tell me.  It'll hurt too much. (just kidding)

T: It was definitely a landmark for us as a band. The show sold out, which none of us really expected. We were supported by two phenomenal opening acts, who happen to be close friends of ours. Having them on the bill really added to the night. We spent over a year conceptualizing, writing and recording this record, so to finally put it in people’s hands and be able to share the last year of our lives was extremely liberating.