12 May EVEN THIEVES CRAFT SOUND WITHOUT CEILING

If I was sprinting the last leg of a nocturnal glow stick relay race through the sequoias of Big Sur, “Breakdown” by Even Thieves would propel me toward the finish line via my sporty earbuds. And if my team won said relay race, I’d celebrate by playing Even Thieves’ “Follow You” as loud as outdoor speakers allowed and dancing with my friends ‘round an amber-flamed bonfire. Festivities would continue for many hours yielding little to no sleep, but I would still smile as long as I landed a latte and listened to Even Thieves’ “Lost Days” when the sunbeams kissed my sunscreened face.

Yeah, Even Thieves is DEFINITELY THAT BAND you should introduce your friends (and people you meet at coffee bars) to.  I can freely imagine jaunts like the one above when I listen to the band’s four-track EP, Lost Days, Stolen Nights, since the level of sound in each song is SIZABLE. So sizable that it seems to break down the barriers of reality. I feel like I’m outside even when listening to Even Thieves inside. (Listening links provided below. Enjoy your adventure!)

The group’s lush instrumental layers, powerful soaring vocals, and lyrics ignited in longing combine to produce rare arena-ready songs laced with themes as intimate as whispers. But how do they do it? Chicago-based Even Thieves is painting music with colors that don’t exist in other bands’ pallets. With six well-versed musicians from distinct backgrounds linked by the deep rivers of longtime friendships, it’s no surprise that they’re crafting their own brand of modern New Wave, or what I like to think of as indie rock sound without ceiling. You don’t just hear Lost Days, Stolen Nights in your ears, you hear it in your soul. (I bet I’ve listened to “Nights In Fast Forward” over a hundred times already; it wraps me in a sedative desire for the future.)

As you might imagine from my gushing, connecting with Even Thieves and learning more about how Adrian, Vinny, OJ, Joe, Jeremy, and Tyler produce and perform their art gave me an even greater appreciation for their music and the musicians who have and continue to inspire each of them. What’s more, and what you’ll read for yourself in the interview below, is the band makes it very clear that this is only the beginning. Even Thieves is already working on NEW tracks, and we could have our ears on some songs as early as late summer. I CAN’T WAIT!

The conversation from our interview is chronicled below in a pure Q & A format.

Q & A:

Band Members:
Adrian Day, Vocals
Olivia “OJ” Garza, Guitar
Vincent DePierro, Guitar
Jeremy Atwood, Keyboard
Joseph Paul Chouinard, Bass
Tyler Leninger, Drums

How did Even Thieves come to be? What is the band’s origin story?

Adrian: Tyler, why don’t you start the story!

Tyler: Ten years ago or so, OJ and I played in a pop punk band called Tear It Down. That band eventually dissipated; but, at one point, we had kicked OJ out of the band, which was kind of shitty. Moving forward, we formed another band with Jeremy, who plays keys, and that didn’t go so well, either. Problems occurred in terms of booking shows and getting into the studio. Then, the producer we worked with, Van Christie, turned us on to Adrian, because he knew Adrian pretty well from past projects. Adrian and I made contact through a long phone call. We brought Adrian to practice, and that really started things.

Adrian: Yes, so when I joined I think we were trying to meld what we all wanted to do. It was the three of us (Tyler, Jeremy, and myself) and a guitarist, Johnny. Previous to this, Joe and I were in a band called Silent Sirens. Since we needed a bassist, I brought Joe in. I honestly don’t think we play any of the songs that we wrote at the very beginning of the band forming. All of those songs kind of fell to the wayside. The first song we wrote as a unit was “Follow You” – an idea that Joe came up with. About then, the original guitarist left, because he wasn’t interested in the direction that we were headed in. We tried a couple of other guitarists that didn’t work out, before Tyler let us know about OJ, the girl that they had kicked out of their old band. He wanted to see if she was interested in playing with us. I think the first time OJ came to practice we played “Follow You”.

OJ: Yeah, well when I first received that text message from Johnny, the original guitarist, at first I was like, Oh! NOW, you guys want me to play with you?! So…when I came to that first practice, Joe wasn’t there and they told me to jump on bass and play these two notes for “Follow You”. Then, when I came to my second practice, Joe STILL wasn’t there, and I played his bass again. At my third practice, Joe showed up, and I was like, Awwwww. I can’t play bass anymore!

Adrian: When Johnny left, it was just OJ on guitar. And we knew that the sound needed to be filled out – it wasn’t a one guitar kind of sound. We started looking. We had a friend of ours named Adrian Serrano, who’s in another great band called The Burst And Bloom. He was playing with us for a while, and he was pretty instrumental in expanding the sound that we were looking for. At one point, since he was getting married and working a lot, he had to step away from the band, and I started asking around to see if anyone knew any guitarists. Someone at my work had a roommate who played guitar – and that is Vinny. He’s kind of like the baby of the group. He’s been here the least amount of time, but, all things said, he’s been in the band for like two years now. And that’s the WHOLE origin story.

How many years has it been since Even Thieves existed in any form?

Adrian: It all started about three years ago.

And then, about two years ago, when Vinny was added, the final six were in place as the band exists now?

Adrian: Yeah, the first year was definitely full of growing, figuring out the sound, and adding new members. That first year is really hard to count. We weren’t playing shows. We don’t really play any songs that we wrote back then. “Follow You” is probably the only song from that era we still play.

I LOVE “Follow You”! That is really the first song that hooked me.
Tell us something we should know about each of the six band members (musically or beyond). 

Adrian: I have a son named Cosmo, who is amazing and also really loves “Follow You”. Whenever we’re driving in the car, he says, “Dada, sing happy song.” And when the guitars get heavy, he gets excited. It’s really cute. I have a pretty huge vinyl collection – over a thousand records.

Jeremy: I guess I’ve played a lot of instruments. I played sousaphone at one point. I played all the brass instruments in high school – I was totally, kind of like, the band geek, so I never thought I’d end up here! My mom taught me piano when I was little kid, and I didn’t really pursue it until later. Kind of funny. I mean, maybe I’ll bring the tuba back at one day.

Adrian: Jeremy, what about you and your siblings? You had a family band, didn’t you?

Jeremy: Yeah. My parents would sing songs that were popular during WWII and Vietnam – like sixties, fifties, and forties music in coffee shops. And they participated in historical programs where they would sing old songs to kids and also reenact historical things that had happened. My siblings and I would help out with that. We’d do bugle calls for veterans, and lots of stuff like that, so I guess I grew up in a really musical family.

Joe: I manage a comic book store in a North Shore suburb of Chicago. I collect comic books and read comic books. Also, besides me, no one else in my family is artistically inclined. I mean, everyone in my family is really smart, but no one else really has that creative spark. I was involved in a lot of theater in high school. I studied improv comedy here. I’ve played in bands here. I’ve always been involved in artistic pursuits. My family has been and continues to be super loving and supportive of my artistic side, even if they don’t always understand it.

Adrian: What did your dad say to me that one time?

Joe: Oh yeah, my dad came out to a show once to support us – it was really sweet, but I think we were too loud for him. He said, “I couldn’t hear you guys, ‘cause I had my fingers in my ears most of the time, but it looked like you were having fun!”

OJ: I’ve been playing tennis since I was six years old, and I’m twenty-five now. I was in marching band. I played marching snare and drumline in high school, so I do have a percussion background as well. I get to take advantage of that in a couple of our songs.

Vinny: I’m from New York originally. I moved to Chicago about two and half years ago. I have the cutest dog in the world, Charlie, a beagle that’s four years old. He has the cutest floppy ears!

Tyler: I don’t want to steal Joe’s thunder, but I’m like the black sheep of my family as far as being the only creative member. But, also, to get to playing drums I had to stumble my way there. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a guitarist, because I really loved Angus Young and Carlos Santana. Then, I thought about guitar and I couldn’t do it. Next, I played trumpet for a while and didn’t like that, either. Finally, I realized I could hit things, and that’s the extent of my musical abilities.

When people from different backgrounds and different experiences come together the way that you guys have, it can produce something really magical – like Even Thieves.

Adrian: Thank you! The fact that we have members that have numerous skills has allowed us to expand our sound quite a bit. I feel really lucky that we have six people from different backgrounds, and we can really showcase that in our music.

What does it feel like to be a part of a six person band? And how do you continue to cultivate a positive synergy?

Adrian: It definitely takes some work. I mean, someone who isn’t part of a band might not appreciate how much time is spent in a practice room reviewing the minutia of each song. You know, like, should drums come in here? Or should drums come in there? Should the synths be a pad or should they be something else? There’s a lot of time spent hashing those things out, and sometimes that’s difficult. Sometimes it takes an argument to resolve things; it doesn’t always come easy. And, with six people, you have six opinions.

Our synergy stems from putting in the work, from sitting down in this room and hashing things out. There’s a lot of politics to it. Being in a band requires, at times, the ability to be a politician – trying to figure out what the give and take is. Some of our synergy also comes from our playing in bands together for a long time, like Joe and I. We’ve cultivated a relationship not only as friends, but also as band mates. The same thing can also be said for Jeremy, Tyler, and OJ. It comes from talking with each other, and taking the time to get to our goals.

Tyler: Sometimes people will bring in other ideas. For example, Jeremy many times will write down a bunch of thoughts. He does A LOT of work when we’re not at practice demo-ing things out and kind of cutting and pasting them up. And sometimes, I’ll meet up with Joe or Vinny, and we’ll formulate ideas and bring them to practice to flush them out. We have several different methods to get to the end goal.

Jeremy: I think that’s a benefit of having six people write, instead of assigning one as the designated music writer. By me and Adrian getting together to create things or me, Tyler, and Joe getting together to make things, we can ALWAYS work on the music no matter who is present, as opposed to being in a group of only two or three people. Many times the ideas seem to come from nowhere, because there are so many of us. It’s kind of cool; but, at the same time, if we ALL have DIFFERENT ideas on the SAME song, then there’s a lot of working out to be had.

Adrian: The other thing is – we ALL end up being filters. We all have somewhat of an idea of the sonic and sound template we’re looking for. I think the best songs we’ve created have passed through those filters. And we’ve had some good songs that we just don’t play anymore, because they were good ideas that just didn’t QUITE make it past that filter. My hope is that it comes across. That the songs that end up making it through that filter, that gauntlet, are the ones that have reached the other side in a better form.

A bigger part about being in a six person band is sometimes when we are playing onstage it’s CRAMPED – it’s hard to move around. I like a small stage where I’m bumping into Joe, or I’m bumping into OJ, or I’m bumping into Vinny. That makes it a lot more exciting, and that’s when you feel the energy of six people.

OJ: Being in a band with five dudes is pretty awesome, because I don’t have any brothers.

Without using typical genre tags, how would you describe the sound of Even Thieves?

Vinny: I’ve always liked to say that we are “arena indie rock”. Adrian hates it.

Adrian: I don’t hate it, but we have to fill arenas first.

Jeremy:  We do have a bigger sound than most indie rock bands. We’re a lot bigger sounding than six people.

Adrian: I think that there are aspects of a modern New Wave in our music. My hope is that people hear echoes of things like the eighties and nineties – like Weezer. Ric Ocasek, who was in the Cars, produced Weezer’s Blue Album and Weezer’s Green Album. You hear that first Weezer record and you hear little bits of the Cars in that. I think we’re bigger than “arena indie rock”.

Joe:  What I like about playing in this band and creating OUR sound is that it made me listen to music I wasn’t listening to before. I really started enjoying some of Peter Gabriel’s music, and I never thought that I would like it. I also never previously really listened to U2, The Smiths, or Morrissey, and you can hear all of those influences in our music.

Let’s talk about your latest EP, Lost Days, Stolen Nights: Can you tell us something about each of the four songs: “Lost Days”, “Breakdown”, “Follow You”, and “Nights in Fast Forward” as well as address the EP as a whole?

Adrian: “Follow You” came from a bass idea that Joe had. It was probably one of the quickest songs that we wrote. I had a couple of the lyrics, but they really poured out. To me, it’s a song that really represents some of the best of what we do. It’s quiet/loud/quiet/loud. Live, it has this big drum ending that showcases all of the percussive elements and talents of our rhythm section. You can hear echoes of New Order and echoes of U2, but you can also hear the big guitars.

“Breakdown” is a poppy song with a darker edge to it. When you listen to the lyrics, it’s almost like a Third Eye Blind song – sad words, happy music. There’s elements of Coldplay in there with the soaring chorus and the falsetto. It’s that one song that, if you heard it on the radio, comes across as ‘the single’. Lyrically, “Breakdown” feels very intimate to me.

“Lost Days” is similar. It’s a longing song. It’s meant as a segue or intermediary that moves you between other songs. It’s almost a shoegaze-y, lush and full song.

“Nights in Fast Forward” is one of my favorite songs. It was written about driving down Lake Shore Drive, a beautiful road that runs along Lake Michigan. It was a warm, kind of dewy night, and the lights were flashing by. There’s this feeling of standing right next to someone yet feeling far away. There’s a yearning to it. I always envisioned it as a Cure song mixed with Phil Collins mixed with almost Dire Straits – there’s these emotive guitars, but there’s also this lush, wavelike feeling to it. Every song we’ve recorded is really special to me; but, I think, given the opportunity, we could continue to work on “Nights in Fast Forward”, because I think it could be EVEN MORE than it is now. I’m excited to see that song grow.

The Lost Days, Stolen Nights EP is almost a year old now, and it’s a good representation of where we were then. We recorded it with my friend, Rodrigo Palma, who plays bass in the band Saves The Day, and Jeff Dean, who is an engineer and in a great band called Airstream Futures. (Jeff has worked on a lot of really great records.) After that, we had some remixing and some over-dubbing done with Van Christie, who was in a band called Die Warzau. When you listen to the EP, you get a sense of the dimension in a song like “Lost Days” – you hear these layered guitars and the picking in the guitars – that was something that Rodrigo helped us with. You hear elements of shoegaze in that song and also maybe a little bit in “Nights In Fast Forward”.

There’s elements to those four songs we have performed live since the recording that you cannot hear on the EP. If you come out to our shows, you’ll get a real sense of how BIG those songs can really be. For instance, in “Lost Days” we’ve added these SWELLS – Vinny plays his guitar with a bow and we have these drum pads that add a larger sound to it.

OJ: I think it’s something where, like, in five years people will listen to it, and be excited that it was our first EP. People like having a band’s very first recordings, even though they might not be the best compared with what that band can create now. It’s always cool to go back, because you can hear their growth and see where they have started from.

You guys are SO HUMBLE. That EP is like lightening! It hooked me.

Adrian: You’re right. We can be our own harshest critics. It’s very easy to look back and wish we recorded some things in different ways. Sometimes songs are tempered in the flames of live performances. You figure things out. I think everyone who listens to the EP and then comes to see us live is really impressed.

I think recordings also capture a certain period of time within a band. The EP is like a time capsule, in a sense. Even Thieves will continue to evolve and change.

Do each of you or does the band as a whole have a routine or something special you do to prepare for live shows or studio recordings?

Adrian: I wish there was! I mean, Joe and I hug A LOT…but it’s not necessarily pre-show.

OJ: I haven’t done it for the last couple of shows, but something I HAVE done since the eighth grade is listen on to “Panic Song” by Green Day, because it was written about the bassist, who would always have panic attacks. The song is very fast paced, and it makes you feel like you’re having a panic attack. That’s why I always listen to it before I play.

Tyler: Every time before we play, I drink two beers. Always two. It takes the edge off a little bit.

Adrian: I don’t eat ALL day generally. For some reason, I cannot perform on a full stomach. It makes me feel nauseous. I drink a LOT of water, though. At our last show I almost passed out.

Vinny:  I try to make it feel as routine as possible right up until we go on, because I don’t want any anxiety or anything outside of normal. I just want my day to feel routine and boring.

Adrian: It’s funny because I’ve played in tons of bands and in front of crowds of people, and there has never, ever been a show where I didn’t feel the pre-show jitters. It’s one of those things. I’ve never drank alcohol, I’ve never done drugs, but I have to imagine the feeling I get after a show is what it must feel like to be high – where you don’t remember everything properly, but you know that you did it. I think if you didn’t get the jitters, if you didn’t get those feelings, then those moments and those shows wouldn’t be quite as special.

I’ve seen your YouTube videos and Even Thieves has SUCH a stage presence. What does it feel like to be onstage performing together?

Adrian: I think there’s definitely an electrical current that runs through you. You play off of each other and off of other bands. It’s like having a conversation. Some of the best shows we’ve played are ones where people are up front and actively engaged. You sense that and you feel that. Those things excite and energize you. And a lot of times that also happens with the other bands we’re playing with. There have been times where we have played first, and then the next band that comes onstage feels like they need to UP the energy. One of my favorite shows we played was with this band called Quiet Hollers, and the band that played before them and after us was Frederick The Younger. Both bands are from Kentucky. I felt like we set the tone and, then, after that, every band poured their hearts out.

I love those shows where you feel like the vibe is a friendly, competitive interaction. Where one band is kind of like, We’re gonna pour our hearts out. And then the next band is like, OK, how do we do that but in our OWN way? I hope that we encourage the bands we play with and play for to be involved and to feel energized by what we’re doing. And we encourage that with our big sound. That’s part of the reason at the end of “Follow You” that we have this huge drum part, and I always listen for the tension that builds. People yell or whistle or comment, because it excites people every single time.

I love that you and the band support the other artists you play with and speak so positively of them.

Adrian: The truth is: it’s difficult for us to find bands to cultivate a community with. We’ll play with a band, and if we really vibe off of each other, we want to do it again – to coordinate together and engage together. It’s sad that there are a lot of bands that are only out for themselves. I miss feeling like we have that community. When we meet bands like Frederick The Younger and Quiet Hollers, it’s exciting for us! I’ll be honest: we played with Quiet Hollers because I wrote to the venue when I heard they were coming here. Quiet Hollers put out my FAVORITE album of last year, and I wanted to play with them and share the stage with them. They’re a totally different band than we are, but they inspire me to write better and to listen to music in different ways. That sense of community really excites us, and they were just as encouraging.

I remember in one of my old bands I had this manager that said, “At the end of the show, don’t thank the other bands. You should only ever reference yourself.” And I was like, WHAT?!?!? That totally didn’t seem right to me. That doesn’t encourage any sense of community. And what is music without the people you are interacting with?

Vinny: The conversation is with everyone in the room, so when you are not acknowledging the other bands in a positive way, when you are not trying to bring everyone into the fold at all times, you are shutting down the conversation.

Adrian: We have played with other bands that weren’t necessarily the best pairing; but, in the end, you still say it was a great show and you walk away knowing that you have been a positive part of the music community. I’d rather play the shows that we are playing right now and know that we were kind to the other bands and all the people participating, than be huge and completely rude.

What do you want your listeners to take away from your music?

Adrian: Maybe if they could take away some of the bad parts. Just kidding!

Vinny: My favorite thing about music is the immersive quality. The ability to sink into the song and become part of it.

Adrian: I hope people feel like what we are doing is honest. I hope people will hear our influences, but also hear something new, too.

OJ: Everything sounds the same and so cookie cutter now on the radio with the top 40. Every day, it’s just the SAME thing over and over. I hope that what we’re doing is seen as out of the box.

Adrian: I hope we sound familiar without sounding the same.

And when it comes to seeing us live, I think it’s important for us to let our fans know that we promote a safe space. Regardless of your race or your sexual orientation, we want you to come to our shows and feel welcome. If something is happening in the crowd, we’re going to step in, we’re going to say something, and we’re going to support you.

What is the craziest/funniest/strangest thing that has ever happened to Even Thieves in studio and/or onstage?

Adrian: There’s been instances when, the entire time we were soundchecking, I was getting shocked by the mic in the mouth. That was crazy!

Vinny: One show, my entire board went out.

OJ: Oh yeah! I was just standing there, next to him playing, and there was just NO sound coming out!

Adrian: Thankfully, I don’t think anyone really noticed, though.

What is the best part about having the band’s home base in Chicago? Is the band there most of the time or do you travel around a bit for inspiration?

Adrian: The nice thing about Chicago is that there’s lots of venues, and it’s a music city. We haven’t played outside of Chicago yet, but we have some shows we’re booking in the suburbs now and we’re expanding out.

Tyler: There’s just a lot going on here musically. It’s kind of a melting pot for artists. There’s lots of rehearsal facilities, like the Music Garage – you’ll hear pop, metal, ska – it’s a very culturally diverse city, which I like, too.

Vinny: For me, it’s just feels friendlier musically. People want to play shows together. They want to include you. They want everyone to show up and have a good time. And it seems less about the hustle and more about the music – that’s what really matters.

What artists/bands are each of you currently listening to?

Joe: I’m only listening to The Rolling Stones right now. Every album. I watched Crossfire Hurricane, a documentary on The Rolling Stones, recently on Netflix. This week, I listened to Low…and Dropkick Murphys. The Dropkick Murphys were recently on Song Exploder, a GREAT podcast, and they were talking about “Blood”, one of their songs.

OJ: Tyler made me a playlist on Spotify this week, so I’ve been listening to that. I’m listening to Basement constantly, and I’m always listening to Green Day, my favorite band. This week I was watching a four chapter documentary on Spotify, Green Day: The Early Years, from when they were playing at 924 Gilman Street in Oakland. Watching that makes me really excited to play.

Tyler: I recently discovered this artist named Benjamin Clementine – he’s an amazing singer-songwriter with a super soulful, super powerful voice. He plays piano and has a very interesting approach to his music. I’ve also been listening to a lot of sad music lately, like James Blake – he does some of the coolest arrangements. Delta Spirit – that’s another band I’ve been listening to as well as O’Brother, which sonically has an almost a sludgy sound. Lastly, Fleetwood Mac – I’ve ALWAYS listened to them.

Vinny: Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Ryan Adams, David Bazan, John K Samson, and Bowerbirds. And I’ve been trying to listen to a lot of stuff I haven’t been so hip to, so I started listening to Polyenso and Night Beds.

Jeremy: I’m super stoked that I’ll be seeing U2 this summer at Bonnaroo, so I’ve been listening to a lot of their stuff I haven’t heard previously. I’ve also been listening to Echo & the Bunnymen. We actually just learned a cover of theirs, and I really like them a lot. I’ve also had Purity Ring in my head a lot this week – I keep hearing their melodies.

Adrian: On our Spotify playlist, there’s a lot of what I’ve been listening to on there. Through Instagram I discovered this band called Types – they are from Manchester, and I really like their album. I’ve been listening to The Chameleons UK, lot, a lot of Echo and the Bunnymen, and this band called The Foreign Resort, from Denmark – I actually just wrote to them, and they’re on a Canadian tour right now. My hope is that next year when they come back to the US that we’ll be able to play with them. I always listen to New Order, The Smiths, and U2. I’ve been listening to The Beatles again a lot lately after not listening to them for a long time, because my son really likes them. I’ve been listening to Ben Folds Five again, too. There’s two bands I mentioned that I think EVERYONE should check out: The Foreign Resort and Types. Types are really difficult to Google, given their band name, but their Instagram name is: @tttyyypppeeesss. Their album is really interesting and worth checking out.

Can you tell us anything about the NEW music Even Thieves is working on? Will it be another EP or a full-length album? Do you have an estimated release date?

Adrian: The reason that we’re so excited about the NEW stuff we’re making is that part of the Lost Days, Stolen Nights EP involved fleshing out some of the sonics of what we are doing. I think that the most exciting thing you can find in a band is a good representation of their growth. The new songs will really be a reflection of that growth. All the ideas from the EP will really be fleshed out – you’ll hear more of the New Wave influence, more of the bombastic guitars, and more of anthemic, arena-sized musicianship.

Our goal is to enter pre-production in May, and have something to release by the end of the summer. We’ll most likely release a few songs at a time and then try to have a full album. You’ll also see remixes and some re-recordings of a few of the old songs. We plan to release at least four BRAND NEW songs and then we’ll rework some of the old ones. For the last month, we’ve been speaking with Stuart Richardson, who is in a band called No Devotion, and sending him our songs. Vinny will be tracking the songs here in Chicago and then we’ll send them to Stuart in Florida for mixing. We really love the work Stuart did on the No Devotion record, and I think he has a really good ear and a deep understanding of what Even Thieves is doing. We’ve all been listening to No Devotion’s Permanence album and also listening to Wax Idols, another band on the same record label. We also all listen to White Lies all the time.

What can we expect in terms of the sound of the music yet to be released compared with the sound of the tracks on Lost Days, Stolen Nights?

Adrian: The songs will be just a little more cohesive overall. They feel more us. We really molded the sound, and they have more of what makes us, us – more soaring choruses and heavy parts filled with textured layers. There’s a darkness but the songs are somewhat poppy at times. You get a better reflection of the New Wave and post-punk vibe. There’s some grit to it, but there’s also some beauty. Overall, it’s a more refined sound.

Do you have any upcoming shows booked? Once the new music is released, can we expect some tour dates to be released, too?

Adrian: We do have some shows booked for later in the summer. Go to Eventhieves.com and follow us on Instagram or the Bandsintown app to find out where we’ll be. Our goal is to circulate out of Chicago on the weekends. We’d like to get to Kentucky and to Austin. We want to play with bands we really love and in front of as many people as we can. I’ve been meeting bands on Instagram and receiving invitations from other bands, and we’re excited for the shows to come.

Shout-outs: Are there any people you’d like to thank and/or draw our attention to?

OJ: I genuinely want to thank my mom and my dad. Because of them, I’ve always played music. They’ve bought me guitars, taken me to lessons, and encouraged me to keep playing. My dad is a musician himself. He’s always encouraged me and never told me to stop playing. They both continue to support my music.

Tyler: My buddy Casper Xavier. He kick-started my music career. He’s the guy that told my dad what drum set to buy me when I was a little kid. I would listen to his band, Corporate X. Casper is responsible for hooking us up with Van Christie, who, in turn, hooked us up with Adrian. He’s always been very supportive of me and helped me out quite a bit. I’d like to give a shout-out to my other buddy and roommate, Royal Shorts. He always comes out to our shows and is super supportive. Also, I’d like to thank my mom and my dad.

Vinny: This is going to sound silly, but I want to thank my dog for keeping me sane. He’s never going to know I thanked him, but I need to thank him anyway. I’ll hug him later and tell him. Also my mom and dad. My dad, for teaching me how to play when I was a kid and for getting me interested in music in the first place.

Jeremey: I want to give a shout-out to Joe, because he didn’t have anyone to shout-out, so I just want to be here for him. He ALWAYS makes us laugh, too.

Joe: Adrian is funnier than I am.

Jeremy: I want to give a shout out to Dave Chappelle. I mean, I don’t know him, but I would like to. Maybe if he sees this blog, it will start a friendship. He’s been my favorite comic since forever. You need to see his new special!

Adrian: I would like to thank my son, Cosmo, because he’s wonderful, and I love that he loves music.

I would like to thank: The Burst and Bloom, a great band; Quiet Hollers, who I think put out one of the best records of last year; our friends Kodakrome, who we’ve played with quite a few times; our friends Hidden Hospitals; our friends Still + Storm, who we’ve played with a bunch; this band Turnspit, a local band I really like; Frederick The Younger; and Vesper – our friends Zach and Sam play in that band.

Rodrigo Palma, who has always been really supportive by giving us little pointers and ideas, has been a really good friend to me. He’s always been musically supportive. I want to thank Stuart Richardson for his help. And I need to thank Jennifer Da’Re, who has ALWAYS been supportive– she saw my first Chicago band at South by Southwest twelve years ago. Jennifer lives in LA and manages bands and actors. At times when I’ve felt broken in half, she’s been supportive and she’s helped Even Thieves in so many ways.

All of us would like to thank our girlfriends for coming to the shows and putting up with all the late nights. OJ’s girlfriend, Jeremy’s girlfriend, and Joe’s girlfriend consistently take some great live pics of us. Actually, everyone’s girlfriends take great pictures. I’d like to shout-out all the people along the way who have been encouraging, whether it’s parents or friends or any of our fans coming to shows and listening. THANK YOU.

Connect with Even Thieves:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/EvenThievesBand
Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/artist/4iCUkFwBgZhxcsR2Afety0
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtF7LxLa6jlnZ2V704retXQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eventhieves/

Listen to the Lost Days, Stolen Nights EP:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1080Jj1uScpMIc0xypXXFn
Bandcamp: https://eventhieves.bandcamp.com/album/lost-days-stolen-nights
iTunes: https://itun.es/us/TZtJcb

Listen to Lost Days, Stolen Nights AND what Even Thieves is Listening to:
Spotify Playlist: MMM: Even Thieves