In 2015, the Bristol pop-inspired alt-rock act Little Thief was formed by musicians and longtime collaborators Charlie Fitzgerald on guitar and vocals and Rhii Williams on drums and vocals. “We were in another band together, called Bombs, and through that [Charlie] and me became very close and actually ended up in a relationship, which is where Little Thief was born,” Rhii tells Post-Burnout. “So, we didn’t really know how to hang out, other than to play music together. [Laughs]” “And we still don’t!” quips Charlie. “It’s true!” laughs Rhii.

Little Thief has drawn comparisons to the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal, and The Black Keys. We asked the band how they felt that they fit into the Bristol music scene, to which Charlie responded, “I don’t think we fit in at all, in Bristol. Bristol’s really not…I don’t think rock bands are…you got punk bands, from IDLES, who spawned from the IDLES success. That’s a thing, with people shouting stuff over a microphone with heavy music in the background. And then you’ve got lots and lots of jazz, and experimental jazz. The days seem to have been gone with just the big bands with two rappers and a horn section; that seems to have kind of died down quite a lot, thank God! [Laughs]…We’ve got a lot of friends that are in the music scene here, as well, and I feel like their kind of style is really what the Bristol thing is, at the moment. I don’t think it’s us, at all.”

Still, despite this idea of not fitting in, Little Thief has proven successful. Charlie and Rhii started the project as a two-piece and would play in bars and take whatever festival slots were given to them, and, through this, they found a receptive crowd. “It’s because we enjoyed it. It was fun, really,” remembers Rhii. “It took over our lives a little bit because people seemed to love this more than the other projects we were doing.” With this popularity, the band expanded into a four-piece to try and emulate their recorded sound in a live setting. “When there’s enough budget,” as Charlie cheekily describes it, bassist Paul Hopkins and keyboardist Ryan Rogers join in on the fun.

The band then proceeded to play some of the UK’s biggest music festivals, including spots at Glastonbury and Isle of Wight, and made an EP. But upon joining the now-defunct British indie label and marketing collective Funnel Music, who wanted, as Rhii describes, “a fresh slate for [the band],” their EP was digitally removed, so for most people listening to the band today, the first document that they will have access to is the band’s debut full-length album, Under the Patio.

Under the Patio was actually the band’s second attempt at a full-length debut. “We tried to make a record before the one we made, and it was awful,” says Charlie, bluntly. With the recording finalised by around 2019, the album had the unfortunate timing of being produced during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was really bad timing for us because we obviously had just made this record and then, when COVID hit, we couldn’t really release it because we couldn’t tour it or do anything with it,” remembers Charlie. “We didn’t have the finances, either,” adds Rhii.

Charlie continues, “During COVID, the label that recorded it kind of went bankrupt because Brexit stopped any of their funding or something like that; I don’t know the details. So, there was kind of a big two, three-year gap from making the album to putting it out, and, obviously, it kind of felt like…when we recorded it, it was really exciting and it felt kind of current for us, and then waiting three years to put something out…because…we recorded 20 new songs before the album even came out – like demo versions of it – so, to put out a record that we’d made three years before was kind of odd because it just didn’t feel like that’s what we were doing anymore.” “We’d grown up a little bit,” says Rhii. “We didn’t want to not put it out because we thought it was a great record and, you know, we really enjoyed making it. So, it just threw a spanner in the works, not just for us but for everyone as well,” concludes Charlie.

While Funnel Music financed the recording and some supplementary material for Under the Patio, the company went under during its production, leaving the band needing further finance to finish the production, mastering, pressing, distribution, and advertising of the record. The band turned to crowdfunding to directly ask their fans to help get the record out and had great success. “We’re forever grateful for that because we were…at that time, we really had no idea what we were going to do or how we were going to put this thing out, so they made it all possible and we were really, really, really happy about that. That was wonderful,” says Charlie.

But in addition to gratefulness, it was also affirming, given the circumstances at that time. As Rhii explains, “It was amazing, as we had all been locked in our houses, and not doing shows, and not getting that dopamine hit of the physical applause at the end of a song, and kind of sitting there, like, ‘Does anyone even remember who we are?’ and doing this crowdfunder and realising that we have all these people supporting us. We felt so, so very, very grateful and very humbled by that.”

With the direct financial backing of their fans, Under the Patio was finally released in September 2021, under Little Thief’s new self-run record label Bad Sandy Records (named after Olivia Newton-John’s character’s leather-jacket-wearing, smoking greaser metamorphosis at the end of Grease. Oh, shit. Spoilers.) Under Bad Sandy, the band have been able to continue recording and distributing music, and their latest single, “On the Line,” was released today.

“I think it’s a lot more upbeat than [the songs from the album],” says Charlie on the new single. “Some of the ones we put on the first album, it got quite dark for a while. It was quite moody.” “Moody teenager years. Growing up,” adds Rhii. “Which I loved, as well,” says Charlie. “And these ones are just a little bit more upbeat, a bit more rock-y, a bit more energetic, a bit more fun. And, yeah, we wrote that track when we rented a farm in Wales for a couple of months and we did a big writing session, and this was one of the tracks that came out of that, and one of our favourite ones.” On their new direction, Charlie says, “All the new material is a lot more fun and it’s a lot less about the darkness and more about the light, I guess. [Laughs]”

To celebrate the release of “On the Line,” next month the band will embark on a pretty extensive tour of the UK, which will see them on the road from the 9^th until the 22^nd of October. On what people can expect from this run of shows, Charlie simply replies, “A real good time!” He then continues, “Our expectations are low, so anyone who turns up is going to be a great thing for us. [Laughs] So, anybody in a room is going to be a nice little thing for the two of us.” “Yeah, it’s always quite exciting, going into cities that you’ve only played in once or twice, forever ago,” says Rhii. “It’s always great to meet new people and just to play our music in as many different cities as possible. So, we’re just really excited to get out there and, yeah, say ‘Hi’ to some people. [Laughs]”

Little Thief’s latest single “On the Line” is available to stream from today. You can follow the band on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The band feature on today’s episode of POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews…, which is available from 17:00 (IST) on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts.

You can buy tickets to Little Thief’s October tour of the UK here, where they will be performing at:

Oct. 9^th – Birmingham – Dead Wax Digbeth

11^th – Newcastle – Little Buildings

12^th – Hull – DiveHU5

14^th – Lancaster – Lancaster Music Festival

15^th – Lancaster – Lancaster Music Festival

16^th – Southampton – Heartbreakers

17^th – London – Signature Brew, Haggerston

18^th – Winchester – The Railway Inn

19^th – Newquay – Whiskers

21^st – Bristol – Mr Wolfs

22^nd – Bath – Moles

Aaron Kavanagh

Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.