Not dead! 16th March 2010
Firstly, many apologies for the lack of updates to the website. At times, it's like news is happening every week and updating the website becomes a big part of things, but at other times there's so little to report that any update sounds silly.
2009 was not the year the band originally hoped it would be. We started the year with a booking to play the FMPM festival and were gearing up for full on rehearsals and touring. My problems with my left arm just wouldn't go away and we sadly ended up having to cancel FMPM and, indeed, had to wait patiently whilst the medical boffins poked, prodded and scanned their way to some sort of diagnosis and treatment.
The first bit of good news is that there's been no lasting damage to the tendons and muscles in my hand and arm, and after a long period of physiotherapy, I was finally able to pick up a guitar again last October. Rather than get frustrated I think we all just got on with the things we could accomplish, and I spent the bulk of last year re-equipping the home studio ready for the next album.
The second bit of good news is that the TK machine has started rolling again, and material has started to appear for a follow up to The Water Road. It's too early to tell yet just what the new album is going to sound like. If the Water Road is any guide, large pieces of music were written, amended, rewritten or discarded many times before the final songs were recorded and mixed. Somebody asked me a while back just how much material was written for The Water Road, and I guessed at about 3 hours worth all in all. The Long Fianchetto was close to 50 minutes long at one point.
Two years down the line (is it really that long?) it's clear that The Water Road has been the most successful TK release to date. We sold more albums, to more areas of the world, and received more critical acclaim for TWR than any previous release. Also of note is that the album is still selling two years later which suggests that, not only are people buying it and liking it, but that they are recommending it to their friends also. I can't put into words just how appreciative we are that you have done that, and supported us over the years. In the darkest times, such as the frustrations of 2009, it's that sort of thing that keeps us all going.
So, 2010 has started much more positively and, with a following wind, a new album looks possible for the start of 2011.
We will try to keep you posted as things develop and, if enough people request it, we may even share some rough demos as things progress just to whet the appetite.
Thanks for your continued support and all the best
Phil Mercy - March 2010
Radio two-parter 6th Aug 2009
You may have heard it. You may just have heard of it, mentioned in reverential tones by Them in The Know. If you haven't listened to it, then you've been missing out, my friend. The awesome Epileptic Gibbon Podcast Music Show is an auditory adventurer, gleefully gambolling across boundaries no ordinary gibbon would dare to traverse, and is one of the most intelligent and best-loved progressive music radio shows on the interweb.
 So we were thrilled to bits to be asked to come along to Gibbon Towers for a quick interview, although that's not quite how things turned out, and now you can hear the results on the latest edition of the podcast: the first of a two-part Thieves' Kitchen special with music, interviews, revelations and rambling diversions from TK's Phil Mercy and Amy Darby. Released this week, the 1 hour 19 min show includes tunes from Thieves' Kitchen's first three albums, and a very in-depth interview where His Gibbonness asks some great questions and gets some unusual answers (and Phil tries manfully to pretend he remembers anything he wrote before 2003!).
We had such a great time doing this interview, and can't wait to hear the second part that'll be out in a few days time, with songs from "Shibboleth" and "The Water Road", as well as more chatter, bizarre excerpts, declarations of love and the secret history of Om Tare. Perhaps. You'll have to tune in to find out! Visit http://epilepticgibbon.wordpress.com.
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