If there’s one thing that Southend-origin band Nothing But Thieves have cultivated over the years, it’s a sense of mystique and intrigue. That was further heightened with the release of their fourth album Dead Club City in 2023.
Take for instance how, right from the beginning when they broke out with their rock-driven 2015 self-titled album, they’ve used double colons in their online communications and later, in song titles as well. “We came up with it as a way to make our social media posts stand out from everyone else,” guitarist Joseph Langridge-Brown says in a video chat. Langridge-Brown adds, “Then it kind of just became synonymous with the band. So it made sense to put them into sort of song titles, and it sort of brings the symbolism into our world.” The guitarist is referring to songs like “Green Eyes :: Siena” and “Time :: Fate :: Karma :: God” from Dead Club City, a concept album that has spawned fan theories aplenty.
Langridge-Brown is joined by guitarist and synth player Dominic Craik as well as vocalist Conor Mason, who are talking about their debut performance in Mumbai on Mar. 9, 2025, performing as part of the third edition of Lollapalooza India. Nothing But Thieves bring a lot of genre-bending tunes released across four albums and a decade now, including Moral Panic and Broken Machine. From riff-driven rock to funky synth and disco influences, there’s a lot in store that makes Nothing But Thieves a must-see act at Lollapalooza India, produced and promoted by BookMyShow Live.
In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Nothing But Thieves talk about coming to India, the reception for Dead Club City and how they plan on taking a break in 2025 to return with renewed vigor for their next material. Excerpts:
Rolling Stone India: What were your thoughts when the offer to play in India came your way?
Dominic Craik: We were just very, very excited. We’re 10 years into our career as a band, and it’s very rare that we go to a new place. And I think India has been on our sort of hit list for a while. So when we got asked to come by Lollapalooza, we jumped at the chance, so we have no idea what to expect. But I think just going to a new country is pretty incredible at this point.
Have you ever got offers or just been in talks with anyone in India? what kind of connection have you had to India before, if anything?
Conor Mason: None at all. I think that’s what’s so cool. It’s been on our radar, but we haven’t had any formal offers or really seen many people from India that have been into us. Normally, you can catch it a little bit on socials, I see like the occasional comment, so, but it feels like quite a bit of an honor to be, to be asked to come. Like Dom said, we have no kind of prior experience of what to expect. And I think that’s really exciting for us, to just see what the crowds are like for us and see if they react with us.
What kind of setlist do you prep when you’re coming to a new country and playing for the first time, that too at a festival?
Joe Langridge-Brown: The greatest hits really, if we had any. [laughs] just something that spans the breadth of our career, I guess, because this would be the first time that anyone in India has seen us play. So they wouldn’t have seen any of the original songs from the first album until now. So I think [it’s about] just giving the best introduction we can to the Indian fans, and seeing if they like it or not.
Craik: Yeah, play as much as we possibly can!
Langridge-Brown: Trying to cram as many songs into 45 minutes.
It’s going to be a couple of years since Dead Club City came out. Some discovered the album with the concept and others, like me, heard the whole album and slowly figured out it had a narrative. There have been so many fan theories. What is it like seeing that and have you come across any theories you’ve really enjoyed?
Longridge-Brown: Definitely. I mean, that was actually one of the most enjoyable things after we released it. There was even a fan page called NBT Theories, and they would be all write into this fan page, and that was incredible. We had people telling us what their thoughts on the concept that I’d never even thought about before. I was kind of learning about the album we’d written from them, which is really interesting. That was just like a fun experience.
At the moment, obviously in America, with Elon Musk and his sort of like company-government synergy… that’s been quite an interesting [way of] looking at the album in that way too. I’m always interested to see what people think about it.
Craik: I think it’s cool that you highlighted that you listened to the songs just like you listened to any other songs without any prior understanding of the wider concept, and then you dived deeper into it, to be more into it. That was something we discussed in depth. We wanted to make sure that the album worked on two levels. You can enjoy the songs in isolation, by themselves, but if you want to go deeper, look at the concept, it makes sense as a whole. That was quite challenging, but it’s a great example of how you’ve experienced the album and how you’ve enjoyed it. It’s good to hear that.
A concept like this also creates a sense of intrigue and maybe a little bit of mystique. Is that something Nothing But Thieves would always like to have in your music and concepts?
Langridge-Brown: I think we do try and do that a lot. It’s actually quite difficult, I think, in the modern age of rock music, or any music, to have any sort of mystique. [Laughs] There are always people behind the curtain. You’re always encouraged to put things online. You’re always encouraged to make videos behind the scenes. Sometimes it’s good to have a little bit of mystique, so that people can have their own thoughts and feelings about what you’re creating. I think that’s almost more powerful. So it’s definitely something we try and include.
Craik: It’s kind of about how we used to consume music. It’s a very different way to do that now. Some of our favorite artists, the closest you’d ever get to them is by opening up the CD and going through the booklet and reading every page and reading all the lyrics. But now, some artists… they’ve got a GoPro on their forehead, and you can see everything they’re doing all the time.
Speaking of intrigue, someone asked about the band’s favorite Black Mirror episode and one was “San Junipero.” If you could write music for any show or movie from the current times, which one do you think it would be?
Langridge-Brown: That’d be good. Dunno… Our music tends to sound quite dystopian.
Mason: Severance.
Langridge-Brown: Yes, Severance would be good. There’s a weird, off-kilter, thing that happens with a lot of the stuff we do. So something that mirrors that.
Craik: I guess something a bit darker. I’m often watching a film, and I think a lot of film soundtracks have these more ominous, dark drones. And I’m like, “That wouldn’t feel out of place in [a song like] ‘Pop the Balloon’ on our last album.’ There are some of those themes that run sonically through our records.
You worked on a song with DJ-producer Purple Disco Machine that came out in 2023, which had a synthwave direction. In terms of what’s coming next, what kind of sonic direction is the new material heading in?
Langridge-Brown: No idea. We haven’t started writing it yet. We’re taking a break after this tour, before we go back into the studio to have a big reset. I would say, normally, the way we work is quite reactive, so it kind of reacts against what we’ve done last. But until we start writing the songs, it really could be anything. I have no idea.
Mason: We never have any idea, as much as the fans. [Laughs]
You’ve been playing some unreleased material, like “Always Always.” Fans have obviously been asking for this song. Could that see a release next?
Langridge-Brown: No plan, really, I think that was recorded in the same set [as Dead Club City]. It’s actually been mostly recorded from the last sessions, but it didn’t really fit with the concept of the record. It’s not quite finished, so I think it was more just like… well, we’ve never actually done that before. We’ve never had the opportunity – since the first album – to put out a song, and just run with it and see how it feels live.
Mason: Like “True Love Waits” for Radiohead, where we’re just playing it live.
Langridge-Brown: I think it was, again, maybe part of the mystique thing was talking about before. You’re in such a release cycle the whole time. So this time it’s like, “Well, let’s just see how it works for a while, just playing the song live and then figure it out later.”
Craik: Also, this is the longest album cycle touring we’ve ever done. We released the record a long time ago, and I think we’ve been fortunate enough to go back to some continents twice on this album, which we’ve never really done before. I think we gave it [the album songs] a new live dimension. The fans that were coming back didn’t feel like they were getting the same set twice. There’s something new to offer, so it kind of made sense for us to incorporate that into the setlist when we were going back to those same countries.
What are your plans outside of the performance while you’re in India? Are you here for a few days?
Langridge-Brown: I think we’ll just be trying to soak up the culture. It’s our first time, in general, in India, even without the band. So that’s always exciting for us. We’re big travelers. We just enjoy traveling in general.
Craik: We’ll just throw ourselves into it and see what happens. We’re very excited about it.
You mentioned hitting reset this year. What’s coming up in 2025?
Craik: Rest is the first thing. And then maybe start looking at writing a new record. We’ve got a couple of festivals here and there, but I think we need some time off to relax, be at home, be normal for a bit. Get some routine and then we’ll have some new music.
It’s always nice to hear bands saying that. Usually this question of ‘What’s next?’ is loaded with constant expectations.
Mason: I’ve started saying it [taking a break] on stage a lot, just like, because you’ll still get people being like, “Come to Brazil!” [Laughs].
Langridge-Brown: I think we’ll make the music better. I think having a bit of time and step away from it, I think we’ll be fully recharged. The next album will be better for it.
Source:https://rollingstoneindia.com/nothing-but-thieves-interview-lollapalooza-india/