Thieves Like US: Colleen, Didier, Ari, Johnny.

EP: Sending You Messages:
1. Blue Tuesday
2. Messages
3. Stockholm Subway
4. Showed me the door
5. Tonight
6. I still burn

I don't know if there was a conscious decision to be so New Wave and Pop. There were plenty of conversations about where we came from, what we liked. I guess this was it. The music we liked the best was post punk pop disco. Blondie and New Order and The Cure and Duran Duran. Music that is fun. Dancey. New Romantic. New Wave. Sing it in the shower. 3 minute love songs. Without apology. There was a long standing text conversation. Colleen was singing with Hard Rocket for a show, so I connected her with Didier, and our years long texts about premier league soccer and post punk music. Then the pandemic happened - so we all worked creating songs in different spaces, sending them to each other on email, putting them together. When the pandemic slowed we tried to see what would happen as an actual band. Six months later - this EP - "Sending You Messages." "BLUE Tuesday" is about out-growing someone. Colleen borrowed some Post Malone chords and I had some words for the verse. The chorus is Colleen and then Didier asked for a second chorus and we made one up in a practice. Ari made it sound shimmery and Blondie disco. "Messages" is a Didier Devo-like riff wIth nonsense words from my notes and then a totally free-styled chorus - taking the awkward sharp chords of the verse and making an over-the-top pop chorus. "Stockholm Subway" is our version of Ultravox's "Vienna." Colleen spent time in Stockholm, so we wrote a song about seeing someone across the subway platform. Totally cinematic. Drums inspired by Phil Collins. Didier had been showing us a riff for a while - and then one practice we dug into in and created "Showed Me The Door." A lot of what happens in practice is Didier creating a riff and I have some words and Colleen makes the melody. This was written with Ari and a railroad beat in mind. Didier wanted a bridge, so the bridge is an epic freestyle. "Tonight" is chords from Colleen and words about when I was in New York City and throwing parties in the Lower Eastside. The chorus is another freestyle. This is our most pop song and the opener to our live set. "Burn" is the only song that wasn't created from scratch in practice. It's just an excuse to sing "I still Burn!" Singing "I Still Burn" sets a live show on fire. Thanks to Mystic Dome Recording studio in Asheville for recording these tracks and to Ryan Slagle for Mixing and Mastering. If you want an info about Thieves email me at 505050John@gmail.com.