Austin, TX pop-punkers Thieves are finishing up their month-long East Coast tour with Shorebreak, Closet Drama, Ampersand, Clark’s Cape and Gin War. The band recorded their EP Colorchange with Beau Burchill behind the controls, and we’re happy to bring you the exclusive track by track put together by Thieves. Give it a read below!
Track By Track
Smoke Signals
Billy: This is one of those songs I can’t sing without thinking about the backstory. I spent way too much time watching two specific people I love let someone walk all over them. The lyrics are about wanting those people to realize that they deserve so much more than to put up with hateful, controlling people. There are bad people in the world and sometimes you can’t change them. At a certain point you have to take care of yourself and just move on. Plus if you stick around with someone who treats you like crap, you’ll never find the person who makes your heart skip a beat when you see them.
“You could shut yourself off from the person that you truly deserve.”
Nathan: I like how this song tells a story from the first verse through the end of the bridge. This is the first song I remember working on for Colorchange too, so for me “Smoke Signals” is a kind of a turning point for our band as far as progressing towards our current sound.
Colorchange
B: When I was a kid, I used to go fishing with my dad in the gulf of Mexico. The waters are pretty dirty down there because we’re south of the Mississippi river, but if you take a boat far enough off shore, you’ll reach a pretty clear line in the water where the color instantly changes from green to clear blue. It’s beautiful, and to me, always represented an undiscovered world. This song is my commitment to a new outlook on life where anything is possible but nothing is expected. Discovery, compassion, an open mind, and a desire to better yourself every day.
“You can find me floating face up in the ocean where the color changes.”
Compass
B: This song is about thinking you’ve found the person you’ve been looking for, only to watch the whole thing fall apart after you realize you probably let infatuation get the best of you. Maybe sometimes it’s best to focus on yourself instead of being hung up on finding someone else.
“We took examples from the shooting stars. Shined bright but burned out at light speed.”
N: The bridge of this song is probably my favorite part of the album. I love how aurally pointed this track is.
Tunnel Vision
B: This was the only song I was really concerned about going into the studio and also the song that changed the most under Beau’s guidance. We really wanted to make the ending feel like the score of a film, and instantly change the darker tone of the song to end on a more triumphant soundscape. Beau nailed it with the production.
“To save the dreams for sleep. To love what’s real.”
N: Billy seems to save what end up being my favorite lyrics for songs we don’t play much live and “Tunnel Vision” is case and point. For me this song covers how staying focused causes you to miss out on other things. Working in this band takes up most of our time, and even though we’re passionate about it, the mean whiles and while you were outs start to pile up. Accomplishment is hard to measure when it’s not physically quantifiable.
Weight
B: Lyrically, this is the most honest song I’ve ever written and is my favorite song we’ve ever written as a band. I think Beau really highlighted our strengths as a band, guiding us as we attempted to jump between aggressive parts and super chilled out parts several times throughout the song. That style has always been a part of our songwriting but it works best here.
“’I’m too young to die’. As if the choice was ever mine.”
N: The first chorus of “Weight” might be the strongest part of any song we’ve written as a band. I also like how it’s different the second and third time. Billy’s lyrics really hit a pinnacle in my book on this track and encompass an over-arching subject that we cover as a band: finding the middle ground between the expectations of other and the expectations you have of yourself. Catch me singin’ along real loud every time we play this song.
Purchase Colorchange here: Physical | Bandcamp
