A brief history of the band.....

The concept of THIEVES' KITCHEN was originally dreamed up in mid 1998 when guitarist Phil Mercy bumped into bassist Paul Beecham at the Whitchurch Prog Festival in Hampshire. Phil had been through the usual number of bands and had become a little disillusioned with the whole concept, preferring instead to write and record music alone at home which had previously resulted in the solo 'Fear of Fantastic Flight' CD on the Italian label, Mellow. However, thanks to Paul's persuasion and Phil's relationship with vocalist Simon Boys with whom he had worked in 'Stuff' previously, the nucleus of a band came together.

Paul was aware that the demise of Grey Lady Down had left drummer Mark Robotham available..... so the hunt was on for a keyboard player! 
Tracking down an ivory-tinkler capable of tackling Mr Mercy's most fiendish compositions proved to be the reason why the project took a little longer to get off the ground than was originally expected. However, this time was taken up both with working on material for the envisaged debut CD, and also chuckling at the comments of those keyboard players with whom we had many false starts (no-one expects the Spanish Indecision!). One bewildered victim pronounced the material 'impossible - for ANY keyboard player, not just me' - whilst another said it would have sounded just fine had the bassist and drummer on the one hand, and Phil's guitar and then-sequenced keyboards on the other, not seemingly been in separate rooms out of earshot from each other! 

At last, in August '99, the band finally tracked down the man for the job - please welcome, in the German corner, the very wonderful Wolfgang Kindl!

Manic rehearsals - initially at the wonderfully named Faccombe Hall, but more recently in Wokingham, Berkshire, began very shortly after this date with a view to having the already-completely material for the first CD recorded by early in 2000. The dedication and application of all the members, faced with such complex material, was truly remarkable. 

As you'll see from the studio diaries, recording began in mid December. Despite some amazing learning curves in terms of the studio equipment itself, the electric drums, and a million and one other things - not least pressure from their day jobs! - the album (christened 'HEAD' on December 5th) was finally mastered in preparation for pressing on February 13th 2000.

After much thought, the band elected to deal with the whole process of manufacturing, promotion and distribution themselves. Although Mark's previous band had excellent links with Cyclops, their circle of contacts was now extensive and it was advantageous to be able to distribute a CD though many different channels rather than just those pre-ordained by a record company. Malcolm from Cyclops couldn't have been more helpful in terms of guiding the band down this path and around all the pitfalls.

As can be seen from the reviews page, the reception given to 'Head' was as positive as we could possibly have dreamed, with the band immediately elevated into the realm of the modern day prog innovators. The material, whilst universally adjudged fresh, original and eclectic, drew comparisons to National Health, Frank Zappa and King Crimson - but refreshingly found most reviewers struggling to find frames of reference. Interest was global; and six months after release, orders from distributors and the public alike were continuing to accelerate rather than diminish! This was one reason why the band elected, in autumn 2000, to continue with writing and produce a second album rather than commence touring.