Roll of the Dice: 7 question’s with THIEV

Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.

Mixing the west-coast melodic Epi-Fat sound with North Jersey sensibilities, the Garden State’s THIEV have impressed with both of last year’s EPs, Fade and Break. The band’s Paul Alan joined TGEFM for the latest in our Roll of the Dice interview series. Get to know THIEV and let their music steal your hearts.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview!  Congrats on the fantastic reception of last year’s Fade and Break EPs. What should our readers know about the members of THIEV, your history and your sound?

Thanks a lot!  All of the members of THIEV messed around in less melodic hardcore bands for over a decade (some still do) and we finally decided to get something going with an emphasis on melody, calling back to the days when we bought comps for 2 bucks via Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph or Nitro Records.  We’ve all crossed paths in former/present projects before.   
Buzz once held the world record high score for both guitar hero and StarCraft 2. Pat’s a punk rock mailman.  Shawn coaches baseball and slings raffles when not slinging bass.  Wade can make you the best guitar cab you’ve ever laid eyes on.  Ryan runs an awesome instagram (@rynyl_) page for his vinyl collection.  I used to run a label of sorts (Bedside Manner Collective), I still do, but I used to, too.  

We’ve all got a few, what is your biggest regret? A gig you turned down, advice you didn’t take, what one thing do you wish you handled differently as a musician?

I wish we started this band sooner. We’re the old guys now. This is the kind of music that got me interested in being in a band, but it took 20 years to muster up the confidence to try it. I’ve put a lot of physical strain on myself screaming for years and still do.   Just because you’re louder and more shrill, doesn’t mean anyone is listening.  I also am rather guilty of spreading myself thin by focusing my energy on too many projects at once.  I need to work on that…

What album or band or significant singles made you go “Yeah, this is what I want to do”  Not just an influence but who or what was the catalyst?  On the flipside to that one… Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should know about?

I first picked up a guitar in 4th grade and started lessons.  They started with one of those learn guitar books and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.  It didn’t grab me, I put the guitar in its case and left it there for four years. In 8th grade, my Mom took me to a different instructor that she found stapled to the wall at the supermarket exit.  
At the first lesson he said, “What song do you want to learn?”  My favorite band was Offspring, and I chose “Come Out and Play.”  Through that song he taught me the basics like how to hold a pick, and what a power chord is.  I was hooked.  I remember calling people on the phone and just playing songs that I learned.  As a teacher now, I understand that this dude understood way more about teaching than whoever I went to in 4th grade for guitar lessons.  He got on my level, he got me interested. I learned the rest on my own.  I don’t know much, but I was in my first band about a year later. 
In short, going back to 4th grade, it was Green Day and Offspring that made me want to be in a band.  There’s no way around it.  I’m thankful that punk broke, because had I not got into those bands at that time, who knows what I’d be doing now…or maybe I’d be better off…no way to tell. 
A band that I’ve recently discovered that I think fans of melodic punk would dig is Enemy You.  I also spin a lot of Belvedere and Cigar on the melodic punk end.  I love wearing my UNSANE shirt to the gym to see if anyone will comment, but nobody ever does. 

THIEV is from NJ. It’s such an interesting, diverse and generally under-appreciated place that has bred so much amazing music.  Why do you think the area churns out so many brilliant musicians and songwriters?
How does the area feed into the music you are writing, if at all?

I think it’s because it’s the most densely populated state in the US and so close to the city.  It’s all geography and math, lol.  We’ve only played 3 shows.  I think we still need to find whatever sector of NJ is still longing for the epitaph, fat, nitro comp days.    

One of our obligatory questions in these interviews also tends to be the one I have found most important on a personal level. Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should?

I mentioned non-local bands before, so I’ll focus on the local/unsigned.  A band we connected with solely because we are both passionate about this kind of music is Bridge the Gap and we absolutely love them and hope to play with them one day.  Burial Dance (NJ) plays traditional screamo that deserves to be heard, it’s almost orchestral with desperate screams. There’s a heavy-hitter called Spiritkiller from the Albany area that has that Snapcase/groove centered, kinda chuggy hardcore thing down. We really loved playing with Dream Complete…def check them out if you like Quicksand or Handsome.  All of the bands that played our record release show we picked because we love them:  Kirkby Kiss, Spell it Out & Born Tired.  Please check out anything Adam Kaniper has ever done…Stress Spells and Reynolds 853 are his current active projects, but he’s consistently putting out new music spanning multiple genres and surrounds himself with the most talented, creative people.  Give Edie Quinn a follow on gram (@nonnarcissistic).  They are always putting out art in some form be it comics or music.  I believe they played on over 60 songs last year…incredible.  There’s too many I left out.  I’m sorry. 

What’s next for THIEV?

We are currently writing our next 3-4 song EP.  Fade/Break are the first two EPS in a 4 EP series that follows the same art theme.  All of our art is done by Matthew Apol.  @Matthewjohnapol on gram.  We hope to play more shows in 2024.  

Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?

Please check out Protagonist Music @protaginc on gram.  Brenden pressed our record before we even said we were going to play shows solely because he loves the music.  Does anybody do that any more?  

@thiev_nj on gram.