Record Thieves is a group, which life was given by members of bands such as Authority Zero, Allout Helter and Boldtype or even by Chad Gilbert of the pop-punk mega-machine, New Found Glory. The „Wasting Time“ album from 2020 is an extremely pleasant bearer of the message that one does not have to feel infantile, when prefering to spend time with the partner over a glass of wine than in a sweaty club stinking of lager and still head bangin´ to the magnetic music of these guys on the background.
Your “Wasting Time” record is really great and features punk rock in its 90s form with current and relevant sound. Can it be said that we can expect the continuation of this trend from your next recordings, or are you going to move a little further in the work again?
Wasting time was initially the brainchild of Allen (guitar) and me and when we set out to write it we simply had the goal of writing a bunch of songs we thought were great and really didn’t want to put much thought into it. We set up in my studio (Unity of Noise) and basically just jammed once a week, tracking the ideas we thought were rad and left it at that. During this process, we picked up our 2nd guitar Player Fred and start adding more layers to the songs and it was at this time when we felt the songs had really taken on a whole new life. From there adding vocals was simply icing on the cake and we really couldn’t be happier with the end result. Moving forward to now we are actually getting ready to record an EP, hopefully, to be released this fall and we’re taking somewhat of the same approach. Allen and I have worked out some songs we think have a really good foundation and have then brought them to the band for added layers. But, while this process was easy and familiar to us I really feel like we’re trying to push ourselves a little more on these songs. I personally have been trying to stay away from “standard” things I tend to do and Allen and Fred are Both trying to do more with each other outside of their normal boundaries which has been really fun. I’ve always said if you can’t grow as a band then things become stale, so why not try and push yourselves when possible to keep things interesting. All of that said I feel people will hear the familiar Record Thieves sound they love as well as be surprised by some more flare on this next EP and we really can’t wait to show it to everyone.
You got together in 2017, but your debut was released 3 years later in 2020. Does that mean you preferred to take bigger care about the record and were patient with what you would release? Or were there other circumstances that can be said to delay the release of it?
It was actually a pretty simple circumstance. Mike (vocals) and I put the band together initially but as most bands do when they start out, we just didn’t have all the right pieces in place at first. We jammed with different people, trying to get something going but members came and went until the right set of people came tougher with a common goal and from there, things fell together naturally. It’s never easy starting a new project, especially with all veteran musicians who also have lives, carers, kids, etc. so sometimes it takes some work to get 4/5 people who all share a common “sound” if you will.
[youtube id=“ooDngMFo2oY“ width=“620″ height=“360″]Your band comes from Denver, what is the scene, culture, and life like there in general, if you can tell people who have never been there?
Well, right now I would say it’s like anywhere else. Everyone wants to play shows and all that but with the COVID bomb on the world we all got pushed back and have had to find new ways to be in a band. For us, it wasn’t terrible because we were recording an album and didn’t have any shows planned anyway so we’ve just had to wait it out. Outside of that, I feel Denver has a solid punk rock scene that is very supported by the community of fans and bands together. People are pretty diehard here and we’re lucky to have such a great community to play for.
What do you think are the most important factors in building a brand and keeping it alive, of course, apart from active songwriting itself?
In my personal opinion, communication. You really have to be upfront and honest 100% of the time with everything going on in a band. We discuss things a lot, everyone has opinions and we all respect each other so we’ve been able to agree far more than disagree, even when simply talking about music ideas and writing. At the end of the day though no matter what just communicate.
What inspires you in your work in addition to the music of other bands? Any other kind of art, activity, sport, or even the aesthetics of a particular period in history?
I think life, in general, is inspiration, I know our singer gets his inspiration from everywhere not just personal things and I am the same. Movies, News, podcasts, etc. The song Crown of Foil for instance is about conspiracy theories and at the time when we wrote it there was a TON of talk about the Flat Earthers in the media etc. I know Mike didn’t specifically with it about them but it was more of conspiracy in general. There are always fun topics to write about if you keep an eye/ear open. I like to write fictional lyrics a lot of the time. Just thinking about a scenario and writing it like a short story. I find that to be my favorite because then I’m not bound by anything. I can make the lyrics as simple or crazy as I want them to be. More creative freedom so to speak.
After the situation got better after the pandemic, do you plan to tour Europe or even other continents?
We want to I can say that. We have discussed it if the opportunity presents itself I know everyone really wants to but for now we are simply taking things one day at a time. Writing songs, playing shows (hopefully soon), and having some fun.
