Lidya Balaban

Lidya Balaban is a singer and guitarist from Sunderland. Lidya is the lead singer and guitarist in rock band 'Thieves of Liberty'. 'Thieves of Liberty' are based in Sunderland however, are popular in both Sunderland and Newcastle. Over the years, the band have been crowned Fireball's Hottest Band, been featured in Fireball tours across the UK, played at various venues across the North East and have been reviewed in popular rock magazines such as 'Kerrang!'.

I first joined Thieves of Liberty in 2016 and since then we’ve released two singles and an EP.

"We’ve played to empty rooms and to packed out O2 academies and everywhere in between."

I would have to say one the most stressful, yet funny, gig of all time would have to have been the Glasgow show of the Fuelling The Fire Tour. If you know my band you know our bass player Sim is a very polite person, always kind and a little shy but gets along with everyone, you know the type.

Sim also very rarely drinks and when he does it’s in small quantities because he’s just good like that. However, on this one occasion Sim got very drunk. We finished our set and went back to the dressing room and with this being a Fireball sponsored tour, you can imagine there was a lot of free drink.

I hadn’t noticed that he was gone until I went down to socialise only to find him drunk as a skunk and visibly annoying one of the headline band members. I took him back up to the dressing room where he proceed to fall off his chair and land in the bin. He fell asleep there for about 20 minutes.

Once he came round he started disappearing every now and then. I figured he was just going to the toilet or something but after the 8th time or so, he came back crying. Turns out he’d actually been going to the other band's dressing room to talk to them and take their drink. Understandably, by the 8th time somebody had lost their temper with him and told him where to go. Sim was devastated with this. I also had to stop him going back up there a further 3 times because he wanted to apologise, which I knew was best to wait until the next day.

*Photography by James Sharples

At the end of the night we were heading to the after party but Sim couldn’t stand up so we decided to take him back to the hotel. Our tour manager, Steve, told us he wasn’t driving us because if Sim was sick in his van, he would have to pay for damages so we ordered an Uber. The entire time we’re waiting for this Uber Sim is going on and on about how much he’s looking forward to the after party, regardless of how many times we’d told him he wasn’t coming.

So we get the Uber to the hotel and as we’re getting out Sim shouts “Thanks Steve” to the driver who was most definitely not Steve.

We carry him up the stairs, get him to bed take his shoes off for him. He was giggling and squirming the entire time. We set up a bottle of water and a bin for him and make sure he knows where the toilet is.

Finally, just as we’re about to leave, he stops us and comes out with “wait, wait, wait guys I’m not going to go to the after party I think I should go back to the hotel now” then immediately falls asleep.

Good idea Sim.

To get a taster of Lidya and 'Thieves of Libertys' sound check out their music video below. To find out even more about Lidya Balaban, Sims drunken shenanigans and 'Thieves of Liberty' follow their social media and streaming platforms!