Nothing But Thieves consists of school friends Conor Mason (vocals), Joe Langridge-Brown (guitar), Dominic Craik (guitar and keys), Philip Blake (bass) and James Conor (drums), Dom, Joe and Dave. The band signed a record deal in 2014. The band was founded in 2012 in the English town of Southend-on-Sea.
Nothing But Thieves' great idol is Jeff Buckley, who Conor describes as a true genius. Buckley's influence can be heard in the intricate guitar lines and ethereal vocals of Nothing But Thieves.
Debut album
Thanks to the debut single 'Itch', the band was picked up by BBC Radio 1 in 2013. The gentlemen moved quickly; a year later they were supporting Arcade Fire, Twenty One Pilots, Muse, George Ezra and AWOLNATION. Festivals naturally followed, and their debut album was released in October 2015. The track 'Trip Switch' from this album achieved the status of 3FM Megahit.
Broken Machine
The second studio album, Broken Machine, was released in 2017. The 3FM Megahits 'Amsterdam', a nice upbeat track, and the melancholic ballad 'Sorry' come from this record. Both tracks became 3FM Megahit.
Broken Machine is an album that comes close and reflects who the men are as a band: "This album is a snapshot of where and who you are as a band over a small period of time. Writing in 2015/2016... well, we weren't devoid of things to write about. The record hinges on the systems of life we perceive to be automatic and flawless when in reality, they're anything but." The track 'Particles', for example, is about frontman Conor Mason's addiction to sleeping pills.
Top 2000
In the 14th edition of the Top 2000 (we are now in 2023), Nothing But Thieves holds the following highly coveted positions:
Sunday Morning Classic
For our Sunday Morning Classic, we go back a bit in time to the year 2020. That was when the album Moral Panic was released, our Sunday Morning Classic of 30 April 2023.
Moral Panic is the third studio album by Nothing But Thieves and was released on 23 October 2020. Five singles were released from the album: Is Everybody Going Crazy? (March 2020), Real Love Song (June 2020), Unperson (August 2020), Impossible (September 2020) and Phobia (October 2020).
From the preceding singles, we could already hear that Nothing But Thieves had slightly changed course again. To meet their growing status, the Brits try with their ‘new’ sound to appeal to a larger audience. From now on, electronic elements are used much more often, whereas before it was simply the guitar. The men have succeeded well in letting guitars and electronics go hand in hand. In fact, it all adds an extra bombastic touch, which fits perfectly with all the socially relevant themes addressed on Moral Panic. Whether the coronavirus played a role in the album's writing process, we do not know, but it probably lent a hand here and there. The album opens immediately with a big fuck you to contemporary society. “Unperson” was based on George Orwell's book 1984, which is about the fact that we can no longer control our own lives and that we no longer have our freedoms in our own hands. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Of course, Mason here refers to the power of the state and all privacy shortcomings: a destructive whirlwind that leaves an unhappy generation in its wake. Add to that the heavy, electronic-tinged riffs and Nothing But Thieves immediately has you backed into a corner. It's something the Brits make a habit of on their third album, forcing us to face the facts. With frightening beats and chilling guitar, we are guided through the different dimensions of “Phobia”, while the issue of mental health is made clear to us. Conor also sees no hope for this generation on “This Feels Like the End”. Accompanied by a fast tempo and hard guitars, he sings about the pain we all live in and how unhappy the world feels, making the end seem near.
Nothing But Thieves has thus somewhat broadened its horizons on the third album, making it very likely that the band will appeal to an even larger audience. With Moral Panic, the men of Nothing But Thieves have undoubtedly won many hearts. Certainly ours!
Source: NPO and Wikipedia Photo: Memelord38 and Drew de F Fawkes
