To all our friends, fans, loved ones and business partners around the globe, we wish you all the very best at this time of year.

With a full date sheet, a great new album Elegant Stealth, and new projects on the horizon, we all have a lot to be thankful for in 2011 and a lot to look forward to in 2012. Most especially, we want to thank you all, our fans, mentors and faithful followers without who, we couldn't do what we do.

I'd personally like to especially thank the band and crew, Daniel, Holger, Simon, Zlatka, Scott and Harry, for their hard work and dedication and they'll in turn join me also in sending out  our blessings to those who have suffered nature's wrath in this year of incredibly heavy weather.  His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama recently visited Ishinomaki where the Japanese tsunami left such devastation. He bought great comfort to our friends and fans there. This is so much more than a band - these events show that we are a community joined by an invisible thread.

As far as the UK is concerned, our tour schedule has taken a bit of an economic bashing this year and confusion in the market has meant that we’ll all have to forego our customary spring tour. BUT we’ll be back in the autumn with a great tour and full-on AshCon at Chesterfield.

The USA, Brazil and Europe will hopefully all see some great road work from us all in the spring, despite ever greater obstacles to touring, like mandatory withholding taxes, higher travel costs and recession, recession, recession. Speaking of road work; volume II of the Roadworks series of live recordings is ready for you all and will be on sale during the upcoming Euro tour. It’s also available at our online store. Thanks to Aynsley Powell for helping out on that recording and Daniel Vetter who mixed it, Tom Greenwood who mastered it, as well as Guy Roberts for organising the funding and manufacture and Jon Case for his design work.

To all the folks that support us on the technical side (it's an increasingly technological age, after all) - big love to you all from myself and the band: Music Man guitars, Case guitars, Fender instruments, Analogman, Zildjian cymbals, D'Addario Strings, Gibson Guitars, the Bass Centre, Captured Live, AMS Neve, and our special thanks and thoughts go out to Kev and the Chilcott family at the moment, at Royale Guitars.

Our agents: Andy Nye, Steve Ozark, Patrik Mertens, Rudolf Heiniss and Döm. Our new record label Zyx Music and our long time label, Talking Elephant with whom we’re still great friends. Our publicists: Kate, Billy, Lee and Andy. Awesome job! Lastly, thanks to our publishers, Kassner Music Publishing for going the extra mile.

We have a hard core group of amazing mentors like Leon, Guy, Steve, Simon, Christian, Bodo, Big Harry, Alan, Ian and many others of you who fix things for us wherever we are

Peace and Love to you all ~ A.P, Muddy, Joe and Bob.

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