Blog | The Pineapple Thief

Hi Folks

I know it’s been a long time since i’ve typed on my blog, but now we have started 2012, the real business of where TPT is going can now begin.  As well as getting on the road and playing some memorable gigs in 2011 (our two London headline  shows being a highlight for me), most of my energy was spent writing what will become TPT9 later this year.  Thankfully, the songs are written and nicely demoed up in my studio.  I’ve never spent so long and put so much energy into the song writing process.

Today we arrived as the Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire to spend 7 days tracking drums and bass (plus anything else we can fit in our 22 hour working days), which will hopefully involve me tracking most of the guitars using Darran’s (from Godsticks) fantastic guitars as well as my old, trusty tele.

Mixing and any overdubs will then continue  in Yeovil, with a quick trip over to Prague to record a 22 piece string section in March.  We’re lucky enough to have Andrew Skeet arranging and conducting the strings for that.  We also have the small issue of tracking a  choir which will feature on two of the new tracks.

It’s going to be very busy, but I will tweet as much as possible (especially this week) to share our progress and the journey.   Nothing has ever been as big as this in the history of TPT.   The plan at the moment is to release in September 2012 with an EP late spring to get things moving.

Follow me on twitter (if you want to really keep up to date).

Thanks as always to all the fans who came out to support us 2011 – from Glasgow to Gdansk your support is inspirational.

Bruce

I’m having a think about our set for the upcoming UK tour.  We’ve been playing the SHIM set for a while now so it’s time to jig it about it.  A few tracks will be cut as we bring in some new ones to try out.

But i’m also going to bring in a track from Variations on a Dream.  It’s one we’ve never played before and MAY make one or two of you happy.  Nothing concrete yet mind, still in the early planning stages…

A big thank you to everyone who was there last night at the Kscope Union Chapel gig. It was a unique experience for me being up there on my tod but the crowd was unbelievable.

After all the years spent labouring over TPT it was a great feeling to perform last night in such a naked way. Even though inexplicably I forgot how to count in 6/8 (!) I will never forget the performance of snowdrops and the warmth through my heart from the crowd.

See some of you again soon in December.

Bruce

Thanks to everyone who took the time to feedback to me (either via our forum, facebook or twitter) regarding the Variations track order.  It was interesting to read people’s opinions.  For instance, ‘it’s you album, do what you like!’ – that’s very true.  But that raised the age old question of why do we create art if not to share it with others?

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I went with the ‘don’t mess with history‘ philosophy and kept the order as it is.   We’ve already messed with the space time continuum enough by giving it a new look.  Personally,  I can’t imagine it starting without Subside either…

The re-issue is available to pre-order from our shop.   Now it’s time for me to go back to writing the new album, which is going wonderfully well.

Bruce

Hi all

I’m currently checking through the final re-mixed/re-mastered ‘Variations on a Dream’ masters before sending to Kscope.   One thing is on my mind, I think the original track order is wrong.  The album begins with what should be album ender, Subside.   So, how would people, who are familiar with the original, feel about that?  Should these things be left in their place, or can they be changed?

Hey folks

We are in Portugal at the moment, waiting for our headline slot at 1am. So much time, so many beers.

There is loads to update you on when I get back, but frankly updating this on my phone is rather annoying!

In summary:
UK short tour in December, smaller venues where we will throw in some new stuff to try out. Should be nice and intimate.

New album is progressing nicely with a residential studio booked for January 2012. Allow time for post production and string recording and this should be delivered late spring.

We are planning a full tour for 2012, uk, mainland Europe and beyond…

Thanks for all the kind words about money on the forum by the way. Money may not be the best track on the album but it was the only one I could imagine giving a tpt spin. It was a strange experience and not as easy as I thought it would be. 3 time signature changes and loads of tempo changes. And I thought it was just a simple blues number really…

Right I’m off…

I’m literally sat here in my studio remixing Variations (written back in 2002) for the re-issue on Kscope, which I believe will be early October.  I’m spending a lot of time on these tracks and like 10SD, they’ve really come alive.

One note – I remember reading a post on the forum where someone said of the 3000 Days compilation that all the tracks sounded much better, apart from the Variations ones, which sounded like they had been sucked through a strainer (or something like that!).  Well, you were right.  This time they are back to their full glory.  The tracks in question were mainly Subside, Part Zero and Remember Us – I made a bit of a cock up with the strings and drums on those.  All fixed for this issue.

A few more days to go and then it’s off to the mastering house so I can focus on the new album.   We should be playing some UK dates in December, where we may well throw 2-3 new tracks into the set.  We’ve been off the road for far too long…

Bruce

Hi folks

We’ve just returned from a very late session at Real World studios (you know, the really big one owned by Peter Gabriel).  It’s for the a Pink Floyd cover, hopefully we can tell you which one soon.

We’ve never done a cover before, but this one has been a lot of fun.  Watch this space!

In the meantime, it’s back to re-mixing Variations on a Dream…

Bruce

Hi Folks

I’ve just agreed to play a little acoustic set as part of a ‘Kscope Night’ on Friday 29th September in London.  Anathema are headlining with a 3 piece acoustic show, plus my fellow labellers Engineers and Nosound will also be acousticing.   Should be a great night and what’s more, it’s in an old chapel.  Should be ideal acoustics for a more subtle sound.

Check out ticket links and more info here…

Hopefully see some of you folks there…

Bruce

Quick blog – Jon and I will be performing an acoustic set as part of the Burning Shed 10th Anniversary celebration at the Leamington Spa Assembly on October 14th.   There may be a few surprises, I’ll have to see how things go between no and then…

More info here…

I’ve spent the past 4 weeks re-mixing the original 10 Stories Down recordings and I also decided to give the same treatment to the limited edition ‘8 Days Later’ bonus disc.  I hadn’t listened to that record since I did it, back in August 2004.  It was weird to listen to each song, taking me back to the world I lived in 7 years ago.  It really felt like a week of my life, bottled and preserved in an album.   And I was pleasantly surprised how well the thing hung together.  Yes, there were some ropey moments in there but I’ve managed to make the whole thing sound infinitely better by remixing it and replacing some of my old samples and sounds with decent ones.  I haven’t touched the songs or performances, that would ruin the whole concept.   So it’s still written, performed and recorded over 8 days (a track each day).  It’s just had a little re-mix in 2011, that’s all!

We should be selling the album during our tour of Poland before it’s shipped to the rest of you on June 6th.  Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered on our site, the response so far has been fantastic.

So now I’m free to continue work on the next studio album.  Back in the land of madness….

Hi Folks

I’m going to be in Sound Knowledge in Marlborough this Sunday (17th April) to promote ‘Record Store Day’ – all part of promoting our local independent record store industry and prolonging the life of what we lovingly call ‘the physical product’!

I’ll be playing a short (30-40 minutes) acoustic set around 2pm and if I can get Steve out of bed, he’ll be joining me on rhodes and piano. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of other great acts down there too. Apparently there’s a nice cafe attached to the store so it should be a relaxing way to while away a Sunday afternoon. Although strictly speaking I should be in the studio finishing off the 10 Stories re-issue. By the way, I’ve really delved into the mix this time, the album has totally come alive…

cheers

Bruce