Future Thieves Steal the Industry’s Focus with Their New EP, “Emotional Cost”

Cliché: How did Future Thieves come to be as a band?

Elliot Collett: We actually met while working together at a country club in west Nashville. I had a band at the time that had broken up. Austin and Nick were in the same situation, so we started playing together and that was that.

How did you decide on the name Future Thieves?

The name of the band just sort of came out of nowhere. There was no sort of deep, dark meaning behind it. Maybe one day there will be!

Why are you so drawn to defying boundaries and mixing genres in your music?

We just love making stuff that we wanna hear at the time. It could change from time to time but at the core of it there’s always a familiar tone I feel like we keep. Just keeps us alive and keeps us exploring.

What would you say that each of you contribute to the group?

We all contribute in different ways. There’s no exact way of doing it with us. Someone could play something on any instrument, at any time, and we might like it and run with it. We all have different tastes and it keeps things interesting and different. We just don’t wanna sound like anything else you’ve heard.

Talk about your new EP, Emotional Cost. 

This EP is something that didn’t just come out of nowhere. We were hanging at my place one day and just started the conversation of making something that we felt was nice and raw, but with elements that were clearly us. So, we just started working on it and didn’t stop till it was finished.

Obviously the title suggests dealing with some sort of angst or emotional turmoil.  Several of the songs describe feeling like you’re falling apart. Why did you want to use the EP to address these feelings?

I feel like there are some parts of the EP that felt like me getting things off of my chest. Not all of them though. I like to imagine I’m talking through someone else who could be having a hard time with some of these issues, and maybe it could help them rise against it and push through.

Was there an emotional cost behind making Emotional Cost? What was the process like?

It was actually a bit taxing on us because we HAD to get it finished before we left for tour in September. It just so happened that we had exactly enough time to get it finished. It was tough but we love how it turned out. We wrote, demoed, and recorded it all at my home studio. It really is a product of that room and that makes it that much more special.

Which songs on the EP hold the most personal significance for you?

I would say the song “Get Up” would hold a lot of personal significance with me. Not that I’m always down, but when I am, I just need to remind myself that things will always move forward with or without me. So, it’s always in my best interest to just “Get Up” and go with it.

What projects are you working on next?

We actually started tour directly after finishing Emotional Cost, so we haven’t gotten a chance to work on anything new at the moment. We’re going to be jumping right back in as soon as we’re home to start writing the next one over the winter. It’s my favorite part of the whole process. New stuff is always fun.