We spoke to Steal The City about the tracks that defined their debut EP 'The Time We Needed.'

01 Motorhead – ‘In The Name of Tragedy’

So everyone likes ‘Ace of Spades’, but our guitarist and drummer are huge Motorhead fans – and Inferno is their stand out favourite album. ‘Manufactured’ turned out to be very Motorhead-y (if that’s a word?) with its pace and general heaviness. What better way to open an EP than your fastest track?

02 While She Sleeps – ‘Silence Speaks’

Fellow Sheffield boys, these guys have grown to become extremely melodic in their sound, moving away from their hardcore roots. Although we are fairly new to the scene – our earlier material did resemble more of a metal core sound which we wanted to move away from – so to see another local band do this (and do it extremely well) is fantastic.

03 Three Days Grace – ‘Time of Dying’

Our guitarists childhood favourite band, these guys know how to do so much with a vocal melody and they don’t throw too much into a mix. We wanted to do something similar to this with our track ‘Wallflower’. You may hear elements of this band in that track.

04 Lonely The Brave – ‘The Blue and the Green’

This band is championed by our lead guitarist and drummer. The album The Day’s War is an amazing blend of soaring guitars and vocals. The huge vocal lines were definitely an inspiration to the EP tracks, in particular ‘So, the Thing Is’ and ‘Wallflower’.

05 Fear Lies – ‘Banshee’

Fear Lies is the band that essentially taught us how to behave as a local band and took us under their wing in the early days of STC. These guys know how to throw down some heavy riffs and get a crowd moving. We certainly took inspiration from how their songs evoked certain reactions, such as ‘Banshee’ — a riff-fuelled anthem with a not too dissimilar message to ‘So, the Thing Is’.

06 The Dangerous Summer – ‘The Permanent Rain’

A pop-punk band – and to be honest there are a number of pop-punk bands which we have taken influence from. This track has a powerful message throughout and speaks of hope and moving forward. We have a similar message in a number of the tracks on the EP; notably ‘Manufactured’ and ‘Beating Heart’.

07 Röyksopp – ‘Remind Me’

A Norwegian 2-piece Electro outfit is not your typical rock band influence. However, they have a number of tracks with great vocal melodies. Our Vocalist is a huge fan and listens to them a lot. There are so many great artists out at the moment; to limit your influence to your own surrounding genres would be silly!

08 Black Stone Cherry – ‘Me and Mary Jane’

The whole band listens to the Black Stone Cherry’s full catalogue regularly. On the way to shows they are always a mood booster, so it’s important to take influence from a band that can do this. Tracks such as ‘Me and Mary Jane’ and ‘Blind Man’ aim to raise the roof at any Black Stone Cherry show, we would like to do the same!

09 The Offspring – ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’

After being compared to this band so many times by crowds all over it was a given that we would take influence in some form or another. We are told our vocalist sounds like an English-version of Dexter, but you can be your own judge of that! We love the band growing up and still do, so we’re flattered by the comparison. We feel we sound similar to some of their tracks, notably ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ and ‘Want You Bad’.

Catch the band at their upcoming shows:

JULY

21 SHEFFIELD Beg Borrow & Steal
22 SHEFFIELD The Doctors Orders
28 LEICESTER The Vault, The Shed

AUGUST

25 MANCHESTER Fuel Cafe Bar

SEPTEMBER

14 DONCASTER Woolpack Live

OCTOBER

13 SHEFFIELD Hallam FM’s Cash For Kids Rocks!
19 CHESTERFIELD The County Music Bar

NOVEMBER

24 DONCASTER The Hallcross Pub and Live Venue

DECEMBER

1 SHEFFIELD Winter Rocks Festival