Hard-rock outfit Time is a Thief play Monroe's

Time Is A Thief are a hard-rocking four piece from Middleton in Co Cork who will play Monroe’s Live on Saturday, June 2.

They have just released their debut album, We’re Not Strangers, which follows two well received EPs. Though the band first formed four years ago, bassist Michael Murphy explains why they didn’t want to rush the release of We’re Not Strangers.

“We were always very reluctant about diving into the first album because it’s such a huge cost, first off,” he says. “And you only get one chance to do your debut album. So we really took our time, and we decided after our second EP that we were ready enough and we decided to go for it.”

For the making of the album, the band decamped to a small cottage in the nearby village of Cloyne. The house is owned by Ciarán O’Shea, a former member of Cyclefly, an acclaimed, Cork-based alternative rock band.

“He moved there after he finished with the band,” says Michael. “He works with a lot of local musicians. We did our second EP with him and we were really happy with how it turned out, and how he captured our sound. It was definitely the logical choice.” 

We’re Not Strangers captures the searing guitars of Jimmy, the furious rhythm section of Michael on bass and Jeff on drums, completed by the raw vocals of Adam. The quartet and O’Shea had to put in the hours to get the sound right.

“Ciarán would just work constantly – he doesn’t have anything else to be doing!” laughs Michael. “Late nights – til 6 in the morning, then back in again at 9 o’clock. Sometimes it was almost like we were doing it in shifts.”

Time Is A Thief made use of the FundIt.ie website to generate the cash needed to complete this debut. FundIt.ie, which allows the public to provide financial support an arts project, is a path many performers are using now – The Walls launched a similar campaign for their latest album.

“I was looking it into it, and it sounded like a great idea,” says Michael. “So we went with it, and it turned out really well. We were just amazed at the response we got. It was crazy, so many people rallying around, giving what they can.”

The campaign raised an impressive €2,500 in one month.

“It really helped us out. We were coming towards finishing the album, and we were really struggling. It was brilliant; it took a lot of weight off our shoulders. It was just great that people believed in us.”

Time Is A Thief have found their hard work paying off, and they have lots of support from their fans and friends – We Are Strangers has clocked up enough sales to make it into the Irish Indie Top 20.“We didn’t realise that it was going to do that,” says Michael. “There was a nice buzz going around when it came out, and we got some good sales on iTunes. Although it’s a rock album, it’s quite accessible.

There’s something for everyone, I think anyway; there’s definitely a wide variety of styles.”

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.