FROM MATES TO BAND MATES BUT FOR ‘STEALING SIGNS’ THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE! A TIGHT INDIE ROCK FOUR PIECE READY TO GIVE THE WORLD THEIR MUSIC AND STORY. GET TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM IN OUR CHAT AND WHO KNOWS YOU MIGHT BE SEEING THEM ON A STAGE LIKE GLASTONBURY ONE DAY!

What are your names?
Nick Acton, Steve Wheate, Will Daly and George Wood

What is the band’s name?
Stealing Signs

How did you come up with the band’s name?
We took part in the act of Stealing Signs a fair amount in our youths. It felt right to name the band after a cheeky and slightly illegal endeavour. I’m not saying our sound is cheeky and illegal but there’s definitely a mix of excitement and energy in our songs / live sets that pairs nicely with the act itself.

What is your genre of music?
Indie Rock primarily but we stray into Math Rock and Pop from time to time.

Give us a little bio about you.
We’re mates first and a band second. It means that we’ve never done anything that we didn’t want to do and we’ve always had a blast doing it. I think our tightness as a group comes through when we play live. We’re always striving to be as together as possible musically and socially.

What made you go into music?
We all grew up together in a smallish town. There wasn’t a huge amount to do but there was a thriving music scene in the form of these monthly gigs in our secondary school hall. Those gigs encouraged a lot of people to pick up an instrument including us four. We started out in different bands and over the years we slowly came together. I think individually we have all listed music at the very top of our priority lists for years before playing in a band. If we hadn’t formed the band together I have no doubt we all would have done something to do with music.

Who are your influences?
We each bring our own musical influences to the table which means that our songs have an eclectic edge to them. But I think one of our biggest influences has always been film. We don’t intentionally try to be cinematic in our sound but I feel like we try to have a wide scope of ideas in our songs in the same way that a movie can. Lyrically there are definitely words that are inspired by or directly referencing screen plays.

Are you signed?
We’ve signed a whole bunch of our songs to Hype. They are a great label that have got our music played on all sorts of TV and film over the years. The signing has single handedly funded all of our Tours, Recordings, Merch etc and it’s one of the best things that has ever happened to the band.

You released your debut album ‘Somewhere Between’, tell us more about the album.
The Album is the result of a long, twisting and turning history of Stealing Signs. We’ve tried to encompass everything we like as a band in one cohesive track listing and we hope we’ve pulled it off. Unintentionally, we ended up writing half the album in Paris and the other half in the UK. I don’t know if it shows particularly, but the two places brought out two very different sides of the band. Lyrically, the songs range from bitter to sweet. Frustrated to elated.

What is the meaning behind the album?
The album’s name ‘Somewhere Between’ and the title track, is all about the differences, changes and contrasts that we’ve experienced over the years in and around the band. The album is somewhere between our early musical efforts and our latest compositions. It’s somewhere between Paris and Essex. It’s somewhere between our individual eclectic tastes. Somewhere between sweet and bitter.

What was the writing and recording process like?
We recorded and developed the Album with our long time producer Tom Peters. He is our brother from another mother and the sound of Somewhere Between is as much his as it is ours. We love the guy and we’re lucky that we’ve found a producer/engineer/studio that we feel 100% comfortable with. It meant that we didn’t rush anything. We could try things out and obsess over sounds. We drank a lot of coffee and had a lot of laughs.

Describe each track in two words.
Care – Big and Riffy
The Coast – Catchy and Colourful

Take me to the Animals – Open and Dreamy Sarah – Pumping and Percussive
Coffee and Trust – Firm and Direct
Halfway – Tender and Epic
Engines Off – Rhythmic and Positive Arcadia – Powerful and Mathy
Dinosaurs – Soft and Introspective
Theorise – Tight and Melodic
Somewhere Between – Climatic and Soulful

Will we see a Music Video for any of the songs off the album and if so what can we expect from the creative process?
We’ve put out Music Videos for Care, The Coast and Engines Off. The video for ‘Care’ was created, directed and edited by my Brother (Chris Acton) of the production company ‘Remember the Projector’. He’s been a long time collaborator with the band and we’re extremely lucky to have him in our camp. ‘The Coast’ and ‘Engines Off’ videos we created by ourselves. That was an interesting experience. We had never filmed or edited our own Music videos before then and I feel that the videos capture the vibe of the band in a big way, purely because it was made by us, for us. You can expect to see more live videos popping up on social media along with plenty of Studio Footage snippets.

You are finalist for the Glastonbury Competition, what was the process like to submit your music and what can we expect if we see you on the stage?
We were lucky enough to get through to the Final of the Pilton Stage Competition. It was an amazing experience for lots of reasons. A real highlight though was meeting the big man himself – Micheal Eavis TWICE! Being a long time Glastonbury enthusiast (this year will be my 10th Glasto), it was an absolute joy to be in the same room with him, let alone chat to him about our band after he watched us play. Amazing. As for our stage presence, you can expect to see high energy tight sets from us. We’re a real gigging band and playing live is where we excel. Having a forced couple of years off did not sit well with us, so we’re just massively happy to be back on stage. That definitely shows when you see us play.

What else can we expect in 2022?
We’re on the cusp of some pretty exciting changes. Like all changes in the history of the band, they are bitter sweet evolutions that will see us become a fairly different band. Essentially, you can expect to see a lot of change from us in 2022.

Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
As long as we are all mates and we all continue to love playing music, we’ll still be in Stealing Signs. Where or what we’re doing almost doesn’t matter.

What quote or saying do you always stick by?
I don’t know if we have a specific quote or saying that we stick to but we’re very democratic as a band. If it doesn’t work for one of us, then it doesn’t work for all of us. I guess without ever saying it out loud, our internal quote is ‘It’s all or nothing’.

When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
That’s a hard and interesting question! I’d love to say that I cannot forget the lyrics, guitar parts, arrangements, equipment and clothes but I’m pretty sure I’ve misplaced or left all of those things behind physically and mentally in the past. I guess we try not to forget that we love playing even if the gig is crap for whatever reason. There’s always the next show.

Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
Facebook
Instagram

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