The Greatest White Liar by Nic Armstrong & the Thieves is one of the great overlooked gems of the past decade. Released in 2005, it’s a bouncy blast of Britpop that could have been beamed from the middle of the original British Invasion.
It was followed a year later by the less successful If We Can’t Escape My Pretty and credited to IV Thieves. With the Englishman no longer the titular frontman, the band seemed to lose a great deal of focus. When I heard Armstrong was serving a Tuesday night residency at the Ghost Room, it seemed like a good time to check in and find out what he’s been up to.
“I’ve been here about four years,” he claims. “This was the very first city I visited in the States and I fell in love with it. I remember the first night I was here, I was on a bus and a guy said, ‘Once you’re here, you’ll never leave,’ and he gave me a Scooby Doo laugh.”
As far as the Thieves, he’s reticent to talk about them, only saying, “I put my name on things when I’m happy with the product.” As for the present, he’s much more forthcoming: “I’ve got about three albums worth of material. I’ve been procrastinating on the songs and just about to start up on the recording. I’m trying to introduce new material with kind of a one-man band thing, just me and a kick drum. It’s a little more atmospheric than a full on rockin’ band. The Ghost Room is kind of my playground at the moment. My goal is fleshing out the new songs and by the final night have the arrangements in place.”
His Tuesday gigs at the Ghost Room, extended through the middle of March, could bring in bands like current collaborators the Ripe. In between, there’s recording to be done. “My immediate concern is to have an EP out by South by Southwest. That’s definitely the goal.”
You can also catch Armstrong at the Scoot Inn Friday night.
This article appears in January 15 • 2010.