Thieves Like Us met each other in Berlin in 2002.

We met in Mauer Park.

Andy had previously worked as a cleaner in a New York City hip-hop discotech and moved there to study German.

Bjorn, an ex-programmer living off his funds from the internet boom, was there on an extended holiday from Sweden.

Pontus, also from Sweden, was working as a chef in a pizza restaurant.

We were friends hanging out in a vast foreign city. We struggled with the language and the culture. We we hadn't registered our residencies at the local city hall so we couldn't even get memberships at a videotek. We were fans of rock and pop music and would try to find places to go out drinking and dancing, but all we would hear is techno and electro. The women didn't seem to like us all. We started deejaying ourselves.

We would play old krautrock (nobody recognized it), italo disco, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Factory Records stuff, and even new hip-hop. Later on we discovered French filter house and added this to our repertoire. Our cross over dj sets really seemed to bother the Berliners. Maybe it was the inconsistency in bpms.

In Berlin, we heard and saw enough electronic music we didn't like. We thought we could do it better so we started our own band.

Unable to gain a label or following in Berlin, we have temporarily relocated to New York City.

Thieves Like Us will soon be seeking asylum in France.