Interview with Liar Thief Bandit: ‘Take influences from everywhere, you might find a place for them in your music – that’s what makes me tick’

Malmö, Sweden-based rockers Liar Thief Bandit are gearing up to release their fourth album Diamonds in September this year, with the title track ‘Diamonds (Are Made Under Pressure)’ out on 8 April 2022.

The band comprises Mike Jacobson (lead vocals and guitar), William Grube (drums) and Niklas Dahre (bass, backup vocals). Grube and original bass player Felix Illi went to high school together and Jacobson met Illi through mutual friends. Illi asked Jacobson to join his solo project on guitar, which Grube was a part of on drums, around the same time as Jacobson was playing in pop punk band Tag Your Targets in 2013. ‘At one point, in 2014, I’d written a couple of songs and said to them “I’d like to start a band with you guys”, Jacobson said. ‘After our first European tour in 2017, Felix decided that being in a band wasn’t for him. I knew Niklas from mutual acquaintances, he has his own guitar shop and fixed our guitars and basses. I asked him to try out for our band and he said “Hell to the yes!”‘

Their name has an interesting provenance: ‘It comes from the song ‘Take It’ by Norwegian punk rock band Gluecifer,’ Jacobson said. ‘It has this line in it “Out on a rock/I am stuck on a shock and I’m/I’m like a liar, like a thief and a bandit”. I liked the line and I thought it would be funny as we have three band members. I’m maybe the liar who can’t be silenced singing (laughs). When we’re onstage, I’m on the left, William is in the middle at the back on drums and Niklas is on the right, which makes William the ‘thief’ and Niklas the ‘bandit’!’

Last week, they came off their first tour since COVID started, playing a series of gigs in Germany, Holland and Belgium, an experience that clearly delighted Jacobson after a two year hiatus: ‘Being able to perform live after all this time, it was really amazing, that’s our thing, that’s what we do,’ he said.

‘The battles the song talks about are our battles in life – love, friendship, hardships’

Earlier this month, they released their track ‘The Art of Losing Battles’, which could so easily be an indictment of Putin’s attack on Ukraine but was actually written a year ago: ‘It’s a creepy coincidence,’ he said. ‘The battles the song talks about are our battles in life – love, friendship, hardships. It’s about picking yourself back up and turning something negative into something positive. There are war references in it, too. It’s a bit more raw than a lot of our songs, both lyrically and musically. It’s also about the idea that enough is enough, that you’re tired of what someone has made you be.’

The track offers more of the familiar intensity and riffed-up energy that has become their trademark, paired with a hooky melody and honest lyrics. As the chorus goes: ‘I may not have a future/ But I don’t want to die/ Fund a war or feed the poor/ Do anything you like/ One bullet left in the gun/ One more time around/ Maybe I’ll get a second shot/ At life or whatever the lord has in mind.’

Diamonds is described by Jacobson as a ‘mini-album’, longer than an EP, at 7 tracks but shorter than their three previous albums, which clocked in at 11-12 tracks each. Diamonds comprises six original tracks and a cover of Graveyard’s ‘Ain’t Fit to Live Here’, which takes off where their previous album Deadlights ends. It has a similar feel to its predecessor but with fresh reflections against a backdrop of roaring guitars, pounding drums and fierce vocals. ‘We called the title song ‘Diamonds (Are Made Under Pressure)’ because diamonds are made under pressure,’ he quipped. ‘Sonically, the title song sounds similar to our single ‘Better Days’ (2022), it’s not got so much of a classic rock, Thin Lizzie feel. It’s more melodic, it’s also got a bit of a punk rock feel but it’s heavy on the melody. Lyrically, for me, it’s a continuation of our song ‘Catch and Release’. ‘Catch and Release’ is a love song that’s kinda about breaking up and being lost for a second and then finding someone new. ‘Diamonds (Are Made Under Pressure)’ takes off where that ended. In this song it’s more “we’re in this now and this is what’s in the present”. It’s a positive love song (laughs) with a tad of melancholy. It’s heavy on the major. I top it off with a raging guitar solo! I like telling a story, continuing with some melody and kicking it into the next gear.’ The second single from Diamonds, ‘Peace With Disaster’, will be released in June.

When it comes to writing songs, elements of the songs just roll out, according to Jacobson: ‘I have a background in singer-songwriting,’ he said. ‘I like taking a huge detour in the learning process to become what I want to be. You learn from all your mistakes and experiences. Usually, the vocal melody and some lyrics come almost simultaneously. I sing over the melody over and over, the lyrics turn into a sort of stream of consciousness. You want it to be something you feel is good. To write that way only works for a small portion of the song. I keep notes on my iPhone and if I read a book or watch a movie and like a line, I’ll write it down, even if I don’t use it until two years later. A line like that might become a song title but not appear in the song or it could become part of the lyrics and I’ll build the rest of it around that particular line.’

‘I guess the word has something to do with Stephen King, even though the lyrics don’t’

‘Deadlights’, the title track on last year’s album, hooks you from the massive, heavy opening riff and turns out to be have inspired by a TV show: ‘I saw an opening of a TV show where a deer is caught in the headlights and the car crashes into it. I was thinking the headlights are like ‘dead lights’ for the deer when it sees through them. After the solo section, I sing ‘deadlights’ over and over. Actually, it wasn’t until I saw the movie ‘It’ (based on the Stephen King book of the same name) that I remembered that Pennywise’s (the title character and the main antagonist in the book) true essence is being in those lights where all the kids are floating. They’re called ‘deadlights’, I came back and googled it, so I guess the word has something to do with Stephen King, even though the lyrics don’t. For me, the song is about if you’re caught in headlights, both literally and metaphorically, it’s about what you’re about to head into in life if you don’t change your ways, when you hit rock bottom etc.’

That comes across in the lyrics: ‘Twice a night I feel alright/ But suddenly it’s out of sight/ The one thing I hold dear and cherish most/ Ceases to exist and I’m pale as a ghost/ Got caught up in the race tonight/ Against regulation because wrong is right/ You’re telling me I ain’t the same/ But change is continuous and I’m not to blame.’

Other tracks are more uplifting, such as ‘Brand New Day’, which also features on their Deadlights album and which opens with a heavy, grungy power riff: ‘In lots of our songs, the chorus is the positive thing, the release, when the verses are harsh and dark,’ he acknowledged. ‘This song is definitely a positive one, it came from a good place.’

As the chorus goes: ‘I’m not saying I’m leading the way to a revolution/ I’m not saying I’m giving you hopes in a better way/ But in my mind there’s a lot of anticipation/ Watch me as I’m flipping you off/ And stay prepared for a brand new day.’

‘It has a melodic punk rock feel, it resonates with my punk rock days’

Liar Thief Bandit’s most popular song on Spotify is ‘Good Enough’, with more than 43,000 streams and it’s easy to see why: it’s frenetic, heavy and melodic in equal measure, with some deliciously grungy riffs and the pace never lets up: ‘It has a melodic punk rock feel, it resonates with my punk rock days,’ he grinned. ‘It’s great to play live!’

On their recent tour, they played 13 songs in their set as well as two encores: ”Feather’ is the last one in the set, then we go offstage and if the audience asks for an encore, the last song we play is ‘Hindsight’,’ he said.

After humble beginnings in 2015 making demos and playing their first shows, the defining journey took off in late 2016 when their self-produced debut album Gun Shovel Alibi was released. Extensive touring followed and the hectic tour schedule influenced the three-piece to write, record and deliver their sophomore album Straight Ahead in 2018, followed by three European tours, putting Liar Thief Bandit on the map as a hard-working rock ’n’ roll band to reckon with.

Locally, Jacobson is a big fan of Guenna, who he describes as ‘a stoner rock band with a heavy rock sound’: ‘They don’t growl their vocals (laughs) and the drummer is a maniac on the drums! Do you know Mastodon (an American heavy metal band)?’ I say that I do. ‘Ok, they’re similar to them,’ he said. ‘We did a show with them before we went on tour. They’re amazing, they’re going places.’

‘I heard Kiss, The Damned and The Stooges and it all took off from there’

Growing up, Jacobson’s musical journey was heavily influenced by his half brother, who is eight years older. ‘He started getting Metallica, Nirvana and Iron Maiden cassettes in high school,’ he said. ‘I started playing the guitar when I was 13, around 20 years ago. I still love all those bands but it was The Hellacopters (a Swedish garage rock band) who made me know that the electric guitar was for me. Then I heard Kiss, The Damned and The Stooges and it all took off from there.’

We chat for a bit about how you’ll always love some music from your childhood, whereas some of your earlier choices baffle you as an adult: ‘YES!,’ he said laughing. ‘That’s so true, there’s a 10 year period after you grow up where you’re like “How could I like that?” and then you might get into it again. I was a skater kid from the age of 7, so I also heard hip hop and skate punk, bands like the Swedish punk rock band Millencolin and The Offspring and Green Day. A lot of our stuff is heavy, like ‘Brand New Day’ – it’s almost a bit heavy metal in the guitar parts ‘cos that’s what I listened to when I was younger. I like that everything you enjoy listening to will influence what goes into your songs. If you take influences from everywhere, you might find a place for it in your music — that’s what makes me tick.’

I ask him what his dream line up would look like and he gets excited: ‘Could we be in the middle?,’ he asked. ‘Guenna would open it, they’re sooooo amazing live! Then us and then to headline, I’m not going to say Kiss or Metallica – although we’d do it in a heartbeat if we got the chance — so I’ll say The Hellacopters, just to tour with them every night for two weeks, that’d be cool!’

That feeling of being on stage is a huge motivator: ‘We’ve found that our best moments as a band happen when all the stars align on stage, when the band, the audience and the atmosphere is in total sync,’ he said. ‘It happens once in a while and when it does, we know it from the get go. We look at each other during the show and we already know what we’re going to say to each other afterwards. It sounds clichéd but it’s in those moments we truly become one and it’s an incredible feeling that makes us want to do this even more, again and again.’

(Main photo from left to right: Niklas, Mike and William. Photo credit:  Dan Leo Lindeberg)