40 Thieves

New releases on the horizon for local acts

BRYAN BIRTLES / bryan@vueweekly.com
More so than Halloween, more so than St Patrick’s Day, more so than at your nutty office Christmas party and certainly more so than Easter, New Year’s Eve is the night to get fucked up and crazy. Drinking is nearly mandatory, kissing is a tradition, debauchery is certainly encouraged and wild times will be had by all. Now that I think about it, starting a brand new year on your absolute worst behaviour seems kind of like a bad idea.

But no matter. In fact, maybe you should just get it all out of your system now, so you can be a better person in 2008. And what better way to get it out of your system than with a veritable smorgasbord of indie music? For those who think everything’s great when they’re downtown, the Secret Fires, City Streets and Eamon McGrath will be shaking their money makers at Teddy’s, while across the river at the Pawn Shop 40 Thieves, the Johnsons, Fat Dave Crime Wave and Jah Stevie & the Wonders will provide a mix of punk and soul to propel you into a brand new year.

Last year Teddy’s held a similar show, and as Travis Sargent of the Secret Fires explains, there were more than a few things that made it special.

“I think it was the first show that ever even happened at Teddy’s,” he says. “I don’t wanna ring my own bell here but ... you’re welcome Edmonton. Most of the people spent the night in the secret men’s room lounge—there’s this little corridor upstairs when you walk into the men’s washroom and most people spent all night arm wrestling on the floor in there. Comfortably you can fit maybe 20 people. It was like a cockfight, you need a guy to take bets, cigarette girls, someone to sell Pilsner to the City Streets.”

On the south side of the city, the show will surely reach similar levels of craziness, but the 40 Thieves’ Caleb Neumeier was a little preoccupied with telling me all about another band on the bill—Jah Stevie & the Wonders—to really get into how crazy it’s going to be.

“This show features the best band to ever come out of Edmonton who you will probably never see again,” he beamed. Now before you get all confused like I did, I’ll let you in on a little secret—Jah Stevie is not some new band. It’s an old band whose name rhymes with, oh I dunno, Our Bercury. But keep it under your flat cap says Neumeier: “It is half a secret, but it’s a really pleasant secret.”

And 40 Thieves has more pleasant times ahead as the band is planning on recording and releasing a full-length album in 2008, to follow up its EP Omens.
“We’re recording for three weeks in the beginning of April—Nik [Kozub] is doing it for us,” Neumeier explains. “We had to bring our EP to Nik to re-mix it because we weren’t happy with it. It was a total crunch job and he did the best job ever. A lot of the things we’re not happy with on the EP if we had recorded with Nik would be hot.”

Curiously enough, the Secret Fires will also be dropping an album in 2008 after a series of disappointments and strange incidents surrounding its recording.
“We recorded an album and waited around for six months for the guy to mix it, and he never did, so we had our friend sneak in and steal the tapes for us so we could get another guy to mix it,” laughs Sargent. “We just got the masters back and they sound really good. It’s going to be called I Only Want What I Can’t See. It’s about how you can never get what you want.”

In addition to the full-length album, the Secret Fires and the City Streets will be releasing a split 7” of Replacements covers, entitled Movies are for Retards. (Calm down, people—it’s a Replacements lyric.)

And finally, since everyone knows that band boys are hangover pros, I thought it a pertinent time to get a little hangover advice so that the people who attend their shows don’t regret it as much in the morning.

“Oil of oregano, man, it works so well,” Neumeier assures me. “It kills everything in your body except what you need to survive. I just take a few drops of that, drink lots of water, hang out and watch movies.”

And while hanging out and watching movies is good, Sargent’s magical elixir differs slightly.

“The times in life when I’m proudest of myself are when I have the forethought after a night of drinking to go to 7-11 and get some Powerade and wake up to it on my bedstand. I feel good about myself then.” V



Mon, Dec 31 (10 pm)
The Secret Fires
With City Streets, Eamon McGrath & the Wild Dogs
Teddy’s, $10

Mon Dec 31 (10 pm)
40 Thieves
With Jah Stevie & the Wonders, the Johnsons, the Fat Dave Crime Wave
Pawn Shop, $10 - Vue Weekly

Since Our Mercury is gone, this city could use a reggae- and Clash-inspired yelper of a party band. And since we need it, 40 Thieves is here to give it to us. At only three songs, this release goes on the list of EPs that leave me desperately wanting more. .
Let's see: Our Mercury producer and longtime champion Nik Kozub mixed and mastered this disc; Eric Budd rocks the organ and the piano on the EP just like he did on the final Our Mercury album and guitar player Khalib Neumeier even kind of looks like he could be Ben Stevenson's love-child from an early Misdemeanor tour.
Rest assured, I would be rippping on these "coincidences" so hard if this album wasn't so fucking amazing, but it kills, so buy it. - Vue Weekly

Local punk-soul trio knows that no audience is too small
Francois Marchand, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Monday, February 11

Ali Baba would be proud of these 40 Thieves.

"Henry Rollins said, 'The best bands are tribes,' " says the band's guitarist Caleb Neumeier.

"You're a unit, not just individuals," adds bassist and vocalist Lee Klippenstein.
Rub-a-dub-dub, 40 Thieves in a tub. From left, Lee Klippenstein, Caleb Neumeier and Grant Callaghan.View Larger Image View Larger Image
Rub-a-dub-dub, 40 Thieves in a tub. From left, Lee Klippenstein, Caleb Neumeier and Grant Callaghan.

Perhaps Rollins would have to put in a good word for the Edmonton punk 'n' soul trio as well.

Fair enough, there are only three players in 40 Thieves, and Klippenstein admits they've been confronted on more than one occasion by people who didn't get what their monicker is all about.

However, Klippenstein and Neumeier both brush such petty trivialities aside rather easily. As they explain, a band isn't a band if some kind of crowd isn't participating in the act of music. Therefore, the idea of there being 40 (or perhaps more) thieves involved at any given time.

That whole "us" mentality plays a big role in the band's identity and its fist-pumping, raucous sound.

Their mission is simple: To get you off your butt to sing, dance, shout, start your own band - to just do something.

"If it was a completely selfish pursuit, I'd stay in my bedroom and play guitar," says Neumeier. "It's not. That feeling I get when I connect with these guys, when we play and you can feel that tension rising in the crowd - there's nothing quite like that."

Fans of Hot Water Music, The Clash, local acts like Our Mercury and classic reggae will find themselves on familiar ground listening to 40 Thieves.

However, recognition has been a slow boil for Neumeier, Klippenstein and drummer Grant Callaghan.

Their debut EP, Omens, was released late last year, but took several months to latch onto the indie charts. The album has been sitting in the Top 5 at CJSR for the past month, due in part to their incessant work to get their music noticed.

In a world where you have to be a loud-mouth to get yourself heard, 40 Thieves are screaming as hard as they can - touring constantly, hoping to add as many fans to their tribe as possible by playing houses, halls and bars across the country.

"That's why it doesn't matter where you play," says Klippenstein. "You just have to play. If nothing else, you're making a memory."

But Omens was a bittersweet pill to swallow, they admit.

The EP was originally set to contain five songs, but production delays and technical issues resulted in the band having to hire producer Nik Kozub to try and clean up the tracks as best he could.

The final product, which also features Our Mercury's Eric Budd on keys, is a truncated three-song attack and a solid example of what the band can do, though it admittedly does feel a tad dated.

"It's not us anymore," admits Neumeier. "But we had to come out with this when we did. We've been playing shows for four months and you don't make any progress if you don't have anything to give people. There's nothing to listen to."

"It's still a good little introduction, you know?" adds Klippenstein. "We're a lot more ready. We're a lot less green. We've made a lot of mistakes and we're learning from what we've done."

The songs on Omens are 40 Thieves' "let's get out and do this" manifesto, and the EP's title is largely inspired by Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, a whimsical fable about the power of dreams.

If anything, it indicates 40 Thieves aren't done plundering the chest of 1977 punk lore, and their future full-length could very well be their proper call to action, their big shot at creating some kind of locally bred revolution.

"The goal for any band should be to write a record that is a reflection of the times, not what you ideally want to hear but what is actually going on," explains Neumeier. "And that's why records like London Calling or The Damned or The Jam - those albums are timeless because they don't pretend to be anything else. They draw influence from other things, but they are very much a snapshot of what's going on at the time. That's why my favourite records from any Edmonton bands have that same quality about them."

--

Catch 40 Thieves live before Lee Klippenstein gets his tonsils removed! The band is playing at the Pawn Shop (10551 82nd Ave., upstairs) on Friday, February 15th with Kill The Lights and Geronimo. Doors are at 8:30 p.m., and admission is $10 (no minors). For more information, visit 40 Thieves online at www.myspace.com/fourtythieves.

fmarchand@thejournal.canwest.com - Edmonton Journal

40 Thieves - S/T

Combining some of the best elements of Hot Water Music, The Clash, The Buzzcocks and 1990s scenes like Gainesville, Florida and California’s East Bay, Edmonton trio 40 Thieves put out a solid punk rock album. The word album should be emphasized as album in this sense, meaning you can listen to every song end to end. Notably, the band shares vocal duties, both lead and back-up, between all three members making for distinct songs that are still recognizable as the same band. So each track may range from a philosophical angle to a personal polemic. Regardless of who’s singing and or the subject matter the songs are clear, concise and catchy. Three sure-fire ingredients to catch the listening public’s ear. By writing songs collectively and drawing from quality influences, 40 Thieves manage to put out a noteworthy album onto Alberta’s, and the nations, rock scene.

-Spencer Brown

- BeatRoute Magazine

From the first notes on their first full-length album, Edmonton punk trio 40 Thieves sends the arrow pointing into the red, and they keep it quivering there for the next half hour. Caleb Neumeier’s guitar is steady as a metronome yet sharp and anxious as the sound of a keycutter wheel, Lee Klippenstein’s bass is nimble, and the vocals have a strained, tenth-take hoarseness that sometimes works against them — but at least trying too hard is better than not trying hard enough. Even for a 30-minute disc, 40 Thieves is a little one-note — there’s nothing wrong with a punk band celebrating their youth, savouring life, and sneering at the nine-to-fivers, but the images of glasses being raised, fires still burning, swords being drawn, and feet hitting the street while the sheep flock to their jobs are pretty familiar ones. (Interestingly, the best song on the disc, “Up & Out,” is the one where the band tries to imagine an experience outside their own, and sing about a guy who leaves Edmonton to start a new life “bustin’ bronx” in Mexico.) But this is the kind of disc where focused energy matters more than finesse, and 40 Thieves have energy to spare.
PAUL MATWYCHUK - See Magazine

Right out of the gate, on album opener "Capo," there's a sense that we're all in this together on 40 Thieves debut full-length. The guitar chops out a hopeful rhythm while an organ sings overtop—and then it all comes together with the bass and drums joining in, instruments united in a common purpose.

And it's a purpose that we all know well: to survive, to keep your head above the water and maybe, with any luck, occasionally break on through to the other side where things are just right, if even for just one night.

40 Thieves isn't a goodtimes band by any means, but the trio isn't trafficking in low-key depression either. It's more like calling life as it is—hard, but that's just the way things go and you've got to make the best of it—and we're all welcome to join the band's party and slog it out with them.

Maybe the feeling of unity comes in part from the fact that it's pratically impossible to single out a member of this trio as the star: like Paul Simonon did with the Clash, Lee Klippenstein's bass provides subtle little twists in the melodies and progressions, with an extra note here, a little counterpoint there, a sudden turn into reggae, while Grant Callaghan's drumming leads the charge through the fray at the same time, providing the backbone that gives the band its strength. And that frees up Caleb Neumeier to push his guitar through chordal drives, slipping into picked-out arpeggios or a single note line whenever the song calls for it.

And then there are the vocals, strained to the edge of breaking, tortured yet uncomfortably catchy at the same time and beautifully settled into the mix like just another instrument, forcing you to either concentrate intently to hear the words or just shake it on the dance floor and enjoy the lines that slip out of the song.

As the nearly-30-minute album—the perfect length, really, leaving no room for filler—moves along it heads towards what seems increasingly like an inevitable conclusion, unstoppable as the intensity builds with each song. And that's particularly impressive considering the band never really lays back, keeping the beat moving quickly with short songs and racing tempos.

By the time the sing-song ending of "Never Be Woodcrafty" rolls into the thrashing, overdriven "Surveillance," which in turn bursts into an apocalyptic ending that gives way to the urgency of the penultimate track "Ring the Alarm," there's no escape—this is a soundtrack for taking on the world.

But as strong as the album is as a whole, there are also gems scattered along the roadmap leading through the 10 tracks, like on "Bangarang," which is touched by an organ melody during the verses that practically forces you to crack a grin, followed by the briefest of guitar fills that finishes the job. And there are plenty of moments like those to be found on the record—the sort that make you feel like there's something to look forward to everytime you hear one of the songs, making you feel like we're all on the same side.
-Eden Munro - Vue Weekly

40 Thieves didn't mean to leave Edmonton without dropping its shiny, new CD for local fans first. The guys didn't mean for Toronto to get it first.

It seems, though, that a band of some other thieves made off with the address numbers on the front of the band house, thwarting the delivery of CDs until mere hours before the guys set out east. It all works out, though. Not only do 40 Thieves get to release the self-titled album in the company of friends and good-time bands the City Streets and the Operators, but the guys also still have something substantial to show those folks back East.

"[Omens], the EP we recorded, it took really long, and it was supposed to be way longer and a couple of the songs we recorded for it, we ended up re-recording ... I didn't want to play Toronto for the first time and have that as a representation of us," guitarist Caleb Neumeier says over the phone from a tour stop in the Big Smoke. "Because the difference in quality of where we were two years ago and where we are now is night and day."

Neumeier is chatty after braving a long, snow-drifty drive from Thunder Bay to Toronto, but his pleasure at being alive is brought on just as much by character as it is by a white-knuckle drive. He's just pleased as punch to be doing what he loves: playing in a band.

The feeling is contagious. It pervades 40 Thieves' infectious punky grooves, and if the band had to pin itself to any one purpose, it may very well be to get people up and shaking it. This fact has won the local outfit—made up of Neumeier, bassist Lee Klipperstein and drummer Grant Callaghan—flattering comparisons to Our Mercury.

"When we first started out, the band was very hesitant about being compared, because we didn't want to be seen as Soul Asylum to the Replacements," Neumeier says. "But we're not. It comes from the same place, but it's different. It's our take.

"With Our Mercury, it was the energy, it was these three guys putting their heart into their songs and music. And when people say that, I think it's a compliment," he adds. "Ben [Stevenson], from Our Mercury, said, 'When you perform, people paid money to see you. You owe them a performance. That's your job.'"

The audience, after all, is an integral member of any successful band, and as obvious as it may sound, it's refreshing to see or hear musicians who really just want their fans to have fun.

"The draw isn't to pretend that we're some musically progressive band, but that we deliver with what we do. It depends on how you judge," Neumeier says. "I like music as a soundtrack, but what really has changed my life is music as a message, and it hides behind a melody. You can say very potent things, when you're music's catchy, that are 10 times more effective than trying to pretend you're progressive." V
-Carolyn Nikodym
- Vue Weekly

At the same time I’m interviewing Lee Klippenstein from 40 Thieves about their upcoming all-ages CD release party this weekend, my family is watching the Canadian junior hockey team play the Russians in the next room. Their yells can be heard through the closed door, which prompts Klippenstein to ask with a laugh, “What’s the score?”

Klippenstein is quick to draw a parallel between the great Canadian game and the current gig scene in Edmonton. “Kids seem to have fewer inhibitions,” he says. “They seem to be more in tune with having fun. They are a little more likely to shake their ass.” It seems that in live shows as in hockey, the kids are all right — this, just as I hear the Canadian team sweep in another goal.

Edmonton’s own 40 Thieves — comprised of Grant Callaghan (drums and vocals), Klippenstein (bass and vocals), and Caleb Neumier (guitar) — will be promoting their self-titled full-length album, and are looking forward to playing for a mixed-generation crowd. As new performers to The Hydeaway (this being the band’s second all-ages show), the guys are treading pretty new territory. With that in mind, will their usual stage shenanigans have to be toned down? Will they still be able to go hard into the corners?

“I won’t name the city,” Klippenstein says, “but there was one instance where we and the band we were touring with were absolutely bombed at an all-ages show. I’m sure there is etiquette you should be following when you’re attending or playing all-ages shows, but I’d be lying if I said I do it and/or follow it.”

So, like a high school dance or hockey game, you have to wonder if the slow dancers will need to keep room for Jesus between them so not to set off the chaperones.

“Shoulder-length apart, all right,” jokes Klippenstein. “But it’s not like the bands playing are kids’ bands, and if there are chaperones there, I’m sure they’ll have a good time. It’s an all-ages show but they still serve booze so you can get pissed.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing the Falklands — it’s the Falklands first show,” Klippenstein adds. “I’ve never heard them — they don’t have any recordings or anything, so I’m pretty stoked for that. I’m pretty excited for everything on the bill, actually. It’s nice playing with a good lineup like this because you know that the whole night is going to be great.”

Youthful exuberance, yelling, drunken adults ... sounds just like a hockey game. And as the screaming breaks through the walls and into my office hovel, I explain the last-minute heroics of the junior squad and tell Klippenstein that I think I found the theme for my story. “Nice!” Klippenstein says. “I have no idea what we were just talking about!”

Way to go, Canada. Way to go, 40 Thieves.

-Trent Wilkie - See Magazine

"40 Thieves are a beautifully refreshing band from Edmonton. They play punk anthems, indie rockers, and roots rockers. We've played half-a-dozen shows with the Thieves in the past year, and we really know how to work off each other in a show," says hard-touring SubCity Dwellers guitarist/vocalist Ian Lodewyks about the upcoming two-night bout between these well-acquainted bands.

"For all you long-time Winnipeg show-goers, the new 40 Thieves disc is reminiscent of old Painted Thin, with a dose of punk rock," Lodewyks hypes. "They have a sound that will fit in Winnipeg just right."

Billed as 'SubCity Dwellers vs. 40 Thieves,' both bands square off at "2 Shows of Roots, Rock, Reggae." The first gig is a free show at the King's Head Pub on Nov. 14. The second is a triple-band bill at the Royal Albert Arms with the Sweet Nothings on Nov. 15. The latter show is not free, although the ambience might stimulate your street beatin' senses to be free.

"The bands will be widely different in sound," Lodewyks continues. "But we'll keep the same passionate atmosphere going the whole night. We may just lend (40 Thieves) our keyboard player."

"We draw freely from a variety of music, whether it be soul and reggae, or classic rock like The Who or Thin Lizzy," says bassist/vocalist Lee Klippenstein of 40 Thieves. The Edmonton-based trio is filled out by drummer/singer Grant Callaghan and guitarist Caleb Neumeier. "Our songs are tightly woven, well-crafted pop songs that don't try to do more than they should: Rock.

"Winnipeg is a place we've never played," Klippenstein continues. "SubCity Dwellers invited us to come down and do a proper Winnipeg debut. We've played a handful of shows in Alberta and B.C. with them in the last couple of months, and they've been some of the funnest shows we've done to date."

Klippenstein says 40 Thieves has a new self-titled record coming out in December. Long-time S-Beat column readers know by now that the City of Champions group will be in top form cuz it's a pre-album gig, so for now, U streetists will have to contend with live pre-alb-release numbers such as Living Lies, Depends On What You Consider Broke and Bangarang.

Not to be outdone, SubCity is also planning some new releases which just might include new Dwellers' show-fave numbers such as The Hounds, Gasoline, and the surefire dance floor crusher Temper.

"This winter we're going in to record for two releases - a two-song 45 due out in the spring, and the new full-length due out next fall," Lodewyks says. "Our newest full-length will be our most ambitious. We're going to bring some aspects of the band to full potential. Everything is going to be heavy: Heavy reggae, heavy punk, heavy blues, heavy roots. We have our roots dug deep in music from the '50s, '60s and '70s, but we always make sure to keep it fresh."

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-Don Beat - Uptown Magazine