Interview with Theia
23rd November 2016Tell us a little bit about your band and how you all met.
Myself (Kyle) and Paul actually met under ironically less rock and roll circumstances than you might expect! We were both rehearsing for the stage musical adaptation of the famous 80’s classic ‘Footloose’. At the time (2011) I (Kyle) was looking to put together a band and needed a bass player – Paul, having never touched a bass in his life, came over to my place to jam some songs and took to it like a duck to water! Jake joined the ranks more recently after responding to an ad we put out on the internet and the rest might hopefully become rock and roll history!
How did you come up with the name ‘Theia’?
THEIA is one of a long list of name ideas doodled in the back of a school book! It stood out from the rest because it had a nice, memorable ring to it and also because THEIA is the name of the asteroid that started off the Big Bang…
Who are your biggest influences?
We’re all influenced by a massive range of artists but if we had to pick then we’d go with the obvious choices; Kyle would say AC/DC, Paul, Guns N’ Roses (the original line up of course) and Jake owes his love of music to Motley Crue!
We last caught you guys at the MFN in Nottingham playing the RACPA event and here you are now just getting back from playing the almighty 10 year anniversary at Hard Rock Hell, how did that go for you guys?
Absolutely incredible. Having been punters at the event for years before getting the opportunity to play for HRH for the first time back in 2014, we couldn’t have been more honored to be asked back for the 10th anniversary this year. The crowd are inimitable and didn’t let us down – it was a pleasure to get up there and do our thing for such a great bunch of people.
Would you say this has been the highlight of the year for you so far?
As far as live highlights go, it has to be up there with our favorite moments for sure! It’s a tough call though, since getting back in the studio at the tail end of this year was such a fantastic experience and saw us putting together something really exciting…
Were you able to catch any other bands while you were there, and if so who stood out for you?
Definitely, there was a great range of bands playing as always but all of us stayed at Stage 2 a great deal to watch our friends and some new surprises too. Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics were a definite highlight as well as the Broken Witt Rebels and The Bad Flowers!
You guys have also released your new video ‘Electric Witness’ how has this been received by your fans?
We’re really proud of that song and the way the video has come together. Our fans never let us down and we’ve been particularly humbled by the response to Electric Witness – it’s quite a different tune for us so we were completely unprepared for how people might react. Safe to say, we’re happy!
You also did the soundtrack for the feature film ‘Losing Faith’ with Patrick Bergin from ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’, how did all that come about?
I (Kyle) work for the director Steve Wood in my day job. Earlier in the year he had been acting alongside Bergin in a short film and explained about his own plans to create a feature film – ‘Losing Faith’ which he had decided would go hand in hand with our album ‘Take The Pill’. As far as we know, Bergin signed the contract there and then based on his love for the soundtrack! Well, that last bit might not be true but we’ve got good imaginations anyway…
You have some great gigs lined up already for 2017 including the NLC Rocking For The Children event, is this a charity you work closely with?
Absolutely. We have been avid supporters of the charity RACPA who have spearheaded this event. Not only the cause but also the people behind the charity and festival, who have worked tirelessly to create a brilliant event that has gone from strength to strength each year. 2017 will be the fourth time we have played since NLC launched the festival and we couldn’t be happier! It is truly one of the highlights of our year!
What other plans has the band got for the new year?
We’re set to throw ourselves headfirst into the new year with our second album! It’s been over a year since Take The Pill was released and we certainly weren’t in a rush to get back into the studio just to churn out another bunch of tracks; all of these songs mean something to us and we’re very excited to get them into the public domain. This will also be our first time using a ‘pledge’ system whereby we’ll be offering a host of cool extras to our fans (anybody fancy a day at the zoo with THEIA??).
We’ve seen a change in the market for unsigned and signed bands alike who are using this system to great effect – we hope our fans will like what we have to offer and want to be a part of something unique!
Is there anything you would like to say to your fans?
We won’t ever be able to thank our fans enough, those who have been with us from day one, the ones who have joined us along the way and those fans still yet to discover us… you make what we do worthwhile. Long may it continue!
