Formed as a ‘bedroom band’ by vocalist/guitarist Bruce Soord in 1999, the Pineapple Thief now have 11 albums to their name. Soord checks in ahead of the upcoming tour.
In 2012 you spoke to Classic Rock about getting used to TPT belatedly becoming a touring band. Since then progress has been good – on the last tour you headlined venues such as Islington’s Assembly Hall.
Yeah. Our first gig was in a skittle alley, so it’s pretty amazing that we’re still taking those leaps forward.
An early notable catalyst arrived when you noticed a queue gathering for non-existent merch when the band opened for Caravan in 1999.
[Laughing] Yeah. Luckily I had some CDs in the car. That’s when I began to realise that this thing had legs.
Is that journey reflected in the story behind the current album, last year’s Your Wilderness?
Yeah. This band doesn’t take anything for granted, but nobody knows what’s around the corner and that’s very exciting.
Will you be playing Your Wilderness in its entirety on this leg of the tour?
Last time we missed out one song, Where We Stood, but on these dates you’ll hear everything. Incidentally, Where We Stood is also the title of a Blu-ray that we have coming out.
Can you tell us about that?
It has the Islington show, which was our biggest yet and we sold it out. There are tons of extras, and the Eight Years Later album, which was only available on the special edition of Your Wilderness.
This tour is billed as The Pineapple Thief Featuring Gavin Harrison. Is the ex-Porcupine Tree/current King Crimson drummer an occasional band member or a special guest?
Gavin played on Your Wilderness and we convinced him to tour. I know that he’s up for doing the next album, but for now we’re very happy to shout about having one of the best drummers in the world. DL
The last date of the tour is in Bristol on September 17.
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