In terms of extremely smooth success stories, Nothing But Thieves’ is pretty hard to beat. In band years, they’re babies—though they met as school kids, they’ve only been playing as Nothing But Thieves proper since 2012. After a pretty typical first few years of playing small clubs and paying their dues as newbies, they saw a sudden groundswell of interest in the UK over the course of 2015, and are now selling out UK venues with stunning regularity. The only thing left to conquer? The US of A, where they recently made their official debut with the single “Trip Switch.” 

In a brief phone interview with lead singer Conor Mason, we get a sense of who NBT is, where they are, and where they’re going -- ideally, on tour with Radiohead.

Mason Lost His Voice While on Tour This Year

“I was really ill,” he explains. He had an infection that wraps around the host’s vocal chords, which is an obvious problem for a lead singer. “It’s rough; kind of damaged.” At the time of interview, he’s grounded until he gets back to full health. “Stuck in London,” he says, though he agrees that there are worse places to be stuck. 

England Rocks Right Now

“It’s hard for me to say,” he says, mulling over a fitting description of England’s music scene right now. “At the moment in England, the rock scene is really coming through.” He cites Royal Blood as a prime example of the back-to-basics, guitar-bass-drums, blues-inspired bands that are hitting it big on that side of the Atlantic. “Band elements are coming in.”

He Considers Himself an “American Culture Fan” 

NBT came through the US last year but didn’t really play, per se. “[We did a few] showcase gigs,” he says—they were just signed to RCA and were trying to drum up interest overseas. 

It was an exciting trip for them—aside from providing fresh songwriting fodder, it was a little bit of an excuse to geek out for Mason in particular. “I’m an American culture fan. I’m particularly interested in Memphis,” he says (you’ll see why later). They’re coming back to the US to play a proper show soon: Baby’s All Right in NYC this December.

They Really Are BFFs

If you scroll down far enough on Facebook, you’ll find a video of them horsing around in a hotel room in Tokyo, playing what looks to be an invented game with a wad of paper. The laughter isn’t forced. “We’re really lucky in that we get on so well,” he says, in relation to how relentlessly they tour. “The way we stay sane is that we get on so well.” And are willing to let down their guard enough to goof off around each other, apparently. 

Their Fans are Capital-D Devoted

The bigger they’ve gotten, the more fans they’ve attracted—as most bands do. But NBT devotees are a different breed. Case in point: a recent in-store attendee. “We played an in-store acoustic show in Manchester,” Mason says. “I really recognized this girl (in the audience)—I knew she wasn’t from the UK.” She was from the Netherlands and came to buy the exclusive record from the in-store. “I would have mailed it to her (had I known),” he says.

Their List of Influences Runs Long and Strange

They’ve made mention of their love for modern acts like Jeff Buckley and fellow countrymen Muse and Thom Yorke on social media, but they’ve got a healthy dose of blues and jazz in their background, too. “Ray Charles and Chet Baker,” Mason answers instantly when asked about his most surprising influences. Aside from likely being part of his American culture obsession, they’re  his role models as a singer. “I feel everything when they sing it,” he says. “They have this ability to lay it out and you feel it.” 

Yes, Mason is Formally Trained 

One of the first things fans and critics notice is Mason’s epic, almost operatic voice. That didn’t happen by accident. “[I was] classically trained since I was 13...the voice I have now, I (developed),” he says. But it’s not all deliberate. “No one can teach you passion and the ability to perform…[I’m] self-taught in that sense.”

Home is Where the Football is

“We rarely get time [ to go home],” says Mason about their Southend-on-Sea—a mid-size town on the south coast of England—upbringing. With nonstop touring taking them all over the world, home’s a rare but sweet retreat. “We’re kind of very normal people [when we go home, we just see friends], watch the football.” he says. “It’s a way to keep yourself grounded.”

Whiskey is Key to Songwriting 

They’ve recently said in interviews that they write their best hung over. What particular liquor does Mason feel makes for the best next-day creativity (and, presumably, some really bad headaches)?

Mason chuckles. “We all drink different stuff,” he says. “For me, probably whiskey.”

Their Dream Tourmate? Anything with Thom Yorke

They opened for Muse this summer in Rome, to a crowd of 35,000. With that out of the way, who’s next? “We always say we’d love to tour with like Radiohead but…” he goes on to explain that, on tour, it’s all business—it takes away some of the magic of meeting your idols. But still…

“...I’m just gonna say Radiohead.”