Music Interview//Stealing Sheep.

Unless you've been locked in a space station this past year you will probably have heard the name Stealing Sheep on the tip of many a music fans tongue. If not from one of the words of mouth you'll have read about them or seen them play. Indeed there is buzz about the band Stealing Sheep and it's not just from their humor inflected appellation this buzz comes. The buzz come from the fact they make unique, ear catching music that has charmed many a music fan and all the music critics that the city can muster! 


Interview//Stealing Sheep

It seems like a long time since they came storming onto the Liverpool scene with their Psychedelic inspired folk but it is in fact a little over a year and a half. Having seen them in performance many times I wonder how the band happened?  


Did Stealing Sheep come from a happy accident or an intent to make a band?'The idea to make a band with Emily and Lucy was intentional. We had seen each other play in other projects and thought all our styles could mesh together well. We started playing together as strangers and knew each other musically before we knew each other as people and it seems the closer we get, the more intuitive the music becomes...' 

As evidenced perhaps by the continuing popularity of the bands EPs The Mountain Dogs and I Am The Rain there is a certain anticipation for the album that many may know they have been recording. But can too anticipation somehow lessen the impact of an album? I ask Becky: 'I suppose there is a lot of hype surrounding the kudos of ‘DEBUT’ albums but we don’t really see it like that. An album to us is like a more indulgent and exploratory space to make music. If people liked the first two 7’s they should see the full LP like the next chapter to these stories, songs, ideas, sounds and concepts' 

The band have gone along way in a comparatively short time from Liverpool scene mainstays to nationwide tours. In fact, it seems that you're hardly ever not touring! Do you ever want to take a break or is playing live like water, so to speak, for Stealing Sheep?'Liverpool is the perfect base for bands to cultivate their sound in the small and interesting scene that exists here but it’s so important to tap into other cities around the world and get glimpses of what’s going on elsewhere. Live shows give us a good rush and helps improve our music'.

The Liverpool music scene is on the surface quite male dominated. Recently there have been more female fronted/girl bands appearing. Music fans generally enjoy the music regardless but do you think that Stealing Sheep have caused a sea change or is just a natural development?


'We have definitely shared most of our bills with blokes throughout most of our gigs this year but there does seem to be more girl bands cropping up on a national level, bands like Warpaint, Peggy Sue and Mountain Man are giving credibility to the ‘girl band’ formula and it’s no longer a shameful label that conjures up images of busty sex kittens with pretty voices. As for Liverpool it has a wealth of excellent female musicians, bands like The Long Finger Bandits, The Worry Dolls and The Staves have actually inspired us rather than the other way around.'

Finally to one question that can get answers as fun and wild as you can imagine. What is the best thing about being in a band?

'Writing a killer song!' And with so many of them already under their belt it's no surprise that their 'tick list' for the future includes such delights as 'creative music videos, conceptual albums, films, festivals, tours of North America and Japan, Later... with Jools Holland and collaborations with Animal Collective, Bjork and Snoop Dog' If you put it that way, let the future commence!

Look out for a pre-album mini-album from the band soon. In the meantime, catch them around Liverpool soon and you won't regret it. 

Interview and text by Seba. This article also appears online at Catalyst Media.