Selfishness probably isn’t the word that crosses one’s mind when consuming an artist’s work, the main goal being connection through music as their work narrates the current experience. Fourteen years into their career, Essex-based are leaning into that selfish desire for their – a project that takes them back to who they are, shutting away outside noise and figuring out what’s meaningful to them. Although influenced by the rock scene their sound is a genre bend, never fully sticking to one thing – an embrace of experimentation as they dip their toes into new sounds that define who they are as a team.
Anticipating the release, Nothing But Thieves – (lead vocalist/guitar), (guitar/backing vocals/lyrics), (guitar/piano/backing vocals), (bass), and (drums) – wanted to do something special, something that vividly showed what their new project means. Three shows, three cities, and only 24-hours to do it all in. The logistics seem nearly impossible, yet their crew behind the scenes manage to plan and execute everything with precision. Following Nothing But Thieves on this whirlwind of a day, CLASH get a glimpse into what really goes in to creating a moment as every show left everyone itching for the next – fans acting as a reflection of the community built as they packed into the intimate venues prepared to mosh at 11am and taking in the moment before it could disappear.
Previous album ‘Dead Club City’ offered an alt/synth fusion, leaning into their experimental side in the process. Noting the differences between ‘Stray Dogs’ and their previous record Dom Craik reflects on the production: “Well sound-wise this record is far more stripped back. ‘Dead Club City’ was a very dense sounding album. Intentionally so… it had added dimensions with synths and drum machines, a lot of programming and vocal layers – whereas ‘Stray Dogs’ we wanted to look at the core foundation of the band, I guess, and sort of simplify it on that front – so we went back to a more organic, slightly raw or rough around the edged sound.”
elaborates: “We were concerned a lot more about the feel of a room and the space that we were creating around the record. I guess trying to capture what it’s like to have the five of us playing in a room, that was kind of the ethos of the whole thing.” replies to his colleague’s point: “It’s this melting pot of live and songwriting. The record is designed almost like a lucid dream live show. It’s something you kind of have to listen to from the start to the finish, which for us is super important in an era where you move on quickly. It was nice for us to make a piece of work, a piece of art that you have to sit down and listen to.”
Backstage chatter woke up the day in Utrecht, the first show building anticipation for the rest of the journey. Waiting backstage before the gig, Langridge-Brown admits the real reason why they wanted to perform these shows. “We were trying to recreate the chaos from our first shows after performing over 120 venues last year – we wanted to go back to smaller venues”. Expanding on that point, Craik tells CLASH: “Although we’re so lucky to be playing arenas I think sometimes you can feel maybe a touch disconnected – you lose a little bit of intimacy due to the nature of huge rooms, so we’re trying to integrate a bit of that back into our gigs.”
Leaning into his point, Langridge-Brown trails on: “It’s almost like research, trying to relearn how this feels for when we go back out to the arenas. There’s something about live gigs now in these big arenas that feels so automated, and feels like it’s almost too perfect. We don’t want to do that. This is the spontaneity that we’re missing, so it’s almost like we’re trying to redo these, see how it feels, and then we’ll try and figure that out next year.”
Fans are already head-banging to the set as the instrumentals pass through the speakers, seemingly there for a good time and not a long one, replacing their morning coffee with a good beer – something the members found amusing, as Craik considered it “a solid effort for 11am!”
Nearing the end of the first set the crew were already packing for the next set whilst trying to handle the technical issues that occurred with the live stream. It was stressful, but the environment was buzzing as everyone went back and forth getting some rest, making sure the train tickets and tour bus were set for the Brussels show.
Catching Mason in the green room he voiced his thoughts on the Utrecht show. “It felt like a bit of a fever dream when you’re waking up a little bit. I was a bit out of it the whole show, but I quite like that – it was quite lucid.”
Pushing through as the early afternoon tiredness started to kick in, it dawned on the band and their crew that they were barely halfway through the chaotic day. A line wrapped around the corner welcomes the team as they enter the Ancienne Belgique venue ready to do it all again – adrenaline high as fans chatter about what they were looking forward to with the show. Chatting to fans outside the show, CLASH finds a blur of excitement. “We love their shows, the music, they’re so nice, and It’s amazing to have a little room (for this show).The songs that are already out are amazing so we know the idea.” The fans visibly seem ecstatic to attend the show as the second one concludes – some basking in the Brussel’s sun, others running off with the setlist.
With another successful gig, Craik hailed the efforts of the crew behind the scenes, “Well it’s difficult for us, but I think the real heroes are our poor crew. They’ve got to tear down three gigs in a day, and the logistics are insane, but ultimately this is something that’s very fun for us and hopefully the fans.”
“When you’re writing music you don’t anticipate that it’s going to bring people together in that way, but people have formed genuine relationships, and friendships that’ve lasted like over a decade. Hearing they met through our songs is just an incredible thing to hear. And then you meet them all on the road and it’s like seeing old friends. We’ve had people that were literally kids when we started and now they’re working in the music industry or doing their own thing.”
Taking us through the production process of ‘Stray Dogs’ the decisions made behind the scenes were a lot different to their previous projects. “It’s opposite what we normally do,” Langridge-Brown points out. “Normally we go and write a record and figure out how the hell we’re gonna perform it live – it was trying to take what we do live and distill it onto a record. We had unfinished business with that part of the band. This was like something we had to do almost for ourselves – it’s quite a selfish record really.”
Responding to his band mate, Mason follows: “I think this is quite a necessary record for us. We’d never thought about the sort of harmony of a record, we always just wrote, threw stuff at the wall, had a lot of fun, and loved that… and still do. It was really unusual for us to kind of work in reverse and take inspiration from how we sound live. Taking inspiration from ourselves is quite strange, but that was almost the precedent to capture what the hell Nothing But Thieves is. It was a really good experiment, it almost gave us the understanding of how we are as a band, how we write, and it’s gonna set us up really well for the future records too, I think.”
Each song they perform seems like a tease to what ‘Stray Dogs’ will be, matched against some of their older songs like ‘Soda’, ‘Particles’, and ‘Itch’ which all possessed more insular lyricism. In Langridge-Brown’s words “as we were going through the process it seemed we were really writing about ourselves and our community and something that was much more insular than our last records which were a lot more writing about the outside world”. Discussing the title of the upcoming album, he continues: “I guess it was just a great metaphor for us and our crew and the fans and the thing we’ve built. You know, we’re all separate people, we come together, make a load of noise and then go our separate ways again… which seems to sum it all up, really!”
As musicians it was important to stick to what they wanted to do with their sound, especially with the pressure that sometimes came with charting, something Craik opens up about: “I think it probably becomes harder the more established you become as an artist to ignore the outside noise. Like, we get asked constantly ‘you had a number one record on the last album, how do you feel about this one? If it gets to number two are you failures?’ We actually don’t make music for that reason though, we’re often just sat there in the studio going: does this excite us? Does this evoke the right emotion?”
Sat in the lobby after a long security check, everyone takes a moment to rest and snack on food to conserve what energy is left for the ten o’clock gig in London. Rolling all the gear off the Eurostar, the team make it back to the tour bus after a long journey. Ending the night before the final gig, Nothing But Thieves film some content before adding a lucky fan to the guest list. They also had a slight addition to the group, content creator Jack (A1234) becoming an honorary member after being mistaken as their sixth thief.
Making their way to the Underworld venue, a hectic day concludes in ecstatic fashion, with the support of fans and loved ones cooped up in the intimate venue. Three countries, three shows and an unbelievable amount of support brought to life what Nothing But Thieves wanted to share to the world, something a Utrecht fan felt deeply: “They bring happiness to the audience!”
‘Stray Dogs’ is out now.