Southend band Nothing But Thieves have had a meteoric rise since being signed to RCA Records two years ago, only two years after forming. Reporter PAUL NIZINSKYJ caught up with lead singer Conor Mason.

MANY of us have paid a visit to our old schools after leaving, but few of us have had the privilege of doing so as rising rock stars.

With a music scene as rich as Southend’s, though, a lot of teenagers will grow up knowing alumni from their school and others in the area include famous names – as, indeed, did 23-year-old Nothing But Thieves singer and former Westcliff High School for Boys student Conor Mason.

“The Horrors were a band from my local area who all the kids were excited about,” he says, “and I wanted that for my own band so we pushed ourselves to do that.

“I went back to Westcliff Boys recently, and some of the kids had written ‘Nothing But Thieves’ on their homework diaries, which was what people did with The Horrors when I was there, so that’s been one of my best memories so far.”

The band, guitarist Joe Langridge-Brown, 25, keyboardist and guitarist Dominic Craik, 22, drummer James Price, 22, and bassist Philip Blake, 27, are all from the Southend area, with Conor meeting the slightly older Joe at Westcliff Boys.

“I was quite new to singing when I went to Westcliff Boys,” he says. “I did an assembly and Joe and his older mates said they would like me to sing in their band, which was really cool.

“The rest of the band were all involved in the music scene, too, and we met each other through parties and things like that.”

Although their musical styles are significantly different, both The Horrors and Nothing But Thieves managed to bypass the years of slogging away at the local live scene which tends to serve as a rite of passage for most bands, with The Horrors’ Sheena is a Parasite hitting big only a year after the band formed, but it seems this is no coincidence they followed similar paths.

“The Horrors were an influence on us in the way they pushed themselves,” Conor says. “Things seem to have gone somewhat quick for us but we did nothing but writing for the first two and a half years. It really was the case that we just shut ourselves away because I knew from past experience that no-one wants to listen to s*** songs.

“We did bits and bobs at Maple Studios (in Grainger Close, Southend) for rehearsals and playing a bit of Chinnerys here and there but we mostly just worked really hard on the writing because the other just come later.

“A lot of it is researching and what makes a good song by listening to good bands and classic songs, because they’re classics for a reason, and no-one does it better than The Beatles. So my advice would be to listen to the classics and work hard at making your songs as good as you can before you go on the road.”

But despite the focus on writing, and despite their rapid success, the band has always been part of the local scene and, despite Conor now living in London, still are.

“There’s such a good music scene in Southend and all the bands have got each other’s backs. I’m really good friends with Youth Club and Chinnerys has always been a massive influence on us, as well as Maple and the whole circuit.

“We practised at Maple and played at Chinnerys and I feel lucky enough as a kid to be part of that scene from when I was 14 to the present day.”

Nothing But Thieves are playing at the Reading and Leeds Festivals on the August 29 Bank Holiday, the O2 Institute Birmingham on November 30, Manchester Academy on December 1, and the O2 Academy Brixton on December 2.