Words: Gráinne McHugh

Cork has a thriving music scene, with lots of great music venues out there and a lot of bands coming out of the city and county. We all know Cork city is great for bigger festivals like the world famous Cork Jazz Festival and also The Live at the Marquee gigs, which has seen the likes of The Prodigy, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, Madness, Snoop Dogg, to name but a few, take to the stage over the years. Smaller festivals in Cork county like The Indiependence festival and the Cork by Southwest festival support more Irish acts and have seen the likes of Cathy Davy, Delorentos, Director, Lisa Hannigan, The Hothouse Flowers, Republic of Loose, Mundy and The Blizzards grace the Cork limelight.

But what about the sea of Cork based bands themselves? Cork has a history of producing some bands that have stuck with us. Frank and Walters, Sultans of Ping, Cyclefly, along with recent enough acts like Mick Flannery and Fred springing to mind. There are some current bands playing in Cork who are sure to make the same impact on our small island country. Scruff Daddy makes its way to Cork to see what all the fuss is about. We look at one emerging Cork band who are making waves in the local music scene at the moment and who also have a packed schedule for the next few months to bring themselves to the attention of the nation. Introducing…. Time is a Thief.

We catch up with the lads, Adam, Murf, Jeff and Jimmy on their home turf of Midleton, not too far from Cork city, after the launch of their latest E.P ‘Identity’.

So tell us about the beginnings of Time is Thief.

Jimmy: Well Jeff, Murf and myself initially started out with a Rage Against The Machine cover band fronting a different singer. We played all the major venues in Cork and it was a great starting point for us. We picked up a lot of tips and tricks from both the music and live performance along the way, but it isn't so obvious in our current writing.

Soon after, Time Is A Thief was formed with new front-man Adam Carroll. We took a more melodic approach to our writing while trying to keep the hard rock element in place, with other influences such as Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Talent. We felt we had what it takes to become a band with melody, edge and depth. Three years on we are still experimenting with new sounds and arrangements while keeping the backbone of the bands sound and personality strongly intact.

I know Time is a Thief was a lyric from a BB King song. Because I googled it. How did you guys come about having that as your band name?

Murf: Well we actually took the name from the Rod Stewart song “Young Turks.”

Woops. Clearly my Interweb skills aint what they used to be.

Murf: Well the line is “Life is so brief and time is a thief, when you're undecided.” So I was driving out to practice one day and the song came on and I heard that line and thought to myself, 'Perfect.' So I suggested it to the rest of the band, and the rest is history I guess.

So ye guys are just fresh from the launch of your second E.P Identity. Tell us about the tracks on the E.P and why they made the cut.

Adam: Well before going into the studio we had originally around 5 to 8 tracks we wanted to record. So we asked Ciarán O' Shea (of Cyclefly) who produced our E.P to call into our practice room and pick out what he thought were the best to record. We were very happy with the decisions he made and since we have worked with him we have learned a lot of about song arrangements and so on.

Cool, so it would be fair to say Ciaran had a bit of input or influence into how the E.P turned out. What was it like recording with him?

Jimmy: Recording with Ciaran was a completely new experience for us and it gave us a taste of how the big labels go about recording and producing a band for the extremely competitive market of today. He helped us out with our songs a few weeks prior to recording by coming to our rehearsals and giving us advice on arrangements, layering and harmony.

With his experience in both recording and writing we managed to come away with an E.P. that competes with some of the best in the country and we look forward to working with him again in the future. Since the production of Identity we've become good friends of Ciaran and he shows great enthusiasm and interest in the band by coming to gigs and listening to rough recordings of new material. Always good to have an outside opinion.

You launched your second E.P Identity on CD and limited editions on USB flash card. A Fantastic idea. What's the next E.P gonna be on? Paid Orwellian style Thought Police who enforce the E.P? That’d be great, ye should work on that. I get the credits though. But has that USB flashcard idea been successful?

Murf: The USB flashcard was something I had considered for the first E.P, but we simply couldn't afford it. So when it came to recording Identity, we really pushed to get it done. To us it makes the most sense. With physical CD sales dropping and digital releases and mp3 player sales always rising, people just don't use CD's like they used to. To them it’s a once-off data storage device. Rip to computer, transfer to mp3 player, dump CD.

So we tried to counter that, by making the USB cards reusable, so that people can have a little flash card with them all the time to put other stuff on it. The reaction has been great as well. People are pretty amazed by them and its something we always get great feedback on. Now if only they would listen to our music as well....

Well that’s where the Thought Police come in! There’s a fairly big music scene in Cork, loads of great bands coming out. Fred, Hope is Noise, etc. I’d say that’s been pretty encouraging for ye to see, especially when starting out. What local bands have inspired you guys?

Adam: Yeah, there is a lot of great bands in Cork which is great to see, but I have to say our biggest influence locally would be Exit the Street who unfortunately have finished up this year. We are good friends with them and it was gutting to see them finish but we got to support them for their last gig and I will always say that it was one of the most memorable moments for us.

So ye’ve also seen some bands come and go, what in your opinion has been the biggest obstacle for an unsigned band?

Murf: The biggest obstacle for an unsigned band is themselves in my opinion. I am a firm believer that if a band has the talent and determination, then they will make it. A lot of unsigned bands blame the lack of support from Irish media, the costs involved in running a band, musical trends within the industry and so on and so on. But realistically, its all just excuses. If your band isn't getting anywhere then you're simply not good enough. That’s not to say just give up, but you have to constantly re-evaluate yourselves to keep improving.

Which you guys are obviously doing and to great success aswell. So what about the fans? Are ye proud of the home support you’ve received and how it’s grown to a pretty enthusiastic fan base… (this reporter was at the E.P launch recently and witnessed some very enthusiastic fans. Vigorous headbanging with a side order of sweat being the dish of the day.)

Adam: Haha, yeah we have good fans and our friends are very supportive of us and the future is looking good but it’s only the beginning, we still have a long road ahead but we are really looking forward to it.

How important is the like of Myspace and Facebook for ye? Has it opened doors for you or do you feel it’s a sea of unsigned acts? You do have a lot of downloads available online and by text service, that’s a pretty good idea, and we can find you on grooveshark also so you seem to have cyber world covered!

Murf: Myspace and Facebook, as well as a few other websites, are a large part of the band. It’s the best way to communicate with fans. Yes it’s difficult to stand out amongst all the bands but we don't really view it as a platform to be discovered from. They are just a way to update fans on gigs and news as well as hosting our songs / pictures / videos. Live shows are much better way of recruiting new fans than any social network site.

So live gigs are obviously a big deal for you guys. For the music heads out there what gear are you using? And I’m not referencing any drug use by the way....

Jimmy: One of the most important aspects of the band is our attention to detail with gear. There are pros ands cons to this of course. Cons being having to use our gear for every gig due to the nature of its set up. I have more cables coming in and out of my amp than you'd care to believe but it's definitely worth it, having your own personal sound is extremely satisfying and sets you apart from the rest.

I currently use two guitars for different tunings, Strat and Les Paul hooked up to a Customized Marshall Mode Four and I am a strong believer in the delay pedal. It has a huge influence on writing. We take a lot of pride in our gear and spent years slowly building it up. Live performance is very important to us also and is where the band shines most.

I hear you guys are going into record your album soon? You must have quite a collections of songs built up at this stage from your 3 years of gigging. Tell us more about that.

Jimmy: Thankfully we're at the stage of our career that we can pick and choose from a set list varying it from venue to venue. Over recent months we have written songs with the album in mind, keeping them short and snappy. The first album is very important to us and we want it to show off the bands capabilities and determination to become the next big band to come out of Ireland. We’re all really excited about it and hopeful to be recording by early next year.

Excellent stuff. You played Indiependence over the summer, one of the best alternative / rock music festivals in Ireland, what was your first festival experience like? Are ye craving more or do you prefer the atmosphere of venue gigs?

Jeff: Yeah at first we weren't too sure what to expect because we were playing first on the first day in the Monster tent and as we were setting up the heavens opened up and it started lashing rain so we thought it would be a quiet gig. We started playing at 12 o' Clock and as soon as we started people were appearing out of no where, in the end there was about 100 - 150 people there so we were well happy with the gig.

We are definitely craving more of the festival atmosphere! Not to say that venues are poor but I would love to see us doing a long list of festivals. Not only is it the atmosphere that’s amazing but it’s the best way to promote and get the band name out there by far, and the overall experience is amazing.

Adam, you’re known for your pretty vigorous stage performances, regularly jumping into the crowd to finish a song. Any injuries you’d like to mention?

Adam: Most of my injuries, if there ever is any, would mostly come from Murf, (our bassist extraordinaire) there has been a few occasions where he cant help but go insane on stage and of course I get caught in the line of fire and then whack (bass in the face). I did mess my ankle up once but that's all nothing major.

So lads, last question and we can probably guess the answer, are you excited about the future of Time is a Thief?

Jeff: All four of us are really excited about the future; the last three years have been tough for us as it is just getting harder and harder for bands to make it these days especially in the Irish music industry. But we are pushing our boundaries none the less, playing and booking gigs every chance we get. We are getting our name out there and we really feel like we are on the right track.

After we released our first E.P ‘Conversations’ our music started to change, we weren't really sure in which direction it was going but when we started writing and recording our new E.P ‘Identity’ we got a couple of knocks in the right direction from Ciarán O' Shea about our songwriting and our actual sound and we are very happy with where our music is heading and where it is going to take us over the next few years. We will be hitting the studio again in the next couple of months with some fresh new material we are currently working on that we are all dying to get done.

www.myspace.com/timeisathiefband