ABC/Randy HolmesNothing but Thieves has had quite the eventful year. The British band unleashed their self-titled debut album -- featuring the lead single "Trip Switch" -- in the U.S., embarked on a giant North American tour and opened for Muse on the dramatic rockers' Drones arena tour.
"It was an incredible experience," frontman Conor Mason tells ABC Radio of the Muse trek. "It was our first-ever arena and stadium tour, so to be able to get the chance to do that was a bit mind-blowing for us. We got to play the O2, which is where we're from, just below London, where we're from. So it was a good experience, wasn't it, overall? And they were great guys."
Touring with a band like Muse, which is know for its extravagant live shows, also gave Nothing but Thieves an inside look at the "whole machine that is Muse."
"It was interesting to see their set-ups, like [Muse frontman] Matt Bellamy's guitar set-up and how he does that," says guitarist Dominic Craik. "He's got a guy under the stage changing all his pedals, all his equipment, which was quite cool to see. So there were little bits like that that I sort of didn't consider before."
Nothing but Thieves also had the chance to play in the round during the Muse tour. While they did get "very fit" due to all the running around on stage, they probably won't be implementing the round into their own live show.
"It just felt like a little bit like you were neglecting sort of two-thirds of the crowd. You were sort of facing one way, and you could kind of walk around," says Craik. "But really...we love the classic rock set-up, just watching a ridiculously big stage in front of you."
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