Surrounded By Thieves ‘middle school punk rock’
They’re a new entry in the Vegas punk ranks, but if you haven’t heard about Surrounded By Thieves yet, don’t sweat it, you will. Fronted by singer E. Seraphine, the band comes with catchy, coed jams heavy on hooks and velocity. Now, allow them to introduce themselves:
What does Surrounded by Thieves sound like?
"SBT sounds like ‘Fraggle Rock’ on steroids. Actually, SBT sounds like a melodic hardcore/skate punk band, along the lines of Pennywise and Bad Religion. We could be a soundtrack to any Tony Hawk video game. We aren’t new school punk and we aren’t old school punk, we’re middle school punk rock."
E., is there anything you’ve learned about dudes by being in a band full of them?
"That question needs to be rephrased to: ‘What have they learned from me?’ I turned these sissies into punk rock stars. No, being in a band is like being in a family. We all get along great. We take everyone’s input and we know what we put into this band is what we’re going to get out of it. We hope to tour the world!"
You share your name with a High on Fire album, who in turn, take their name from a Danzig tune. So, are you guys closet headbangers or what?
"Shhhhh! We hide our record collection. No, we only listen to SBT. Just kidding. We all love different kinds of music: metal, punk, old school country, and everyone in the band loves Danzig except Rich (Castro) the drummer. We all thought of five band names and presented them at band practice and that’s the one that stuck. We love it. It can mean anything."
You guys recently tracked your debut in Hollywood. What was that experience like, being in the studio with each other for the first time?
"Just walking into a studio where No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, Kiss, etc., recorded we felt on top of the world. None of us have experienced a studio as nice as this one where we recorded. It was awesome. We learned that having a good sound engineer is awesome. We also learned that Chris (Chamberlain), the bass player, snores soooooo loud!"
Your logo incorporates the mug shots of some pretty notorious law breakers, like John Dillinger. Care to share any illegal behavior? We promise we won’t tell a soul.
"Does breaking into the LVRJ to get us into your paper count? Of course, we break the law every day — we had to pay for the recording somehow."
Chris: "I tore the tag off my mattress the other day."
Rich: "I drove from Vegas to California with an orange and didn’t tell the guy at the border."
Andy (Harrison, guitar): "I didn’t clock out for lunch today at work."
E.: "First rule of ‘Fight Club …’ "
Check out Surrounded By Thieves at surroundedbythieves.com.
Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.
