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.

Thieves' Kitchen 2008 tour

Hi everyone!

We are pleased to announce our Autumn 2008 UK and European tour dates in support of the latest Thieves' Kitchen CD The Water Road which was released in March. These will be the first live shows for the band since July 2004 and the first to feature new keyboard player Thomas Johnson, formerly of Anglagard.

Sunday September 28th - Summer's End festival, Lydney Town Hall, High Street, Lydney, Gloucestershire, UK
www.summersend.co.uk
TK will be on stage at around 1:40pm. Other bands playing on this day of the festival include The Tangent and Frost*. There are only a few tickets still available, so move quickly!

Wednesday October 22nd - riff's bar, 26 greatfield, swindon, wiltshire, SN4
8EQ, UK
www.riffsbar.biz
Riff's has become a legendary venue for prog! No support and so a full set - TK will be onstage at around 9pm.

Friday October 24th - Chipping Warden Village Hall, Culworth Road, Chipping Warden, Northants, OX17 1LB, UK
The hall at Chipping Warden has been our rehearsal home over recent months, so what better place for a central UK show? This is a double header gig with Whimwise, featuring Nick May (ex The Enid). It will all kick off at about 7:30pm. Cheap admission and cheap bar!

Saturday November 1st - Freakparade festival, Bockshorn Theatre, Veitshoechheimerstrasse, 97080 Wuerzburg, Germany

http://artrock-festival.de/2008/09/07/freakparade-festival-2008-english-information/
Our first ever show in mainland Europe will be at the renowned Freakparade Festival - we are second on the bill on the Saturday and will appear at around 7pm, immediately prior to Magma.

Sunday November 2nd - Spirit of '66, Place du Martyr 16, B4800 Verviers, Belgium
www.spiritof66.be
We will be playing the famed Spirit of '66 as a double header along with our fellow Brits Sphere3. The fun is due to start at around 7pm.

Monday November 3rd - L'Olympia Bruno Coquatrix, Boulevard des Capucines 28, Paris, France
www.olympiahall.com
The sort of place you only ever really dream about playing - the Olympia is a massive, famous theatre which in its time has hosted artists like The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. TK will be supporting French Canadian Genesis tribute band The Musical Box and we will be onstage at around 8pm.

If you require any further information on any of the shows or any general information on the band, please do not hesitate to contact us either at our website (www.thieveskitchen.co.uk) or at our email address, thieveskitchen@aol.com.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our shows, and we hope to arrange further gigs for 2009 including perhaps a return to North America.

Thanks for listening!

Andy, Amy, Thomas, Phil and Mark (Thieves' Kitchen)