Thieves of Liberty
Blending classic and modern rock, bringing an unstoppable energy to the stage and being the proud owners of a stellar debut album, Thieves of Liberty are a band you need to keep an ear out for – and yer eye on. Jo Wright (Goth Girl Writing) was lucky enough to catch a chat with drummer Tom Bushby and lead vocalist James Boak, and get to know their influences, ages and what the band get up to when they’re not on stage...
The boys are currently on tour, so how’s it going guys? ‘It’s our first time travelling around together, because we’ve just got the van’, says Tom. ‘We normally have to take two or three cars.’ The boys’ first batch of dates started with a seven hour drive – from their hometown of Sunderland down to Cornwall. Does that make touring pretty tough? Nope! ‘Playing live is the best part of the job, one hundred per cent,’ says James, whose soulful voice ranges from rough and spikey to smooth and honeyed, tackling the band’s tracks with guts and grace.
Thieves of Liberty’s coming dates (click to get your tickets here!!!) will see them support Gorilla Riot, Sons of Liberty, Erja Lyytinen, The Karma Effect… oh, and there’s festival dates too. What do they prefer – supporting or headlining? ‘I’m happier headlining,’ says James. ‘You get more time, and you’re playing to people who want to come and see you.’
‘There’s more pressure on the support act, because you’re given a limited window to gain new fans.’ Tom adds. ‘When you headline people already know you and you’re able to get into it a bit more. It’s almost a bit more of a job to do when you’re trying to pick up new fans.’
Musically James and Tom credit bands including Nirvana, Muse, Alter Bridge and Shinedown as helping shape their sound. ‘A lot of our influences come from older bands,’ says James. ‘Tom is a bit more modern! I grew up with the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers… I’ve got more older tastes!’
Tom, who is also a fan of Twenty One Pilots’ drummer Josh Dun tells us, ‘We’ve got quite a variety of influences when it comes to writing our own songs!’
James adds, ‘We get compared to Rival Sons quite a lot. Tom’s not the biggest Rival Sons fan in the world, but the rest of us are.’
The broad range of bands that Thieves of Liberty love and listen to have helped form their debut album ‘Shangri-La’, which was released in November last year. Its hard rockin’ tracks serve heavy and heft alongside hot and heartfelt. It gives a moreish thrill, demanding another listen once closing track ‘Caviar and Diamonds’ is done. The album and its singles’ artwork is a stunning collection of images which kinda combine dreamscapes with slightly nightmare scenarios, which could easily be translated into tattoo designs. Individually the two are striking. Together they compliment each other and create a musical mystique that your curiosity will get the better of. You WILL be going down the Thieves of Liberty rabbit hole… Which is also the title of one of the album tracks, come to think of it.
‘The album did originally have a different feel,’ says Tom. ‘The original name was ‘Caviar and Diamonds’, which was the last single we released. There was less of the mythical and oriental feel. Once we started discussing ideas on how to link everything together, ‘Shangri-La’ felt like the focal link for it.’
Artificial Intelligence has also given the band a bit of a hand. It helped generate those gorgeous standout record covers. See? AI’s not all bad is it? ‘It was also a way to save money,’ says Tom, ‘because we didn’t have the money to someone get in.’
And it’s partly responsible for the band’s name too. James tells us, ‘Kieran (Wilson – guitar) used a random word generator. He was like, ‘F**k it! I’ll take it!’.’ And so the band became Thieves of Liberty. Which makes part of their current tour a little confusing considering they’re sharing the stage with Sons of Liberty. ‘There’s so many Liberties!’ laughs James.
When they’re not writing, recording, playing live or doing all those other fun rock and roll things, the boys are still busy. ‘We all work outside the band,’ says James. ‘I’ve previously worked in call centres and bars – anything I can do alongside music.’ Tom is training to be a financial advisor, Kieran is a self-employed guitar teacher, Liam (Lindsley – guitar) fixes up caravans (‘So he’s done a lot of work on our van!’ James tell us) and Pete (Kinmond – bass) is a college caretaker.
‘We get to be rockstars for the weekend and go back to work on Monday,’ smiles Tom. ‘You make memories with your friends,’ James adds. ‘You’re travelling around together. We’ve all got a good sense of humour. We have a laugh everywhere we go.’
Did you always want to be the lead singer of a rock band James? ‘When I was a kid I always wanted to be a footballer But I got into drinking and going out!’
Thieves of Liberty make mature rock music with a swagger that comes from not feeling various parts of your body go ping, crack and snap at stages throughout the day. Read: being young. When yer girl enters a running race she now falls into the, ugh, Veterans’ category. Boys? ‘I’ve probably got the liver of a 70-year-old!’ laughs James. ‘We’re all in our 20s.’
Their classic rock vibe naturally appeals to the older music fan, but Tom tells us the band have plans to expand on this. ‘We want the younger demographic too,’ he explains. ‘When you look at our Spotify demographic it’s people in their 40s and 50s. If we could mould our fanbase to include the younger generations as well – that’s the aim for this year and next year.’
Watch out for Thieves of Liberty. They’ll steal your music loving heart. And this band are so spot on you won’t be putting up much of a fight.
Thieves of Liberty on Facebook
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