21st February 2024

Exclusive Interview: Night Thieves talk writing and recording “Polarity”!

**Warning: Tenuous link approaching** They say you need “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue” for luck on your Wedding day and three years after their last burnt offering “Spiral“, London Alternative Metal outfit Night Thieves took that mantra into writing and recording their new material. They took their experiences from their prior studio time, injected a new energy, borrowed a drummer and took some blue lyrics and made them sound great. So without much further ado, here’s an exclusive interview with them about the writing and recording of “Polarity“.

How did your previous experiences writing and recording help to smooth the path of the new record? What was it like writing without a drummer this time around? “The recording process for the previous EP’s, Battle Cry and Spiral, were very different and we learned a lot from both sessions. Recording Battle Cry really helped us become much tighter as a band as well as individually focussing a bit more on technique. Also with Battle Cry we were very much still experimenting with our sound. With Spiral there was much more focus on the song-writing and creating a more cohesive sound overall. Most of Spiral was also written without a drummer and this gave us confidence to work this way again when we found ourselves in the same situation with no drummer. At that point we made a conscious decision to continue writing and demo new songs between the three of us and use a session drummer at the recording stage. This did mean it took us longer than we wanted to get a new EP out but it worked out for the best. Now we have Ryan on drums, it’ll be nice to write with a drummer again!”

How does the writing process of a new track start? Melody, riff or rhythm first? How does it evolve from there before you consider it the finished article? “Ideas start with Rick (bass) or Paul (guitar). Rick will send Paul some bass with a couple of sections or sometimes a whole song of bass! Then Paul will keep and tweak the parts that work best while adding guitars, drums etc.. When it’s the other way Paul either starts with a main riff or some kind of intro to build on to get to the first chorus complete with drums, a basic bassline, and any other sounds to create a vision for the song. This goes to Rick to lay down much better bass, tweak or offer ideas. When we feel we’ve got a potential song we’ll send it to Jess and Ryan and the next step is to jam it in the studio. Jess comes up with most of the vocal melodies in the rehearsal studio and Ryan will rework the drums and put his spin on it. Next stage is to demo the song as a band, then listen to the recording for a few weeks and either we’ll make some changes or it’s good to go! Sometimes things can come together quickly and other times it’s a bit more challenging to get to a place we are happy with. There’s a track on Polarity called The Way The Story Goes and there must be 12 or so versions of the chorus!”

What was it like working in the studio with Romesh Dodengoda (BMTH, Funeral For A Friend, Nova Twins)? Having already worked with Jason Wilson (Dinosaur Pile-up, Reuben) on debut EP “Battle Cry” and Paul Visser (Black Orchid Empire, Hawxx) for sophomore EP “Spiral” what made him the stand out candidate? “Romesh has produced and been involved with many of our favourite bands so when the opportunity came up to work with him we were very excited! His credentials speak for themselves but particularly with his recent work with BMTH, Nova Twins, and Lake Malice we felt Romesh was the perfect fit to elevate Polarity to where we wanted it. His studio in Cardiff, called Longwave, is an awesome, efficient, and relaxed environment and we felt right at home there. We worked hard but Romesh and his team, Tom and Powell, kept us chilled and made the whole process really enjoyable. Every producer has their own approach and methodology and we have gained so much from our experience with Romesh as well as with Jason and Paul from the previous EP’s.”

If you had the opportunity to work with a guest in the studio next time around, who would you like to work with and why? “We’re already working on the next release and there’s definitely room for a Sam Carter (Architects) “blegh” or an Oli Sykes (BMTH) “guttural”. Or maybe Jessie from Dreamstate, she has an awesome scream!”

For us gear nerds out there, can you tell us what you’re using gear wise (pedals, strings, drums etc) to get your sound? “Yes! A question about gear!

Rick uses a Dingwall NG2 and Overload Achilles basses and plays through a Darkglass Microtubes v900 amp and Vanderkley cab. Main pedals are Origin Effects Cali 76 Compressor > Darkglass Duality Fuzz Pedal > Earthquaker Dispatch Master > TC Electronic Hall Of Fame Reverb > Darkglass Microtubes X Ultra.

Paul’s main guitar is a Fender Telecaster Japan Modern strung with Ernie Ball 52-11 and loaded with Bare Knuckle Ragnarok pickups and plays through a Blackstar St. James 6L6 amp. The pedalboard chain goes;

TC Electronic Polytune 2 > Digitech The Drop > JHS Buffered Splitter (to take a clean feed from The Drop) > Boss MS-3 multi effects switcher + Boss EV30 expression pedal and Otter Custom Design bank switcher > EHX The Glove Overdrive > REVV G4 Distortion > TC Electronic Sentry Noise Gate > TC Electronic Mimiq Doubler > Source Audio Collider Delay & Reverb > Stereo out to guitar amp and Radial JDX Direct Drive DI cab sim. All powered by Cioks PSU and they sit on a Temple Audio Trio 21 board with various routing modules.

Romesh has an amazing collection of gear so for guitars on Polarity we also used; an ESP EC Deluxe, 60s Fender Strat, a vintage Telecaster, Kemper Profiler Rack, Blackstar and Marshall amps, Mesa Boogie cabs, as well as a Bogner amp previously owned by Funeral For A Friend.

Drum wise Ryan uses Mapex Armoury series drums 10,12,14&16, Pearl copper 1990’s free floating snare 14×6.5″, Remo pinstripe skins on the toms, Evans HD dry on the snare, Evans EMAD 2 on the kick. Pearl Eliminatior pedals as well as Mapex and Tama hardware.

Cymbals (left to right): Meinl Classics Custom 17″ brilliant crash > Istanbul Mehmet 14″ brilliant hats > Meinl 8″ splash > Meinl 8″ & 10″ splash stack > Istanbul Mehmet 18″ brilliant crash > Meinl Classics Custom 18″ brilliant crash > Meinl Classics Custom 16″ stack > Istanbul Mehmet 20″ brilliant ride > Wuhan 22″ china”

What difference would it make to you if you could land an endorsement from a gear manufacturer? “A huge difference! As well as more exposure just landing an endorsement for basics would be amazing, drum skins, sticks, strings, and plectrums. If we’re very lucky maybe something will come our way this year.”

“Polarity” by Night Thieves is out now and everywhere you’d expect it to be…