Love and Theft In Love with New Life

Love and Theft’s first single, “Runaway,” has created a lot of commotion for the band. Fans bought over 19,000 copies of the single alone. CMT Insider sat down with the men of Love and Theft to ask how life has changed since their first album was released. Eric Gunderson said, “[It’s] changed a ton. We went from working monotonous boring days jobs to working 10 times harder – but doing something we love.”

While the band was in negotiations for a record deal, Gunderson took up a family craft to pay the bills. His father was a mechanic while his uncle made a living in carpentry. Gunderson said he loved working with his hands for as long as he can remember but his true passion was music.

Stephen Barker Liles worked as a valet for a while before moving on to Blockbuster to attend to his movie addiction. “I'd talk movies all day with a bunch of people and I really enjoyed it," he said. "I was watching movies all the time. I'd take home at least probably one a day."

Brian Bandas also took part in the valet business. Bandas said jobs with a flexible schedule were preferred for up and coming musicians. Bandas also said the benefits, such as tips and driving expensive remodeled cars, were worth the time put into being a valet, though his new career as a musician is much more beneficial.

"I do not miss it at all!" Bandas said, "… I mean, if I'm not going to be playing music, it was not a bad job. I didn't hate it, but even pulling up here, I'm like, 'Man, I'm so glad to be doing what I'm doing.' The big issue for me was giving all this time to something I just don't care that much about, so now I get to give my time to something I'm very passionate about."