Thieves' Kitchen signed to FMPM 2009

Thieves' Kitchen has taken the progressive rock community by storm in 2008, with the release of their fourth album The Water Road. Featuring new keyboardist Thomas Johnson, formerly of Änglagård, this album combines ear-catching melodies and intricate complexity the way all the best progressive rock does, with non-rock influences, dynamic contrasts, and a wide variety of instrumentation. Their love of impossible time signatures and jazzy inflections inspire comparisons to the Canterbury scene, while Amy Darby's soaring voice and evocative lyrics are always compelling.

Founded by guitarist Phil Mercy and bassist Paul Beecham ten years ago, only Mercy and drummer Mark Robotham remain from the first album, 2000's Head. After their 2001 release "Argot" with new bassist Andy Bonham, they were invited to play Mexico's Baja Prog and North Carolina's ProgDay music festivals in 2002. In typical fashion, a four-song set from this group took 75 minutes to perform. 2003's Shibboleth was their first to feature vocalist Amy Darby and sees the beginnings of the jazzier influences coming to full fruition on "The Water Road". This newest album, five years in the making, went through extensive phases of composition, arrangement, and recording. New keyboardist Johnson proves a suitable foil for Mercy, able to provide powerful and aggressive counterpoint or a melancholy aural backdrop where appropriate. Unsurprisingly, this album is turning up on a number of top ten lists for 2008, as it appeals to fans across the spectrum of the genre, and was the #1 album on The Gagliarchives for several weeks. Thieves' Kitchen is now playing several engagements across Europe in support of The Water Road.

With increasing demand on this side of the pond, and a growing audience of admirers in Quebec, the time was right to extend an invitation to Thieves' Kitchen to play at FMPM 2009, and much to our delight they have accepted. This will be their first ever appearance in Canada and their only festival performance in North America next year.

The fourth edition of the FMPM takes place September 12th and 13th 2009 at the Pierre Peladeau Center in Montreal. Our web-site is being updated and will be fully operational in a few days. Already announced for the 2009 line-up is DFA from Italy. We hope to have more line-up announcements in the coming weeks.