No, really, you shouldn't have...


Phil is clearly delighted with his canteen of cutlery. Who wouldn't be?

After 15 long years, Phil Key has finally taken the hint and decided to put down his coffee cup, turn off his iPod, and return all the stationary he's "accumulated".

He's decided to move onto something completely different, out of audio, and probably involving animals. Make of that what you will, but our bet is on dogs, video, and a pay-per-view website.

In all seriousness, Phil is leaving on Friday the 8th of February and we're all going to miss him. He's been here from the start of XTA, and has seen many changes as the company has grown - from the leaky offices in the 90's, through to the (mainly) leak -free purpose built facility on the early 2000's to his own bachelor pad/office (complete with balcony!) when the building was further expanded a few years ago.

You might still see him out and about, blagging his way into festivals, pretending to mix, but admitting that most desks can do it themselves these days.

"It's not like years ago, when all we had was a couple of Carlsbro guitar amps and a Tandy mixer." he remarks, wistfully.
"Well, actually it was never like that."

We wish him the best of luck with whatever he decides to do, and hope he enjoys his cutlery.

(We didn't really get him cutlery - it was too expensive - he got him a commemorative plate instead ;)