PROFILE: Why The Thirst won't settle for second best
“It’s the soundtrack to our lives,” says Mensah. “Everything on this album depicts a scene from our world.”
The Thirst take their music seriously. Their debut album, ‘On The Brink’ is an eclectic masterpiece featuring production work comes from Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Adele, Kasabian), Jake Fior (Babyshambles, The Libertines) and James Lewis (Cajun Dance Party). Their sound blends influences from their Afro-Caribbean upbringing, their parents’ old punk records and the drum ‘n’ bass and hip-hop of their youth. “We’re inspired by bands like The Specials, The Jam, and all the reggae and ska we heard as kids,” says Kwame.
Playing anywhere and everywhere they could, a buzz around these four black lads with guitars started to build. It was the infamous Brixton JAMM one night and cool hangouts like Notting Hill Arts Club the next. The Thirst built up their fan base the old fashioned way, with relentless gigging across the capital they love, sometimes playing up to six shows a week. “We got recognised because we were doing something that a lot of people our race don’t do,” says 25 year old Kwame. “People expected us to start MC’ing, so they got a shock.”
It was one night down at The Half Moon in Putney when Ronnie Wood discovered them. “He put it on the table there and then,” laughs Mensah. “He just said, ‘Yeah, I loved it.’ He was cool, man… he’s a legend.”
A year later and their self-titled debut EP had sold out in two weeks, with its lead single ‘My Everything’ championed by Zane Lowe on Radio 1. The summer of ’07 saw them on stage at the Isle of Wight Festival, Hyde Park Calling, Electric Gardens and Glastonbury, plus there were support shows for the Sex Pistols and Rolling Stones. “Let’s just say there have been moments when we’ve really been bricking it,” says Kwame. “With The Stones we played in front of 40,000 people in Croatia. It was utterly mind-blowing.”
With 2008’s SXSW already under their belts, next is a tour of Japan, the summer festival circuit, and a regional tour, but the lads have also been working with Pete Doherty: “Yeah, we’re collaborating on his new album,” says Kwame. “Whilst being stranded after a gig in Manchester, Pete took pity and brought us back to his place.” The result was a late night jamming session and upcoming top secret track.
“Our entire lives have been dedicated to music and succeeding with it,” says Mensah. “We want it so bad. There is no greater love for us.”
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS:
‘READY TO MOVE’ opens with melancholic guitar strums before a frenzy of break-beat drums and Mensah’s party-fuelled vocals: “My older brother heard us jamming and said ‘You should make a club tune out of that.’ We’ve all got backgrounds in drum and bass and the lyrics are an insight into a typical night out for us, it worked perfectly.”
‘SAIL AWAY’ is the Jim Abbiss produced soundtrack to the band’s upbringing in Brixton. Its romantic lyrics of urban life are hooked around a nagging guitar line and jerky drums. “It’s about the dark side of what goes on there,” says Mensah. “We love it because it’s our home, but we’ve been bumming around the place so long. We want more than that.”
‘I’M FALLING,’ opens with tender guitar plucks and soaring strings. Mensah says: “The track is a nod to all the women of the world. They’re the ones who hold it all together. There are so many mothers who dedicate their life to bringing up their children whilst the father has disappeared. This song is for them.”
‘DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME’ is underpinned by fuzzy dub reminiscent of Bob Marley and a low-slung bass guitar. “We usually go out to dubstep nights and this is a nod to that genre,” says Mensah. “Lyrically it’s about the snobbery some people have to suffer, friends of mine, myself. We should learn to treasure the differences between people instead of letting them drive rifts into cultures.”
‘MY EVERYTHING’ opens with Mensah’s vocals drifting across balmy guitar strums. “I saw a documentary about a gay HIV+ couple and a recently diagnosed 18 year old girl,” he says. “It really had an impact. The love those two guys had for each other, that young girl’s suffering, their sheer strength against all odds is amazing.”
‘ON THE BRINK’ is an insight into Mensah’s surroundings: “It’s a song for strangers I saw everyday growing up. The crack-heads in the park near my old school, the single mothers barely surviving each day with no help, they’re all out there and they’ve reached a point where they don’t have a choice anymore.”
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