Thieves (band)
Encyclopedia
Thieves was a British pop duo active during the early 1990s. It was most notable for being the band on which both members – singer David McAlmont
and multi-instrumentalist/producer Saul Freeman (the latter to go on to trip-hop band Mandalay
) – based their subsequent musical careers.
Critically feted by the British weekly music press during their lifetime, the duo also won two Single of the Week awards in Melody Maker
but split shortly before the scheduled release of their debut album (which was later released as McAlmont’s debut solo album).
, England
), originally of Guyanese/Nigerian heritage, was raised as a Christian and spent his early years in Croydon, Cardiff and Guyana. He began his musical life in Guyana singing in church choirs. His Christian upbringing would clash with his growing realisation of his homosexuality in his teenage years (during which his mother had attempted to “cure” him by taking him to a faith healer). By the age of 20, his experiences had ultimately led him to decide to be true to his sexual nature.
While exploring the London independent pop scene of the early 1990s, McAlmont encountered Saul Freeman, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and programmer with whom he formed Thieves (naming the band after a work by Jean Cocteau
). Freeman was influenced predominantly by post-punk pop and rock bands (such as Scritti Politti
, Associates and Cocteau Twins
), and Thieves blended this with McAlmont’s own gospel and soul influences to create a lush and highly textural pop music drawing equally on “black” music and “white” avant-garde indie rock. Freeman and McAlmont opted to remain as a duo, using detailed backing tapes and programmed percussion tracks (Live, Freeman concentrated on playing strongly-processed electric guitar).
The outspoken and photogenic McAlmont became a minor celebrity on the London indie scene, while the quieter Freeman took more of a smaller role in interviews and concentrated more heavily on Thieves’ multi-layered and complex musical arrangements with producer/extra instrumentalist Michael J. Ade.
Later in the year, the first Hut release – Thieves’ second single “Unworthy” - showed the duo moving in a much more pop-orientated direction. With more obvious soul influences (having some melodic and atmospheric similarities to Marvin Gaye
’s “What’s Going On”) , it also sampled dialogue from a variety of additional pop culture touchstones including Torch Song Trilogy
and 30something. Like its predecessor, it became a Melody Maker Single of the Week.
The band's next step was to play as support act to Morrissey
on the latter's British tour, helping them to build a new audience.
producer Ed Buller
oversaw the sessions, with further strong input from musician/producer Paul Sampson.
During the sessions, problems began to develop. McAlmont would subsequently complain that Buller’s approach to Thieves’ music had ended up sidelining him, and that he had increasingly been provided with musical backdrops to sing over with which he had little sympathy or feeling. (This experience would help McAlmont find common ground with a subsequent collaborator, Bernard Butler
, who claimed similar frustrations with Buller’s production of the second Suede
album Dog Man Star
.)
Shortly before the scheduled release of the album, the working relationship between Freeman and McAlmont broke down completely. As rumours spread about Freeman freezing the band’s bank account, the album was temporarily shelved. The duo were unable to reach agreement on the issues dividing them and Thieves consequently split up.
The Thieves album was released as the eponymous McAlmont album in 1996, with Saul Freeman’s instrumental and songwriting contributions fully credited but with all artwork featuring McAlmont alone. The album contained two of the three singles – “Either” and “Unworthy” – plus the “Unworthy” B-side “They Hide” and a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Conversation”, but did not contain any of the material from the “Through The Door” EP (Some of the "Through The Door" material was contained on a limited-edition second CD enclosed with early versions of the album).
McAlmont was well received by those critics who reviewed it, but the delay (and the loss of the Thieves brand name) had already stalled its momentum. It did not sell well or make a public breakthrough.
in 1995 (with pop/folk singer Nicola Hitchcock
). This project would go on to greater success than Thieves, releasing two albums – Empathy and Instinct – plus the US-only compilation Solace before splitting in 2002. Freeman would then pursue a career in film and event music.
David McAlmont continued his career by linking up with former Suede
guitarist Bernard Butler
for the intermittent McAlmont and Butler project (which scored a Top 10 single in 1996 with its debut release “Yes” and has gone on to release two albums, The Sound of McAlmont and Butler and Bring It Back, plus several more singles). He would continue his solo career with a more conventional soul album (A Little Communication, 1998) and the unreleased dance-orientated album Be (2000).
Most recently he has been recording albums containing new versions of song standards (the first of which, Set One: You Go To My Head, was released in 2005) and working with Michael Nyman. Over the years he has toned down the flamboyance (and, to a degree, the outright expression of his sexuality) which he displayed with Thieves in favour of a more neutral image, and has concentrated more on his abilities as a singer.
Despite their past differences, Freeman and McAlmont were reconciled in 2000 (at the time of the second Mandalay album Instinct) . The duo discussed working together again, but nothing came of it.
(as “McAlmont”, and usually counted as part of David McAlmont’s discography)
David McAlmont
David McAlmont is a British vocalist and songwriter.-Early years and Thieves:...
and multi-instrumentalist/producer Saul Freeman (the latter to go on to trip-hop band Mandalay
Mandalay (band)
Mandalay was a trip hop duo from the United Kingdom, composed of multi-instrumentalist Saul Freeman and singer Nicola Hitchcock...
) – based their subsequent musical careers.
Critically feted by the British weekly music press during their lifetime, the duo also won two Single of the Week awards in Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
but split shortly before the scheduled release of their debut album (which was later released as McAlmont’s debut solo album).
Formation
David McAlmont (born David Irving McAlmont, 2 May 1967, CroydonCroydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
), originally of Guyanese/Nigerian heritage, was raised as a Christian and spent his early years in Croydon, Cardiff and Guyana. He began his musical life in Guyana singing in church choirs. His Christian upbringing would clash with his growing realisation of his homosexuality in his teenage years (during which his mother had attempted to “cure” him by taking him to a faith healer). By the age of 20, his experiences had ultimately led him to decide to be true to his sexual nature.
While exploring the London independent pop scene of the early 1990s, McAlmont encountered Saul Freeman, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and programmer with whom he formed Thieves (naming the band after a work by Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
). Freeman was influenced predominantly by post-punk pop and rock bands (such as Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti are a British band, originally formed in 1977 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Although there have been various changes to the line-up, Cardiff-born singer-songwriter Green Gartside was the founding member of the band and the only member to have remained throughout the group's...
, Associates and Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...
), and Thieves blended this with McAlmont’s own gospel and soul influences to create a lush and highly textural pop music drawing equally on “black” music and “white” avant-garde indie rock. Freeman and McAlmont opted to remain as a duo, using detailed backing tapes and programmed percussion tracks (Live, Freeman concentrated on playing strongly-processed electric guitar).
Early live work
Thieves began playing concerts in small London venues, where they immediately began to attract attention. The group’s format of black singer/white instrumentalist was not in itself unusual, but as a black frontman who was also a flamboyantly “out” homosexual (with presentation to match) McAlmont was seen as an exotic rarity, as was his striking three-octave voice. McAlmont’s outrageous dress sense (and taste for cross-dressing) also became notorious, with one review describing him as “a strawberry daiquiri in a dress”.The outspoken and photogenic McAlmont became a minor celebrity on the London indie scene, while the quieter Freeman took more of a smaller role in interviews and concentrated more heavily on Thieves’ multi-layered and complex musical arrangements with producer/extra instrumentalist Michael J. Ade.
Singles (“Through The Door” & “Unworthy”)
In 1992 Thieves signed to the tiny Nursery Records label, on which they released their debut single. “Through the Door” (on which Freeman’s Cocteau Twins influences dominated) won the Single of the Week award in Melody Maker and gained sufficient interest for Thieves to move up to Nursery’s parent company, Hut Recordings (itself a subsidiary of Virgin Records).Later in the year, the first Hut release – Thieves’ second single “Unworthy” - showed the duo moving in a much more pop-orientated direction. With more obvious soul influences (having some melodic and atmospheric similarities to Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
’s “What’s Going On”) , it also sampled dialogue from a variety of additional pop culture touchstones including Torch Song Trilogy
Torch Song Trilogy
Torch Song Trilogy is a collection of three plays by Harvey Fierstein rendered in three acts: International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a torch song-singing Jewish drag queen living in New York City in the late 1970 and 1980s...
and 30something. Like its predecessor, it became a Melody Maker Single of the Week.
The band's next step was to play as support act to Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
on the latter's British tour, helping them to build a new audience.
Album recording and split
With strong expectations of a commercial breakthrough, Thieves were booked into a studio in Soho, London, in order to complete material for their debut album. PulpPulp (band)
Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....
producer Ed Buller
Ed Buller
Ed Buller is a British record producer and former musician. He primarily works with Australian and British bands like Suede, Pulp, The Raincoats....
oversaw the sessions, with further strong input from musician/producer Paul Sampson.
During the sessions, problems began to develop. McAlmont would subsequently complain that Buller’s approach to Thieves’ music had ended up sidelining him, and that he had increasingly been provided with musical backdrops to sing over with which he had little sympathy or feeling. (This experience would help McAlmont find common ground with a subsequent collaborator, Bernard Butler
Bernard Butler
Bernard Joseph Butler is an English musician and record producer. He first emerged in the early Britpop era with Suede. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation, as well as one of Britain's most original and influential guitarists...
, who claimed similar frustrations with Buller’s production of the second Suede
Suede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...
album Dog Man Star
Dog Man Star
Dog Man Star is the second album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in October 1994 on Nude Records. It was the last Suede album to feature guitarist Bernard Butler, due to growing tensions between Butler and singer Brett Anderson ending with Butler leaving the band before the album...
.)
Shortly before the scheduled release of the album, the working relationship between Freeman and McAlmont broke down completely. As rumours spread about Freeman freezing the band’s bank account, the album was temporarily shelved. The duo were unable to reach agreement on the issues dividing them and Thieves consequently split up.
Release of remaining material under “McAlmont” name
Once legal matters with Freeman had been cleared up, Hut Recordings were left with the completed Thieves recordings. As David McAlmont was comparatively celebrated in indie circles (while Freeman had had less of a presence in publicity and interviews) it was decided that these recordings would be released under the project name of “McAlmont” in order to further McAlmont’s career. A third single, “Either”, was the first formal McAlmont release.The Thieves album was released as the eponymous McAlmont album in 1996, with Saul Freeman’s instrumental and songwriting contributions fully credited but with all artwork featuring McAlmont alone. The album contained two of the three singles – “Either” and “Unworthy” – plus the “Unworthy” B-side “They Hide” and a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Conversation”, but did not contain any of the material from the “Through The Door” EP (Some of the "Through The Door" material was contained on a limited-edition second CD enclosed with early versions of the album).
McAlmont was well received by those critics who reviewed it, but the delay (and the loss of the Thieves brand name) had already stalled its momentum. It did not sell well or make a public breakthrough.
Post Thieves
Saul Freeman would go on to form the trip-hop duo band MandalayMandalay (band)
Mandalay was a trip hop duo from the United Kingdom, composed of multi-instrumentalist Saul Freeman and singer Nicola Hitchcock...
in 1995 (with pop/folk singer Nicola Hitchcock
Nicola Hitchcock
Nicola Hitchcock is a British singer and songwriter. She is best known for having been the singer of the band Mandalay...
). This project would go on to greater success than Thieves, releasing two albums – Empathy and Instinct – plus the US-only compilation Solace before splitting in 2002. Freeman would then pursue a career in film and event music.
David McAlmont continued his career by linking up with former Suede
Suede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...
guitarist Bernard Butler
Bernard Butler
Bernard Joseph Butler is an English musician and record producer. He first emerged in the early Britpop era with Suede. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation, as well as one of Britain's most original and influential guitarists...
for the intermittent McAlmont and Butler project (which scored a Top 10 single in 1996 with its debut release “Yes” and has gone on to release two albums, The Sound of McAlmont and Butler and Bring It Back, plus several more singles). He would continue his solo career with a more conventional soul album (A Little Communication, 1998) and the unreleased dance-orientated album Be (2000).
Most recently he has been recording albums containing new versions of song standards (the first of which, Set One: You Go To My Head, was released in 2005) and working with Michael Nyman. Over the years he has toned down the flamboyance (and, to a degree, the outright expression of his sexuality) which he displayed with Thieves in favour of a more neutral image, and has concentrated more on his abilities as a singer.
Despite their past differences, Freeman and McAlmont were reconciled in 2000 (at the time of the second Mandalay album Instinct) . The duo discussed working together again, but nothing came of it.
Discography
(as Thieves)- “Through The Door” EP (1992) Peak chart position(s):
- #? (Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
), - #? (UK Singles ChartUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
)
- #? (Billboard Hot 100
- “Unworthy” EP (1992) Peak chart position(s):
- #? (Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
), - #? (UK Singles ChartUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
)
- #? (Billboard Hot 100
(as “McAlmont”, and usually counted as part of David McAlmont’s discography)
- “Either” EP (1993) Peak chart position(s):
- #? (Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
), - #? (UK Singles ChartUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
)
- #? (Billboard Hot 100
- McAlmont album (1994) Peak chart position(s):
- #? (Billboard 200Billboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
), - #? (UK Albums ChartUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
)
- #? (Billboard 200