15/05/15
Nothing But Thieves are a five-piece rock group from Southend who are dropping their debut album this Spring. Whilst at BBC R1’s Academy workshop, we caught up with Conor and Dom to find about being Zane Lowe’s hottest record favourites and heading out on tour with Young Guns.
You were just on the Radio One Live Lounge. How was it?
Connor – Yeah it was crazy, but it was brilliant!
Dom – I’m still a little bit, like, I don’t know what to do with myself because it was terrifying. But it was nice and it was brilliant.
Why did you choose to cover a Mumford and Sons song?
Connor – Well, we think it’s a great song and we knew we could do something with it. We wanted it to put a splash on it and mould it to one of our own and it turned out alright I think.
You’ve just returned from New York, how were the shows and how do they compare to uk gigs?
Dom –We had slightly smaller crowds in America but the reaction was the same as it is over here, which is luckily quite good! But it was really great.
You spent time in America in your early career, how did that influence your sound?
Connor – Lots really! Dom, myself and Joe were writing in Dom’s garage for about seven months and not coming up with anything really.
Dom – It was all really rubbish!
Connor – So we went over to America to meet loads of different producers in New York, Nashville and LA and just got a flavour for it all. We were there for about six weeks, came back and we wrote our EP the following month, so it was pretty quick!
Tell us about your sound. What kind of vibe do you go for?
Dom – I’d say expansive, is expansive a word? I’m going to say expansive, don’t even know what it means! [Our music] takes you on a sonic journey, ha ha!
Connor – Yeah, I mean the one core is that we all listened to classic rock growing up so there’s a thread of that, and everything else we just explore…
Dom – I’d start throwing electronica or house into it!
Connor – It’s just a big experiment really!
What are your big influences ?
Connor – Urm, that’s difficult…obviously we love some Led Zeppelin, but then every band loves Led Zeppelin don’t they! But also artists like Jeff Buckley and Radiohead. It’s bands and artists that are not worried about experimenting and doing something different.
Dom – Even if it doesn’t sound good though, the fact that someone is not afraid to do something that’s original and pushing the boundaries on what has already been done. That is what inspires us to do what we do!
You were on BBC introducing last year and are now touring and playing festivals! How has the transition been in such a small space of time?
Dom – You don’t notice it really, because you’re living this life you don’t notice it. You get a little bit busier and the odd email to ask you to do things. It’s been really gradual and that’s great as we’re in no rush to push things. We’ve been taking it at a natural pace and growing our fan base at a steady incline.
Your first album is due out later this year. What can we expect?
Connor – It’s an expansion of what we’ve released already.
Dom – There are a few songs people would have heard already that have been released. But there will be about six you won’t have heard, maybe even more, we’re not sure yet on the track listing. We have a load we have to whittle down to 12 tracks. So it’ll come out in the autumn if all goes to plan. It’s going to be self titled.
What new bands are you loving at the moment?
Connor – I’m massively into The Bohicas and The Staves and Royal Blood. I really like Courtney Barnett; her sound is awesome.
Dom - I heard this band called HONNE the other day, they have a really interesting sound and production. There’s loads of good music out at the moment.
You’re touring with Young Guns at the end of May. Are you looking forward to it?
Connor – Yeah we love touring. We’ve been on tour for 4-5 months relentlessly! We’ve done Europe twice and the UK twice. We’ve just had two weeks off which has been refreshing but now we’re buzzing to get out there again.
Dom – Yeah, we went to the States but there’s nothing like travelling round checking out various Travelodges.
Connor – We love that!
Do you perform differently as a support act as opposed to a headline show?
Connor – Not at all, there are different thrills for both. Meeting new fans and exciting new people is great, and then obviously when you’re playing at a headline show and people know some of the songs and sing them back to you so that’s amazing. They both have their merits.
You’re playing loads of festivals this summer, are you looking forward to any in particular?
Connor – Yes, Reading and Leeds. How could we not!
Dom – It’s a fun festival to go to anyway, let alone being asked to play at it, let alone being asked to play the Radio 1/NME stage!
Connor – And we get to go hang out there afterwards…for free! Brilliant!
Do you prefer playing festivals or gigs?
Dom – The good thing about festivals is you can catch someone’s ears as they’re walking past so that’s always fun.
Connor – We only played 4-5 small festivals last year but this year it’s got quite busy for us with festivals.
Dom, you were trained as a classical guitarist from the age of 6, did this influence your sound in any way?
Connor – It’s good ‘cos Joe taught himself guitar and has a very raw, rocky nature, and then Dom brings in this extra slice…a bit like a robot…so we loosen him up and in turn he tightens us up!
Dom – It’s a good blend.
Connor – Yes, it definitely helps.
Connor, is being compared to Jeff Buckley a compliment, or does it put pressure on you to perform?
Connor – Oh it’s awful! No actually he’s my favourite singer ever. It’s nice. I feel like a lot of people our age don’t know that much about Jeff Buckley. It’s flattering when people say that, for sure.
One of the producers you worked with on your first EP was Julian Emery, who has previously worked with McFly; did he influence your sound in any way?
Connor – He’s just incredibly creative. The five of us worked so well together. He’s got this thing where he has to watch The Office at 17:00 and the Formula One and then he’ll play some Rush for ten minutes and then he’ll get back to it. He’s an odd person but it worked really well.
Dom – The more creative someone is, the more odd they are. I’ve started jumping when I get excited about music we’re making.
By Joshua, Jess, Jasmin, Pippa and Luke