The Pineapple Thief

The Pineapple Thief is an English progressive rock band from Somerset, United Kingdom. It begins as a solo project started by Bruce Soord in Yeovil in 1999, and develops into a full band under the same name. The group is active from 1999 to the present and is associated with crossover prog and progressive rock.

Line-up

The current line-up includes Bruce Soord on vocals, guitars and keyboards, Jon Sykes on bass, Steve Kitch on keyboards, and Gavin Harrison on drums. Earlier members include Wayne Higgins on guitar, Matt O’Leary on keyboards, and Keith Harrison on drums. Dan Osborne replaces Keith Harrison on drums in 2014, before Gavin Harrison joins later on drums.

Recorded work

The project’s debut album, Abducting the Unicorn, is released on Cyclops Records in 1999, followed by 137 in 2002. Soord releases Variations on a Dream in 2003 and then forms the band version of the act, adding “The” to the name to distinguish it from Porcupine Tree. As a band, they release 12 Stories Down in 2004, which is later re-recorded and remixed as 10 Stories Down the following year.

After Little Man in 2006, the band issues What We Have Sown in 2007 as its final Cyclops release before signing to Kscope, a division of Snapper Music. Their Kscope period includes Tightly Unwound in 2008, the EPs The Dawn Raids Volume 1 and The Dawn Raids Volume 2 in 2009, and the box set 3000 Days, a two-CD remixed and remastered collection drawn from their first ten years. Someone Here Is Missing follows in 2010, with artwork by Storm Thorgerson, and later that year the download-only live release Someone Here Is Live appears.

The band records its ninth full-length album in 2012 with a 22-piece orchestra and choir. Magnolia is released in 2014, followed by Your Wilderness in 2016, which is the first album to feature Gavin Harrison. Dissolution appears in 2018, Versions of the Truth in 2020, and It Leads to This in 2024.

Other releases and activity

The Pineapple Thief releases 16 studio albums, six EPs, and several live and compilation albums. In 2007, its music features in the third season of the MTV reality series The Hills, with “Snowdrops” heard in episode 28. In 2008, the band helps relaunch the Kscope label and also releases a mini-documentary film on its website with interviews and two exclusive live tracks.