Blog | The Pineapple Thief

Thanks to everyone who made us feel so welcome during our recent UK tour – the response at all 4 gigs was exceptional and made the 12 hour return trip from our last show in Glasgow much more bearable!

We’ve read all the posts on our forum and Facebook – thanks to all of you for all the nice words…

Next up for us is our show in Holland in 2 weeks (with Pure Reason and Sun Domingo), followed shortly afterwards by our week in Poland. Then we have a show in Portugal (TBC) and a planned return to the UK and Europe in the autumn. More on all that soon…

Bruce

Hi Folks

Just to make sure anyone who is coming to our show at the Underworld on Sat 19th,  doors are 7pm but the show will start at 7:30 prompt (support) as the venue has a pretty early curfew, so you’ll have plenty of time to catch your tubes.   I don’t want any of you to miss anything, so make sure you get in early!

Hi Folks

We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be joining our old friends Riverside on their 10th Anniversary tour of Poland in May.  Also joining us will Swedish band Paatos.  Click the links below for details….

24.05 – Łódź – Wytwórnia

25.05 – Wrocław – Eter

26.05 – Kraków – Rotunda

27.05 – Poznań – Eskulap

28.05 – Gdańsk – Centrum Stocznia Gdańska

29.05 – Warszawa – Stodoła

Hi Folks

Work on the new album is progressing nicely. To mis-quote some other band or other (how much hype do you read about albums in progress being ‘the greatest ever made by a human being’ – there is a finite amount of BS* in this universe). Anyway, the quote – the heavier sections are heavier and the sweeter sections sweeter. What I’m trying to say is you’ll just have to wait and see – sadly the wait will be until Spring 2012. Still, it feels great to be writing again.

In the meantime, 2011 is still going to be busy. We have some more shows to announce later this spring and throughout the year (just waiting for confirmation on these). 10 Stories Down WILL be re-issued soon with all the usual Kscope bells and whistles, I am planning to remix this over the coming weeks. I am also planning to finish the collaboration project I have been working on (for almost 3 years now) over the coming months. This is a great sounding record, I am really looking forward to seeing that one released. We are hoping this will see the light of day in the autumn.

Right now I am mixing and producing the new album by Sun Domingo. As you may know, we toured with these guys last October. Their new album is a wonderful piece of work and I am enjoying adding my 2 cents into the sound and arrangement and production. I am not sure when this is going to be released but I believe the first copies will be available at the forthcoming Marillion convention where Sun Domingo will be playing. I’ll let you know the details when I get them.

I’ll be back soon when we have more things confirmed.

Bruce

*BS = not bruce soord, the other BS. Although clearly the universe would be a better place with an infinite number of these.

Just a quick blog before I get my head back to TPT9…

Glasgow show just confirmed – Classic Grand on 21st March. You can get you tickets here….

See you there…

Bruce

So we’re now into 2011. I’ve had my head down recently as work has begun on TPT9. During this time the only thing that swims into my psyche are melodies, riffs and words. It can be a nightmare sometimes…

Anyway – I’m going to be a bit quiet for a while. I am planning some major things for TPT9. If it works then the album will be a huge step up in many ways. If it doesn’t, it will be an expensive failure. Either way, nothing is going to be released until I am 100% happy with the result. We’re probably looking at the first quarter of 2012 if all goes to plan. And that’s a big if. The risks of being ambitious…

Thanks to everyone who has supported us throughout 2010. We know that not everyone totally ‘got’ our new direction but we also know that a lot of you did. But either way, love us or hate us, it’s great to have such an active bunch following us. I know that no matter what we do, you’ll always stay for the ride. I am well aware there is a lobby of old skool fans who are waiting for ‘Variations Part 2′. And one day soon I plan to make that record (probably as a solo album of some description). But the reason the TPT albums have changed and progressed since then is because I don’t want to re-write the same old formula. Luckily I am more driven and hungry than ever before to create something new, to try out new directions, sounds, ideas and structures. That’s why TPT9 will sound different once more. And that philosophy is the only reason why the thought of writing a new album fills me with so much excitment. 2011 is going to be great for me, but maybe a little quiet for you.

Having said that, we want to ramp up the gigs in 2011. It was wonderful to meet so many of you on the road in 2010. We want to meet more of you in 2011.

Right, now to switch my mind back to song writing mode…

Bruce

I’ve just got off the phone with ‘the management’ and it looks like we’re adding a Glasgow date to our UK jaunt next year (probably Monday 21st March). More details to follow very soon but as I know a few fans have been waiting centuries for this announcement I thought I would leak it first…

Currently backing working on ‘the collaboration’ which we are planning to finish over the Christmas period. Also working on the 10 Stories Down re-issue (now coming WITH the 8 Days Later bonus disc)…

Bruce

Hi Folks

We have sorted out a FLAC download and will offer anyone who has paid for an MP3 a voucher to get the FLAC version without paying twice, if they want it.

There have been some issues, especially if you use Internet Explorer. It looks like these have been fixed and details will be included in our mail out, coming over the next 24 hours…

Thanks to all the people who have checked our site and ordered the download already.

thanks

Bruce

Hi all

We’re just finishing off the live download – it has taken a little longer than expected as making sure nearly 2 hours of music is ‘just right’ is proving quite a task. I wanted to keep the energy of the live room and crowd (which, by the way, makes any ‘cheating’ overdubs impossible (even if I was that way inclined) as they would then clash with the room mics). I just need to tweak these levels once more before mastering and uploading for you all. It should still be this week…

And don’t worry about missing anything – an email will go out as soon as the live show is in our shop.

I’ve just got off the phone with our manager and it looks like 10 Stories Down will be re-issued (at least initially) with the original ‘8 Days Later’ bonus disc. I might also have a hunt around for any other tracks that could be included as bonuses. Either way, it should be a nice package.

Mixing of the live download is going to plan for the 29th November release. We will be including a full, uninterrupted MP3/FLAC file of the entire show as well as individual files. Also included will be a PDF booklet containing some great live shots, a few behind the scene images and some in-depth blurb about the songs and the tour (by me). Make sure you are signed up to our mailing list to make sure you get the link when we release it (use link at the top right hand of our website to sign up).

Also, we are preparing a gig & set list archive for this site. I know a few fans have been with us right from the beginning, which officially dates back to our debut show at the Whitchurch festival in 2003. Actually, our FIRST show was a few weeks before in the back room of a pub in Sherborne called the Plume of Feathers, but I don’t think anyone travelled to that. What I am asking is for someone to start a thread on our forum for people to post up memories and photos from our gigging past (so we don’t miss any). I want the archive to not only show our timeline, but also link to photos and fan recollections. I remember we played quite a few acoustic shows at a local bar in Yeovil (Woods). Thinking back, I can’t believe we actually got the band on that tiny stage…

Anyway, if you can help us then hopefully we can get some rich history together…

Hi all

At the moment, we’re hoping to release the digital download of our recent tour (audio only) on Monday November 29th. We’ll email everyone on our mailing list when it’s ready. There will be a lossless version (probably FLAC) and also a decent quality MP3 version. We haven’t finished mixing yet, but the recording should clock in around 2 hours. Our engineer took direct feeds from every line into the desk, plus audience/ambient mics. So the quality is decent and captures our live energy very nicely. I am planning to make this release ‘true’, so there won’t be any studio overdubs, mark my words. So the few moments where my guitar playing suffers due to it being on top of my head, you’ll just have to trust me that’s the reason…

I know some people are disappointed that there will be no physical release, but the truth is that we are signed to Kscope. They have a tight release schedule planned for all their artists, involving 2 re-issues for us early next year and the official world wide issue of Little Man. To be honest, we are very lucky that Kscope are willing to allow us to provide this special release. Most other labels would have simply said ‘no way’.

More info soon…

Cheers

Bruce

Hi all

First bit of news is that we will be releasing a digital only live release of the recent tour – this will feature around 2 hours of music with an accompanying digital booklet featuring photos from the tour (live and back stage) and a full tour diary. And we’ll make sure there is a hi-fi FLAC option too. We recorded every show from the European tour and myself, Steve and Mark Bowyer will be mixing the best parts very soon, in time for Christmas, hopefully before the end of November. I know a lot of fans were waiting on a physical live release, but right now this is not an option because…

Kscope are busy preparing their schedules for re-issues of 10 Stories Down and Variations on a Dream – both of which will be released exclusively via our website and Burning Shed, before having a full, world wide release later in the year. And I know what you’re thinking… 8 Days? I think so, at least for a limited run. But I’m not sure. Either way, watch this space and make sure you get your pre-orders in if you want one. I think pre-orders will start at some point in December.

So the release schedule is pretty busy at the moment. I’ll update you when I get some firm news.

Oh and thanks to everyone for the warm words on the forum recently.

Cheers

Bruce

Hi all

We’ve just returned from the tour – sorry for the lack of blogs but my personal laptop was called into action due to a glitch with our primary live laptop, rendering me blogless.

Thanks to everyone who supported us throughout the tour. I’ll post a full diary soon.

In the meantime, can I state for the record that the ‘Bruce Soord’ on facebook IS NOT ME. Just in case anyone was wondering why my ‘profile’ looked a bit odd. It wasn’t me, I wasn’t there, I didn’t do it.

Cheers

Bruce

We find ourselves, once again killing time. This time in Karlsruhe, towards the south of Germany. We had time for a decent kick about in the park, ending with Keith scoring the winner, sadly with an own goal. The poor lad is devastated.

3 gigs in, the set is starting to settle down. Just some minor issues to iron out and we’ll be there….

Substage, Karlsruhe