The Thieves - Tales from the White Line

Coming from Oxford, The Thieves take the mood and ambience of Brit-rock and add a hefty dose of AC/DC muscularity, creating a sound wholly unheard elsewhere on the British Isles. The result leaves the band a little hard to categorize, too rocking for the Manchester shoe-gazers, they're too produced to be comfortably called a garage band. In the end it doesn't matter, this is Brit-rock the way it's supposed to be; Stereophonics on adrenaline, Oasis with testicles.

Gone is the annoying pretense of Oasis channeling the Beatles, in its stead we get the perfect pop-rock of "Gimme Some Lip," blasting off the lead track with a muted AC/DC riff blending into one of the most infectious choruses to ever emerge from Oxford. "It Still Goes On," starts off with synthesized vocals over atmospherics, before dropping into a perfect Manchester shoe-gazer, trance beat, as Stone Roses-esque as these boys get, before "Oh No," takes you right back to the garage, or whatever passes for a garage in the UK. The Peter Criss drum opening marches right into a three-chord riff that would make Jet proud before launching into another pulsing chorus, guaranteed to stick in your brain. The whole thing is finished off with a fuzz lead guitar solo. Nicely done.

The Thieves made small inroads in the US after leaving Oxford and settling in LA, but there is much more here than the market has caught onto. "Just a Piece," charges at you with an urgency rarely heard in the UK scene. "Everynight," beats the Strokes at their own game with a smoldering bottom end, "Silverliner," throws in a touch of the Mississippi swamp, loose string picking over a rolling blues beat, while "Don't You Lose Me," comes at you all AC/DC swagger and riffs before chiming into a prototypical Manchester melodic chorus. Beautiful.

If you like your Brit-rock a little simpler on the production and song structure, clear of the pretense and ego, and thick in the riffery of classic rock, the Thieves are for you. Check them out at www.theband ofthieves.com or www.myspace.com/thethieves or find them at liquor and poker records, another fine band from an excellent label
---Racer