Cheeky Thief is from the North East coast of England. He thinks about love and hangovers, and then writes songs about them so that he can try to make sense of things.

He thinks that love is like a communal packet of cigarettes: it’s a brilliant idea in theory, but it’s usually only a matter of time until someone spoils it by taking too many cigarettes, or thinking that someone else has taken too many cigarettes, or secretly having more cigarettes stashed away in a cupboard. And in the end, it might well kill you anyway.

He thinks that love and hangovers are the universe’s cruelest jokes, and that they have an awful lot in common. Love and drinking are both things that society tells us to do, and they are hard-wired into each other. Romance is Champagne and bottles of wine. Love is being drunk. A lover and a drunk will always get on very well and be thinking the same things.

This is why Thief likes to play his guitar and sing songs in front of drunk people whenever he can, because he loves drunks and they love him, too. Recently, a drunk person at a gig engaged Thief in the longest handshake he’s ever experienced, and told him that he was “awesome” fifteen times. That’s love for you.

Thief reckons that the drunk person probably had a hangover the next day. That’s love for you, as well.