The ups and downs the been through a lot situation, you've heard it all before whenever it comes to a band that is. Well it goes without saying that this same situation is facing the likes of Phoenix Arizona's As Thick As Thieves! The guys took sometime after a recent showcase to discuss the plans and past of their musical career and approach to things.
1. Where are you from?
Phoenix, Arizona
2. Do you think not being from a big city like LA or NY influences your sound?
Not really. We draw our influences from bands we all listened to growing up or that we listen to now and use that to makes music we love. One we've all unanimously agreed on is AFI.
3. How did you come together?
Isaac: I can only speak for myself since I joined the band well after it was formed. I'd met Avi at a party and got his number and then about a month later I was just sitting on my couch watching tv and my phone went off and it was a txt from Avi saying "Hey, come play bass in band. Kthxbye!" I was originally a fill in for the bands first trip to California and my first time at an ATAT show was the first one I played. The next day they asked me to join permanently.4. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
Avi: Definitely think it was one of Bear's idea, it's an old saying "We're as thick as thieves", which means you are very close with the person.
5. What type of band are you?
That's a loaded question, truthfully. We balance ourselves between two extremes; a band that is carefree and a band with a lot of things to say. We are notorious for being loud and rowdy but we really do want our music to mean things to people. We are somewhere between a political, social awareness, party, rock band....That likes to drink in public.
6. What are your plans for new music?
We have a new EP titled "Vagabond" that we're getting ready to record.
7. What is your favorite song to perform live?
Isaac: either "Adios Mamona" cause I have bass solo and it's a pretty sweet song or "Roses" for the emotion that comes out during that song.
Avidan: Honestly, I love playing all of them, just depends on my mood. All of them are sort of reflections of our personality. Roses will always mean a great deal to me because of the subject matter and the fearlessness which I wrote with, It's a work I'm honestly proud of and hope inspires others.
8. You were on the Pizza Party Tour and did a show with Escape The Fate, what other showcases or tours do you have lined-up?
We have a battle for a shot at a showcase with Sumerian on the 19th in Tempe AZ. Also, we our EP release coming up in the next few months...and possibly a few tours.
9. How do you rate your live performance ability?
Isaac: Good? We usually judge our performance based on if kids come up to us after the show and tell us we did good. That's been happening more and more lately so we figure we're doing something right.
Avi: We like to think we are exciting live, we don't really look to be a "synchronized swimming" band, nothing is choreographed and we like the raw, spontaneous nature of our shows - and if we mess up, that's okay. It's a live show, not a cd played very loud.
10. Describe your show, visual and musically for us?
We bring the ruckus. But really, we just play best we can. Avi is basically just as sexual as possible both with his voice and his looks. Some of us make weird faces while we play and Isaac wears a pair of really small red 3OH!3 shorts.
11. How do you promote your band and shows?
We use every social media we have available to us mostly. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, we even have a Tumblr although we don't update it that often.
12. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Avi: Well, for this upcoming ep we tried to capture an idea: The lost, the poor, the hopeless ones. We called it vagabond because that's how viewed ourselves. We've always struggled, most of us are lower-middle class, grew up broke and have been broke for a long time. Music sort of allows us a chance to see the world on a low budget, like a vagabonds just roaming the land, with nothing more than a trash bag of clothes in our hand. We feel like a lot of people can relate to just being broke all the time. So, a lot of the songs have a central theme of being down but not out.
"Where Were Going We Don't Need Roads" is sort of the theme song to the whole EP, it's like a small opera for the "Vagabond", it's inspiring yet somber. "Gold and Oil" sort of can be seen in many different lights, you can find allegories for the political, religious or smaller scaled stuff like relationships and friendships. It's kind of whatever you want it to be...then there is "Roses", that is the anthem of giving up (if you have pessimistic eyes), if you are an optimist though, you will find it as a triumphant song of victory, you've found your inner strength and you don't need anything but yourself; because in the end you are alone.
13. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Isaac: Songs usually start as an idea that gets bounced around both guitarists and our drummer with both myself and Avi throwing in ideas wherever we can. From there Avi will figure out his vocal patterns and his lyrics and I'll figure out my bass lines based on what's going on harmonically in the guitars. Since neither one of our guitarists is the designated "lead" or "rhythm" I prefer to wait till they're done getting the layout of the song done before I do anything.
Avi: Pretty much that! That's been our formula most of this new EP, I do a lot of lyric writing on my own and then come into practice and see what fits there music. Other times I'll just start singing a melody with nonsense words to whatever they are playing, and then I'll attached real words to it later.
14. How do you describe your music to people?
Isaac: "Uh it's weird, you just have to listen to it."
Avi: No idea, I'm bad at describe the band and the music.
15. What image do you think your music conveys?
The whole "Vagabond" concept came when we were writing the new material. We're just kind of this family that has no idea what we're doing or where we're going but come hell or high-water there aren't 4 other better men on this Earth that I could ask for to make this journey with and wherever we wind up, we know we have each other.
16. Have you recorded any previous CDs or posted any audio files on the Internet?
Yes, our old EP Guardian, was recorded when the band had a 2nd vocalist and original bassist, both of whom we've since parted ways with.
17. How did you sell your CD’s/Audio Files?
We have our old EP on bandcamp and for a while we were printing the old EP and selling that at shows but with how different the new music is and with the line-up changers we've undergone we've since stopped printing the old EP, it just doesn't really represent us and the direction we're heading right now.
18. What are your dreams and goals?
Isaac: Personally I'd love to tour the world and meet as many kids as possible. We recently had a kid come up to us at a show and tell us "thank-you" for writing "Roses" [about men abusing women and how that's not ok], that the song really meant a lot to him. That meant a lot, even though Avi was the one who wrote the words. If we can write music that's going to mean something to kids, I can't really ask for much more. I just hope we get to play it for all of them.
Avi: Honestly, my dreams and goals have already come true in this band. I have the opportunity to play music with four of my best friends; we travel sometimes and get to meet just incredible young men and women who really care about what they listen to. My only goal is to continue doing this and on even grander scales and stages; the more people we get to entertain, the better.
19. If I were to introduce someone to your music, what would be the song that you think really shows your band sound the best?Isaac: I'd have to go with "Adios Mamona". It's got some heavy, and it's got some quick parts but there's also there's nice groove right in the middle where I do a bass solo with Avi doing some smooth singing over it and the whole ending of the song is just a nice groove that we all love.
Avi: Pretty much anything off our next EP, from the old EP (Guardian), I'd say "The Poison Well".
20. Is that your final answer?
Is that your final question?
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