Friendly Thieves: Stealing Hearts with Songcraft and Savvy

For artists, balancing creative drive with everyday life struggles is no easy task. Many creatives work a 9-to-5 job only to leave at the end of the day and devote the rest of their time to a 5-to-9 job, which might mean performing and writing music. For the Kansas City alt-funk band, Friendly Thieves, the hustle – and lack of sleep – is worth it.

“When you’re starting up a business, which is kind of what a band is, in the beginning you put in 40 hours a week at your regular job as a necessity, but then you’re also putting in 40 hours at this other thing, trying to build it from the ground up,” the band’s lead guitarist, Jamae Breeze, said.

While Breeze and drummer John Goss work typical Monday through Friday jobs, bassist Sam Millard and saxophonist Ben Baker work in the service industry, and have less predictable hours. 

“It really takes work to make it work, and I don’t care because I literally can’t see myself doing anything else,” Baker, who is also a student, said.

The band’s vocalist and electric ukuleleist, Sam Wells, made the leap of faith to quit her job in order to devote all her time to music.

Friendly Thieves got its start through social media when Breeze and Millard made several Facebook posts in search of band members. The post caught Wells’s eye, and she was the first to audition, while Goss and Baker auditioned and joined later.

“Immediately at the end of the audition I was like, ‘So am I in the band now?’”, Wells said.

“[Everyone’s] chemistry was pretty noticeable during the audition phases,” Breeze said.

By July 2022, the band was fully formed and played their debut show in September at The Ship in Kansas City. Some of the members were anxious, but once the show started, everything fell into place.

“It was crazy that we were able to completely fill the space at The Ship on our first show together,” Wells said. Goss added, “There were like almost 300 people there,” an incredible feat for any local band, let alone a brand new one.

Wells has been performing in the Kansas City area for a few years as a singer-songwriter, and her connections have proven valuable in booking shows.

“When people were like, ‘Hey Sam, we want to book you,’ I would just be like, ‘I’m not available but my band is! You’re going to like it,’” she said.

In preparation for their upcoming shows and an album recording retreat, the band bought an ‘80s dream van furnished front to back in red velvet, which they hope will serve as a vessel for bonding while on the road.

“A lot of bands in the ‘60s and ‘70s used to write about how difficult the road was and how they just wanted to be home, and we’re kind of excited to be not home. We’re going to try to flip the script a little bit and have a good time on the road,” Goss said.

The band plays a few covers at shows, but their original songs are what keep fans interested. They touted Millard as the genius behind many of their original songs, whose unique and creative bass lines lay the groundwork to build the songs upon. 

“[Sam Millard] will show us [a bass line], John will jump in on the drums [and] Jamae just automatically knows how to dance around Sam. Luckily we really struck gold when we got Ben into the band because his ear is just impeccable,” Wells said about the band’s songwriting process. As she listens to the other members play, she comes up with the lyrics.

Though songwriting comes naturally to Friendly Thieves, social media has been one of the most challenging aspects of getting their band off the ground.

“[Social media] is a constant thing that you have to be doing all the time, and it’s exhausting and tricky and so difficult when all we want to do is play music,” Breeze said. “But it’s such a necessity in today’s world.”

Luckily, Breeze’s wife Jess is a marketing expert and has helped the band with their social media presence. 

“Anything that you see [on social media] that looks really lame is probably one of us doing, and anything that you see that looks curated is definitely Jess. Every time we’re practicing at rehearsal she’ll come through with her iPhone and take videos,” said Wells.

The recording process at Weights and Measures Soundlab for their first single, “You Better Run” (premiered here on The Bridge), was also a learning experience for the members. 

“We’ve been able to work on things that we weren’t so good at in that studio – like working with a click [track]. We hadn’t done that really ever, and since then, we’ve been able to practice on that wholeheartedly,” Millard said. “Familiarity with recording techniques and being able to make the whole process fluid is what we really learned from that single.”

After less than a year together, Friendly Thieves has already reached huge milestones. But the band’s biggest achievement, in their eyes, is their willingness to devote time to music.

“It is so hard to get people together, and we’re a relatively large band, so it can be really hard to get five people’s schedules to line up, especially twice a week. That’s a pretty big deal,” Breeze said.

The future is bright for Friendly Thieves, and the proof lies within their devotion to the music.

“I believe in these guys, so I know [the money] will come from somewhere,” Wells said.

Friendly Thieves’ next live performance is at The Ship on Friday, May 27, for Manor Fest 5. After that, they’ll appear on the Boulevardia Quirk Terrace Stage on Friday, June 16 at 9:30 p.m. They can be found on Instagram at @friendlythieveskc, on Facebook, and Spotify.