COMPANY OF THIEVES

Interview by Natalie K.
May 23, 2009
http://www.companyofthieves.net

Estrella: For the record, can you please state your name and what you do in the band?
Genevieve: My name is Genevieve Schatz and I’m the vocalist of Company of Thieves.
Marc: I am Marc Walloch and I play guitar for Company of Thieves.

Estrella: Can you guys go through briefly how you guys got together?
Genevieve: We met at Union Station in Chicago through a mutual friend and kind of hit it off on a train ride and started to hang out and start writing songs together in our apartments and went from there. We started playing open mics in the city and met other musicians and knew people from school and built up a whole band lineup.

Estrella: How long did it take you guys to get signed?
Marc: We were a band for about 2 years I guess. We weren’t really trying, it wasn’t really a goal of ours. We knew that one day we would like to get our music out to more people, but we knew that it would take time and to just keep on building. Our label Wind-Up kind of came out of no where at the right time and were great people and very supportive, they were able to help us take our music to the next level.

Estrella: Did they give you a lot of freedom to do what you want with your debut album?
Genevieve: Absolutely, they released it in its entirety from what we did.
Marc: We did it on our own when we first started so there was a discussion whether to re-record it or do different songs. An album is a frozen piece of time and we didn’t really want to try to recreate it and it is what it is and we are proud of it. We’ve moved on and are writing new songs and we’ve grown but we see that people respond to it really well; we wanted to give it a chance and get it out there so they allowed us to do that and we are really grateful.

Estrella: What are your tour plans for this summer?
Genevieve: We are going to be touring with Plain White T’s all over pretty much the east half of the country. Then we are going to be popping up in cities at the end of summer for some pretty big festivals.
Marc: It’s not where we fit musically or where we are going with our direction but in our early stages its very good to keep it open and not narrow to the audience we’re playing too. They will bring a younger audience that we don’t get to play too usually so it’s going to be a good experience.
Estrella: New fans.
Marc: Yeah, totally.
Genevieve: All ages fans.
Marc: Yeah and maybe they can grow up with us so it’s good to get them when they are young and maybe they will stick with us.
Estrella: Kids are the ones that buy music the most anyway.
Marc: Yeah, they will wear t-shirts at high school and show their friends, so yeah it will be good we are not used to that.

Estrella: What is one of your favorite lines in one of your songs?
Genevieve: ‘I like to die with all the songs I love stuck in my head’.
Marc: That’s hard to do on the spot.
Estrella: Which one is that from?
Marc: “Around the Block” ‘Find your calling even in the dark’.
Genevieve: Yeah, I like that one a lot.

Estrella: Is there something you have always wanted to do but have not done yet?
Genevieve: Skydive!
Marc: Travel to different countries, other than this continent.

Estrella: Do you guys think you are going to tour abroad soon?
Genevieve: I don’t know about soon but hopefully next year! I’m crossing my fingers, it’s a fantasy I have.
Marc: We really believe we would work well.
Estrella: I think your sound would work well over there.
Marc: Yeah, it’s just a matter of timing and when it works out. It’s expensive to get over there and yeah we would love too.
Genevieve: I just thought of how funny it would be if you showed up in a different country and you sounded completely different like being in a fun house or something and everything was warped. I would hope we would sound okay.

Estrella: Is there a song right now that you never get sick of hearing?
Genevieve: “A Change is Going to Come”, Sam Cooke originally wrote it and Aretha Franklin covered it.
Marc: I like “Brother” by the ANNUALS. Music questions are so hard, we have like 7 people in the band with different Ipods and when we get asked any question with music it is so hard. I never really get sick of older timeless stuff. We love old Motown and soul stuff, classic Beatles that stuff never gets old to us.

Estrella: If you could see any band or artist perform any song live what would it be and why?
Genevieve: Even if they are dead?
Estrella: Yeah.
Marc: Even if you have seen them already?
Estrella: Yeah, even if you want to re-live that moment.
Marc: It’s hard because a lot of the bands I’m thinking of, there are a million songs. I would love to see Radiohead again, any song by Radiohead. Seeing The Beatles would be pretty insane.
Genevieve: I would love to be in Richard D James bedroom while he was writing songs for Aphex Twin, do you know them? They are awesome.
Marc: “A Day in the Life”, The Beatles never performed any of those songs live so it would be cool to see that created.
Genevieve: Yeah, with the whole orchestra, that would be awesome.
Marc: We could go on forever.

Estrella: Do you guys have any final comments?
Marc: I hope you enjoy the show and please check us out.
Genevieve: Keep it real.