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This is a WXAV 773 Sounds Podcast, introducing you to the best local bands in the Chicago Land area. Hello and welcome to 773 Sounds here on the XWXAV88.3 FM Chicago. Your escape from ordinary radio. My name is Peter Creighton and we have a wonderful show lined up for you this evening because this week's featured artists of the week, they're in studio with us tonight.
We have Jonathan and Tim from Time Thieves. Gentlemen, how are you guys? Hey, very good. Thank you for having us.
This is crazy in here. Oh, I am so excited that you guys are here. We have so much to talk about tonight. You have an album really show this Thursday night at the Empty Bottle up on Western Avenue.
You have a new album that's coming out and we have a new song that we're going to be debuting live here on the X883 FM. So, later on tonight, we're going to premiere show drop. I mean, it's a big deal for us. We're very, very excited about this.
We're honored to be here. Thank you. Thank you. Our pleasure.
So, we're going to come back in a couple minutes and we're going to talk and chat about what's going on, but we're going to get to the music right now. We were talking off air about a legendary punk rock band from Chicago, The Arrivals. I owe you guys are really close friends with. They were last week's featured artists of the week.
Here's a track off of their latest record. Well, their forthcoming record called Payload. This is what it feels like here on 773 Sounds. And that was there at the Sun by Time Thieves here on 773 Sounds here on the XWXAV88.3 FM Chicago.
My name is Pete. I'm joined by members of Time Thieves right now in the studio. We have Jonathan. Hi.
Jonathan. Very good. Thank you. We're tracking all the way down to the South Side of Chicago.
The show is this Thursday. It's an empty bottle. It's an amazing lineup that you got lined up with you. You have Josh Caterer of Smoking Poops.
You have Al Scorch. Do I see that correctly? Yeah. And then Earl Gray.
I mean, how excited are you guys for this upcoming Thursday? Gary, I think. Oh, Gary. Oh, Gary.
Thank you. That's the trick. Very excited. I'm actually really excited to see them.
That is a combo band of two really, my favorite Chicago band's Paper Mice and Foul Tip. Both Paper Mice is still a band. Foul Tip is defunct. And we cover a Foul Tip song on our record.
So, it's their new project. And I'm very, very excited to see what they do. I don't know anything about it other than one demo that I've heard. So.
Well, that's the exciting part. That's the joy of going to local shows is finding out what the band's going to be like. And then just finding out that that's going to be your next favorite band. I personally do my best to, a lot of times I don't listen to bands recordings before I see them live just so I can experience it live and then go back in here.
The actual recording. That's an interesting experience. Why do you go with that? Like, do you find it alters your perceptive?
Do you listen to the album first and then see them live? Let's say if you see a band that's amazing live and then the recordings aren't great or vice versa. It taints my experience. I like to just kind of experience it how they want to present it.
And then, you know, I think if you see a band with a lot of energy, for instance, and then you listen to their record, that transposes I think. And the opposite is also true. So. Yeah.
No, I get that. I get that. I almost want to ask an example, but I don't want to throw any bands under the bus. So we won't go there.
I can't think of one anyway. So even if I could, I wouldn't. But I can't think of one of them. That's wonderful.
What about you, Tim? What's the question? I mean, for you going to see a great show, a great local band, do you listen to them ahead of time or do you like to kind of be surprised and see their live performance first? I don't know.
If I know, like if I'm familiar with this band, I definitely want to hear it before I go. But I'm open to being surprised by people. Like if you know who the band is. Yeah.
I don't know if I have a reason to listen to it, but like, you know, I'm open to being surprised to. For this specific show, like I'm familiar with all the artists material aside from Earl Gary, Al Scorch, Chicago legend. We've played with him. We just played with him.
But I mean, I played with him and his bands for God dozens of times over the past few decades, I guess. And then, you know, Josh Gator, all the smoking pop songs, legendary songs, love them also. Yeah. I mean, that alone, smoking popes are such a Chicago institution and everything.
It's kind of like a local age or an alkaline trio and everything. Now the new album, you know, Jonathan, you and I talked about this a few months ago. Come home if you survive. It's an absolutely fabulous combination of two EPs that you put out last year.
What's it like though? Now you have this physical album, a physical copy of this. What is it like holding that now in your hand and seeing the results of your guys's labor? I mean, it really does feel like a complete thing now where, you know, maybe it didn't before with just two EPs on Spotify or whatever.
It's just not the same as holding the object in your hand. I don't know. How about you, Tim? I don't know.
It was kind of anti-vimactic for me. It was such a long road to get there. And you're every step of the way. Yeah, I had to do a lot.
But, Tim did all the art direction and the graphic design videos in the website. Oh, really? Yeah. So it's been a slog for him.
And it's me being like, we need more graphics. The actual printing of the inserts even. But I'm ready for new stuff. It's cool to have it.
But it's really not awesome too, by the way. Like, it's cool. I guess what's cool is to look back at all of it and like as one thing. Yeah.
And like, yeah, it's cool. It's like, I like what we did there. Especially with, I mean, we kind of got it out pretty quickly once the recordings themselves were done within a year. It was, you know, all of 2025 was finishing the record or the recordings and the mastering and shipping it off to be out before the end of the year was kind of the goal.
And we did it, but it was a lot of work. I can believe it. I can believe it. Well, I mean, even just with the vinyl printing backlog that's going on right now, I mean, the fact that you guys got it in your hand and your timeframe is amazing.
Well, yeah. These records were pressed in the Czech Republic too. Oh, wow. So it came, you know, it took, I don't remember between getting test pressings and the finals back.
It was somewhere in between six, eight weeks or something like that. So that's really impressive. Yeah. But it went smoothly.
So yeah, and like, and that's why this is all happening, I think maybe then of February, even though these EPs came out, you know, previously, but yeah, it takes some time to get it in and understand the show and all that. Well, it's also too, I mean, this, the show is a celebration of the hard work that you did all throughout 2025 of releasing these EPs, getting it released as an album. I mean, this is a testament to all the hard work. Yeah, it is.
I need to feel that way. Yeah, I'm going to feel that way more about it. Tim, I'm calling it now MBE with the website, which is phenomenal. Yeah, seriously.
I try to tell him he doesn't take my compliments now. That's okay. For me, it's very hard to accept compliments as well. But the website, time thieves.org, go and check it out.
I personally love the tote bag you guys have that says I donated my organs to time thieves. I like on time. Another Tim special. It's like past tense, like, you know, it is past tense.
But very exciting because we're going to debut a new song from Time Things in just a little bit. But we're going to spend for you guys right now, another great local band from the Chicago land area. Very big news to because they just signed with the label. The second summer, here they are with the track Something Here on 773 Sounds.
And that was there at the Sun by Time Thieves here on 773 Sounds here on the XWXAV 88.3 FM Chicago. My name is Pete and I'm joined by members of Time Thieves right now in the studio. We have Jonathan. Hi, very good.
Thank you. And we have Tim. What's up? Xavier Nation.
Guys, thank you for trekking all the way down to the South Side of Chicago. The show is this Thursday. It's at Empty Bottle. It's an amazing lineup that you got lined up with you.
You have Josh Kader of Smoking Poops. You have Al Scorch. Do I say that correctly? Yeah.
And then Earl Gray. I mean, how excited are you guys for this upcoming Thursday? Or Gary, I think. Or Gary.
Or Gary. Oh, Gary. That's the trick. Very excited.
I'm actually really excited to see them. That is a combo band of two really, my favorite Chicago bands, Paper Mice and Foul Tip. Both Paper Mice is still a band. Foul Tip is defunct.
And we cover a Foul Tip song on our record. So it's their new project and I'm very, very excited to see what they do. I don't know anything about it other than one demo that I've heard. So.
Well, that's the exciting part. That's the joyce of going to local shows is finding out what the band is going to be like. And then just finding out that that's going to be your next favorite band. I personally do my best to a lot of times I don't listen to bands recordings before I see them live just so I can experience it live and then go back in here.
That's an interesting experience. Why do you go with that? Do you find it alters your perception if you listen to the album first and see them live? Let's say if you see a band that's amazing live and the recordings aren't great or vice versa.
It taints my experience. I like to just kind of experience it how they want to present it. And then I think if you see a band with a lot of energy for instance and then you listen to their record that transposes I think and the opposite is also true. So.
Yeah. No, I get that. I get that. I always want to ask an example but I don't want to throw any bands under the bus.
So we won't go there. Even if I could I wouldn't but I can't think of one out of that. That's wonderful. What's the question?
I mean for you going to see a great show, a great local band, do you listen to them ahead of time or do you like to kind of be surprised and see their live performance first? I don't know. If I know like if I'm familiar with this band, I definitely want to hear it before I go. But I'm open to being surprised by people to know who the band is.
Yeah. I don't know if I have a reason to listen to it but like you know I'm open to being surprised to. For this specific show, I'm familiar with all the artists material aside from Earl Gary, Al Scorch, Chicago legend. We've played with him.
We just played with him but I mean I played with him and his bands for God dozens of times over the past few decades I guess. So and then you know Josh Gator, all the smoking popes songs, legendary songs, love them also. And then that alone the smoking popes are such a Chicago institution and everything. It's kind of like a local age or an alkaline trio and everything.
Now the new album, you know Jonathan, you and I talked about this a few months ago, come home if you survive. It's an absolutely fabulous combination of two EPs that you put out last year. What's it like though now you have this physical album, a physical copy of this? What is it like holding that now in your hand and seeing the results of your guys's labor?
I mean it really does feel like a complete thing now where you know maybe it didn't before with just two EPs on Spotify or whatever. It's just not the same as holding the object in your hand I think. How about you Tim? I don't know.
It was kind of anti-climactic for me. It was such a long road to get there. And you're every step of the way you're like. Yeah I had to do a lot.
But Tim did all the art direction and the graphic design video for the merch and the website. Yeah so it's been a slog for him. It's me being like we need more than the packaging. The actual printing of the inserts even.
But I'm ready for new stuff. It's cool to have it but it's not awesome too by the way. I guess what's cool is to look back at all of it and like as one thing and like yeah it's cool. It's like I like what we did there.
Especially with I mean we kind of got it out pretty quickly once the recordings themselves were done within a year. It was you know all of 2025 was finishing the record or the recordings and the mastering and shipping it off to be out before the end of the year was kind of the goal and we did it but it was a lot of work. I can believe it. I can believe it.
Well I mean even just with the vinyl printing backlog that's going on right now. Yeah I mean the fact that you guys got it in your hand and your time frame is amazing. Well yeah these records were pressed in the Czech Republic too so they came you know it took I don't remember between getting test pressings and the finals back it was somewhere between six to eight weeks or something like that so that's really impressive. Yeah but it went smoothly so yeah and like and that's why this is all happening I think maybe in February even though these EPs came out right previously but yeah it takes some time to get it in and get it in and get it in and understand.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So once also too I mean this the show is a celebration of the hard work that you did all throughout 2025 of releasing the EPs getting it released as an album.
I mean this is a testament to all the hard work. Yeah it is. I need to feel that way. Yeah I'm going to feel that way.
Tim I'm calling it now MBP with the website which is phenomenal. Seriously. I try to tell him he doesn't take my compliments now. That's okay for me it's very hard to accept compliments as well but the website time thieves dot org go and check it out.
I personally love the tote bag you guys have that says I donated my organs to time thieves. I like going to the other Tim special. It's like past tense like you know I don't have anymore. It is past tense but very exciting because we're going to debut a new song from Time Things in just a little bit but we're going to spend for you guys right now another great local band from the Chicago land area.
Very big news to because they just signed with the label the second summer here they are with the track something here on 773 sounds. And that was almost only with Monticello here on 773 sounds here on the XWXAV883 FM Chicago. Before that you heard new music by Freco. They have a album release show happening in April up at the Metro for their forthcoming record the song we played there was seven degrees.
But if you're looking for a great record release show to go to this week and you should you should check out empty bottle this Thursday because time thieves are going to be there and we have time thieves in studio we have Jonathan and Tim. That was a killer segue. Thank you guys. Thank you.
You know I try really hard I work hard on my segues. That's amazing. Thank you very much. You guys you've been on the local scene for so long and it's so vibrant at the moment.
Are you guys going to be able to do like more shows throughout like the summer and everything? Yeah we're hoping to we're building up our little little cadre of shows that we have got something lined up in April I know already and then some other things in the work so. That's wonderful. I'm trying to go on tour.
Oh yeah we're trying to go on tour with with I don't care or just anybody. We've got the rest of the week after the release show we're playing in a champagne and Savannah. It's alone. Yeah.
I'm in Carbondale and then we're playing in Carbondale the day after that so it's a three day excursion. World tour. Yeah. For Illinois.
You should actually call it the world tour of Illinois. I tried to call it the world tour. Did you? I'm that one flyer.
Oh yeah you did. I said can we just call it the LP weekend or something? I made it boring so I apologize. No you don't have to apologize but I can tell the Tim you're the whimsical one of the band.
That's the perfect way to put it. It's the whimsy and every Lindsay. So so it's so clumsy. The Timsy yes copyright pending do not steal his stuff from him.
That's how quick it comes up. It does. Now I think this would kind of be a fun question to ask you guys if you could go on a tour with any band whether they're still around or they're no longer in existence we can go on tour with. Any band?
Any band. Any band. So it's got to be a band that like frogs. I love the last couple years I've been so obsessed with the band the Fastbacks.
Okay. Seattle pop. I guess you call them pop punk from the 90s. They're on sub pop.
And they were so underrated. Oh my god. And that's who I would pick. That would probably be like a bummer of a tour even though the band rules they're like no one of the crappy shows.
Damn. I love that band. I'd have to defer my answer. I can't think of that right now.
It's too much or Osmo. Remember that band? Osmo is a good band. Kind of sound like weezer but we're like a little bit different.
Yeah. It's funny. I was listening to XRT within the last month and they've been playing a lot of material issue old school Chicago local band from the early 90s. And again very much like that power pop punk vibe and everything on the sucker for it.
Are you? So if we're looking at your Spotify we're seeing like Fall Oppo. We're seeing my chemical. Who are we seeing?
No, you're seeing like the muffs the Fastbacks like a teenage fan club like I like pop music with I don't know. I mean I think that's more underground. I like a little more underground. Okay.
A little more underground than that. I don't know. If it's lo-fi I'm absolutely going to love it. If it's lo-fi pop I'm going to love it.
Yeah I'm trying to think of that. There's so many bands that you play specifically that you have a power pop playlist that's full of like 70s and 80s like power pop band. Classic songwriting. We're not trying to think of it.
Yeah. I'm putting the pressure on you guys. We're on air. I know I should have written this down.
Yeah. But like yeah like 90s like the muffs or the Fastbacks or I don't know even like bands like the queers or like any of like the lookout records stuff like all that. The lookout records back in the day. I mean like that's kind of what I think at its core influences my songwriting.
I don't know. I like punk music that's like a little more poppy than. Yeah. More poppy than punk.
Yeah. But that's your sound and I think that's what really makes time-thief sound so interesting because you do have, you have that little bit of that edge but you have that melody with it that is very catchy. That is very mid to late 90s sounding. Yeah.
You know very even like into the early 2000s. I mean it's very wonderful when you listen to you guys. Yeah we were talking about that the other day that was kind of like well these are basically just the same punk songs that we've been writing our whole lives except we just slow them down and focus more on the vocal melodies and trying to really tighten up our harmonies rather than you know belting out and screaming all the time. Well I remember last time Jonathan when we talked what was it back in December about how just that DIY punk scene really just influenced the band and that sound.
And if people want to hear that full length interview we have a podcasted so you can check us out on SoundCloud, Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, Google, just search WXAB83 and you can hear really wonderful conversations. Was that December only? Was that really only December? I think it was December.
Yeah. Yeah. We have our SoundCloud pulled up and it says it was posted two months ago. Wow.
It's been a long year so far. I think for everybody. Yeah. That's one way of putting it guys.
Yeah. But we got some more music of yours lined up and in fact Jonathan you were saying this is your favorite song on the album. This is my favorite cut. It's the first song on the second side of the LP and it's called Fool's Gold.
Here on the X883 and we're back here on the X883 FM Chicago. That's on ripped. It really did. That was Lifeguard with New Age here on 773 sounds.
Before that you heard Dylan Lloyd was so caught up and then Time Thieves with Fool's Gold and we have Jonathan and Tim and Studio guys. How are you? Great. Great.
So sadly we're at the end of today's show. But again you guys are playing empty bottle this Thursday. Doors are at eight o'clock. Shows at nine and who are you playing with?
Josh Cater, trio from Smoking Popes. Al Scorch, Banjo extraordinaire and Earl Gary. Super group made up of members of Paper Mice and Val Tipp. I can't believe I remember all that.
You did. Take it settimeteaves.org. And you can check them out. You're on all the socials.
Where can they find you? Time team Chicago on Instagram and all the other regular places that you would look. And you're on Bandcamp and check out their website Time Thieves.org. Gentlemen thank you so much for spending time with us here.
Thank you. Thank you for listening to this WXAV 773 Sounds podcast. For more information on 773 Sounds please visit our website WXAV.com.