Interview with Attention Thieves

With the new single 'Can't Say' released this week, R13 caught up with the bands lead singer Alex Green to find out a little more about Attention Thieves.

R13: To start, give us the download on how four school friends from Reading came to be Attention Thieves?
Alex: Well the band as you mention went to school together. We've been jamming and in and out of bands together since we were kids. I (Alex) had been playing with my other group The Arusha Accord and the rest of the guys had been in a band together but the singer left. I was looking to start a band and the rest of the guys were also and it just made sense for the four of us to hook up and complete Attention Thieves.

R13: How would you describe the music you are creating?
Alex: I would describe it as raw, energetic and catchy with influences from many genres. We write well-arranged songs but we are a versatile band and our set shows a variety of songs and as I mentioned before, genres. With every song we are growing and we feel we will achieve something great musically.

R13: When growing up, what sort of music was inspiring you and who were your musical influences?
Alex: I can only speak for myself with 100 percent certainty. As a kid my dad brought me up on the sound of the 60's like the Beatles, the Stones, the Beach Boys and Hendrix, but as soon as I got to secondary school I found grunge and metal and as I grew up I got in to more extreme metal like the Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Tool, Sikth etc and grew an interest in crazy time signatures but at the same time as this I loved and still do love my rock and punk rock bands like Foo Fighters, Small Brown Bike, Archers of Loaf, the Clash and a couple of hundred other bands that I could mention. Basically from every era of music there is always great artists and bands and I can speak for the rest of the band when I say we don't pigeon hole ourselves to one genre or era. If its good I'll like it whether it's Metal to Classical.

R13: Have these influences made an impact on the music you are creating?
Alex: We don't think about our influences when we are writing, we never say " I want to right a song like..." we just get together and jam and what ever happens, happens but I definitely think that our influences subconsciously will play a big role in our writing when we are doing so.

R13: You previously released a few singles on a record label. Was it a tough decision to go it alone and self-finance this new record?
Alex: We knew it was going to be more hard work for ourselves and that we would have to live on next to nothing to fund everything but we have achieved more since we went alone in three months then we achieved in a year working with the management and record label.

R13: You are just about to release the single 'Can't Say'. What can people expect from this song? What is it about?
Alex: People can expect to hear a well-written energetic and catchy song, which hopefully people will be able to relate to. This particular song isn't the most imaginative of concepts but it is something that a lot of people can relate to which is finding your other half cheating and seeing through the lies.

R13: When it comes to writing a song, is there a specific process you follow?
Alex: The writing process varies with every song sometimes we can just get together someone has a riff and all of a sudden three hours later we have a song (musically) pretty much complete. Other times it can take months and we really have to graft and even take parts from other songs to make it work but you cant force it, it either happens or it doesn't. There are many songs we have written that never made the set, you just know when it's a set worthy song. We will usually get a song structurally complete and then sort out the intricate parts and changes to sections. Once musically the song is complete I will take it away with often an idea for melody vocally and start to write the lyrics.

R13: What comes first, lyrics or music?
Alex: Generally the music but I am always writing lyrics and try to adapt them to the right song if the concepts meet.

R13: How do you decide if a song you have written should be up-tempo or a slower ballad?
Alex: We don't make those kind of decisions we just let things happen and progress naturally, last time we decided we were going to write a slower track we ended up writing the heavyset track we have written to date.

R13: Are there any specific ideas/feelings/emotions that make for the perfect song?
Alex: I think as a listener more so then a writer. People like to be able to relate to songs and every person is going through different times and emotions so I think its best to just write for yourself but write in a vague fashion so the song could mean something to you as the writer but mean also the thing that the listener is searching to relate to.

R13: Do you ever come across a few musical differences when creating music? How are these resolved?
Alex: Yeah certainly there are often arguments and it is probably when we are most at each others throats but it's only because everyone is so passionate about the music we are writing. It got out of hand at one point but we just developed a system of letting everyone have their say and to play their idea whilst everyone listens. We do mostly agree though.

R13: We hope there are some live shows in the works. When they are set up, what can be expect from a live performance?
Alex: We have live shows set up throughout the country, festivals over the summer and a tour in September. Our live show is very important to us we pride ourselves on an energetic and tight performance and I think people should come check us out.

R13: What artists are tickling your taste buds at the minute?
Alex: Listening to a lot of Lennon, Stevie Wonder and Small Brown Bike at the moment but other then that nothing new other than an upcoming band called Lower Than Atlantis.

R13: If you could play with any other band/artist who would it be?
Alex: I think right now it would have to be the Foo Fighters, they're such a huge band globally and such a great band too and I think our style would fit the bill well.

R13: Lastly, what does the future hold for Attention Thieves?
Alex: Well I think big things, every song we write gets better and better our live show is the same, I think we can achieve great things as Attention Thieves. We are putting all our eggs in one basket and going for it, we all hope to take this band as far as possible and we are definitely not thinking of giving up anytime soon.

Attention Thieves release 'Can't Say' on June 6th.