New York, NY (Top40 Charts) One of the most popular YouTube comments for a video of a song is "play it at my funeral." Whereas one of the top question in comments of videos by Nothing But Thieves is "why are they so underappreciated?" Much like anything else in the industry of music, the answer to this question can be given by paying a close attention to details and establishing causal relationships between interconnected variables. Almost all of which are people understand intuitively, but not always clearly or precisely.
Non-experimental Sound
Despite having occasional sold-outs, millions of views and IMDB portfolio with decent amount of features in shows and video games, Nothing But Thieves are not groundbreaking in their sound in comparison with other modern bands. They are capable to create catchy, melodic energetic songs as well as mellow one's. But as a group of composers, musically they do not astonish anyone with novelty in results of their songwriting process. Many of their songs follow traditional structure, which is couple of verses divided with choruses, bridge and chorus. Their music is not guitar oriented, since many of their solos consist of 4 bars and technically not too difficult to play. But they do fit perfect to the tight, appropriate, yet not very memorable parts of rhythm section. Even when Dom Craik switches from playing guitar to keyboard it doesn't make their sound distinguishable enough to make audience question themselves whether they have ever heard something similar before, or not. In general, they will make a very positive impression on a listener. They do have Conor Manson, a lead singer with unique, powerful, yet silk alike voice. But without him on vocals, instrumentally they will not impress today's audience at any level.
No Aim to Surprise Anyone with Visuals
Throughout 7 years of their musical career, Nothing But Thieves have never made an attempt to create some sort of gimmick, in order to stand out among other artists from visual perspective. Such details as red cap, masks, edgy and colorful haircuts, distinctive body paint or at least some sort of minimalistic make up are tools NBT are not even remotely interested in. Therefore, everyone knows them as a band with a regular image. The only distinctive visual feature they have is feminine and extremely melancholic frontman.
NBT use almost no special effects during their live performances. Depending on the venue they play at, their "arsenal" may include moving head beams, fog machines, some illuminators on the background and giant poster of whichever album they are promoting. Which is not very notable set of live attributes for the band of the 21st century. Despite the absence of theatrical and original elements on stage, the aforementioned live kit seems to be just enough for them tto make a great show. But not bright or thrilling enough to stand out and be thrown into the same category as Marilyn Manson. A band of one permanent member Brian Hugh Warner who's actions on his way to worldwide recognition were the result of the engine that always sounded nothing like than the one the Nothing But Thieves have...
Degree of Provocativeness
Nothing But Thieves do not touch any controversy in the lyrics of any of their songs they record or play live. None of their rhymes has ever crossed a line far enough to cause a public buzz, since most of their compositions are dedicated to the topic of primarily romantic relationships.
As of the words the band says outside of the studio or stage, they also have never pushed the buttons that had a potential to cause a group of certain people angrily triggered or offended. In spite of having not very good from a moral point of view name, Nothing But Thieves are harmless and by no means are aimed to steal tranquility of anyone. They haven't done it on purpose, nor by accident. The lack of scandals makes it extremely difficult for them to get into the long or even a short-term memory of an average news scrolling person. Thus, beside fans of alternative music, fans of a good music, festival visitors, party guests and YouTube recommendation enthusiasts, no one gets to get to know about this talented band from Essex.
No Feats
Regardless of the musical genre every successful and well-known artist has made at least couple of collaborations with representatives of the same field of entertainment industry. In general, the side that benefits the most from this songwriting type of partnership is the one that has a smaller fanbase and lower indexes that determine its popularity. Till this day NBT still have never been in neither of these shoes.
The only song that can be found online with description "feat. Nothing But Thieves" in its title is an electronic track "Emergency" by a DJ duo Pegboard Nerds. But what makes it difficult to consider it at least a "half collaboration" is the fact that NBT already have a song song with the same lyrics, the same vocal progression and the exact same title.
Beside the work in studio there is always an alternative and a lot easier way to join forces to get a news publishing result and get an additional growth of the fanbase. During the festivals bands that share one stage tend to become friends and make memorable live collaborations. Much like Alice In Chains's original lead singer Layne Staley did with Tool while performing the "Opiate" when both bands were at Big Mele festival on Hawaii in 1993. However, even in this branch of live performance NBT showed no anxious desire to reach for diversity as well. There were very few times when they had a singers who joined them as a feature performer. And each time it were not the world famous musicians. Among those who decided to team up with them were writing services. Most of his topics are dedicated to music and unusual ways of strengthening your scientific curiosity. He always looks forward to write about the world of rock scene and to provide statistics help. You can always find him on Twitter @zackhargrovejr
