Fishing
by the Brook – an interlude with the Big Man in Southampton
By Krissy
Elliott
Driving
for two hours to one's inaugural interview as rock journalist, the
subject being the idol of one's teenage years, is not an experience
I'd recommend. Cool, calm and collected is apparently a state of mind
– but it wasn't mine!
Throughout
the 1980's Fish was famed as frontman of prog-rock act Marillion,
spawning hits such as “Garden Party”, “Kayleigh” and
“Incommunicado”. Following his departure from the band in 1987
after recording the album “Clutching at Straws”, he embarked upon
an illustrious solo career which not only brought forth hits such as
“Big Wedge” and “A Gentleman's Excuse Me” but earned him
critical acclaim and an ever-widening audience of fans. 2006 saw his
solo tour showcasing not only his own work but celebrating the 20th
anniversary of the top ten Marillion album “Misplaced Childhood”
with a full performance of old favourites alongside new material.
2007 saw
Fish back in the studio again, but this time his experience was
marred by the cancellation of his planned wedding at the start of
recording. Some of the album reflects the period of hurt he suffered,
while other parts allow glimpses of his strength of character and his
ability to make poetry out of heartbreak. It was in this
forward-reaching, indomitable state of mind that I met him in a cosy
dressing room upstairs at The Brook in Southampton.
K: You
had to cancel some gigs and reschedule due to a throat virus earlier
in the tour. How's your throat now?
F: It's
fine, fine. Just kinda before the tour there was lots of stress,
domestic stuff, you know...I just got tired out... and I got a lot
of interviews thrown at me at a really early stage, there were just
too many on a day off.. when you get that exhausted at the start of a
tour... (shrugs). On previous tours I've always tried to fight
through it, buts always been a wrong move.. we had the opportunity to
kill off 4 dates and reschedule them for later in the tour, so having
that five days off was really great.
K: Do
you find touring really takes it out of you?
F:
Yeah, tours are really physically demanding, we play for over 2
hours, it's rocking out, especially London. Its very demanding, and
its the UK so its sleeping on buses etc ... there have been some
great facilities at some of the places we've been to, but you're not
actually relaxing... we just go out and we play.
K: Has
the tour been successful so far?
F: Yeah,
I mean its been great, the promoters are looking at another month in
the UK next year...next March.. all the figures are up right across
the board so it's great.
K:
Fantastic! So this is what you'll be continuing with, being a poet
and a minstrel for a while longer?
 F: Oh
yeah, I think we'll be on the road for a while now, a lot depends on
what happens in America. The reception for this albums been so hot,
we haven't got a choice, we may have to go to the States for a month.
The way we're approaching the album is
we are just letting it sell itself, we're not throwing the proverbial
matches onto the fire like we used to, as far as promotion goes. Its
only available through the website and the merchandise stall at the
moment until January, and that's when i think a lot of the live
reviews will be trickling through and we'll get some momentum from
the main core media reviews at that time.
K: Does
it suit you better promoting like this?
F: Yeah,
I think an album gets a lot more respect when it rolls out live...
back in the old days in the 80s there wasn't the promotion there is
now. A lot of the people who are turned on to this album haven't even
listened to our stuff before, but now were getting them through the
gates and they're sparking.. and if you get 'em sparking you get a
bit of a forest fire going!
K:
You're playing to a full house tonight.
F: Yeah
and I love this venue, its a great venue for a frontman to play...
K: What
makes it special for you?
F:
Everyone's on top of you, even the audience from the balcony are
hanging right over you.. its a bit like having a huddled conversation
at the bar!
K: Yeah,
intimacy makes for a great gig. So what about the acting side,
anything coming up with that?
F:
No no.. I tried working in the summer on a Wachowski brothers movie,
but I couldn't do it, I'd made other personal arrangements which were
trashed at the last moment.. so that was the last thing. I'm not
going to be looking at anything like that until at least autumn of
next year. The way its looking with Steve (Vansis, guitars),
co-writer on 13th
star, we're looking at getting the next album recorded in the autumn
of next year. This album, I consider it, as many people do, to be one
of the best albums I've ever made..
K:
Yes, and it's incredibly personal, really from the heart. The
parts I've heard give a real sense of isolation, and it draws us in
with you.
F: I'm
getting used to it! When I got the first mixes back, it was a very
difficult album to listen to, one or two tracks would just put me on
the floor. I'd prepare myself, then every time a new mix came through
I'd have this kind of wall built up, trying to approach the song
without getting involved with it... then it'd just put me on the
floor again and I'd have to build myself up for the next one.
 K:
Looking back at things you've written before, you've always put a lot
of yourself into your songs...
F: Well,
I think Calum (Malcolm, producer) brought out the singer in me,
really got the head /heart attachment together... previously
I've maybe been a bit too “feisty” as he would call it!
K: It's
a very introspective album – was that sense of emotional control
something you needed at that time?
F: Yes,
and things that have come to light more recently , well, let's say it
was a very lucky escape for me... there's a saying in Scotland.. “If
its' meant for ye it'll no' go by ye”... well, that went by me and
brought its own shit karma!
K:I'm
not here to drag you through the break-up again, so let's move on.
I'm interested though, listening to Circle Line (13th
Star)..the humdrum existence of the 9 to 5... its not the first time
you've depicted ordinary life in an almost scornful way...almost as
if you never want to be like that and you fer it.
F: Huh,
in a way I'm part of it, I mean, the life we have on the road can get
pretty humdrum, we do have the sparks when we go out to the tours at
night, but during the day its terminally boring! My daughters on the
road with me, on the merchandise stall. She left school with nothing
to do so... even she's getting bored!
(Speaking
to Fish's daughter Tara later in the evening, I found her to be a
well-spoken, polite and very pretty young woman who is thoroughly
enjoying being part of the team on her father's tour!)
K: Its
hard isn't it, being a parent and trying to do your thing as well.
F: Yes,
I've been a single parent for over 2 years now.
K:
What's it been like, the father/daughter dynamic can be a bit
volatile, can't it?
F: Very
hard, actually.
K: I'm
in a mother/daughter situation, we fight constantly! Do you guys get
on?
F: Tara
and I get on especially well. On the road we get on great. At home,
in the house, well we have major kick-offs because I do my thing.
It's a problem with single space living as well, we're in a studio
apartment and there's one space, all the rooms are satellited round
it, whatever comes into that space dominates it.
K: No
escape, no doors to slam!
 F: Yeah,
put the tv on, it dominates the space; put the hi-fi on it dominates
the space; use the computer, it dominates the space. It's great if
you're living on your own! There's a few things I'd love to do
architecturally, but... well, there's no reason for me to do it at
the moment, we're not there!
K: Given
the recent gig played by the original Marillion line-up, is
“Clutching at Stars” (tour title) harking back to things that
have happened in the past?
F:
Well, we're playing a mix of “13th
Star and “Clutching at Straws” because its the 20th
anniversary.
K: That
suits me, “Clutching..” is my favourite album!
F:
Mine too, and since we did “(Misplaced) Childhood” on its 20th
last year, it was great to be able to do “Clutching...” this
year. Its about 70/30 “Clutching...” and solo stuff.
K: Thank
you. I ought to bring this to a close, so one last question – who
are you? Who is Fish?
F: I'm
still finding myself. I think the lyric in “Zoe 25” sums it up:
“...looking for somebody, but you're never gonna find them ...
you're still looking for yourself...”. I'm still discovering what I
am. Over the past few years I've spent a lot of time doing things for
other people... I kinda realised this year, especially after the
wedding collapsed, I just thought, Fuck this, I could do with
spending some time on myself instead of being somebody for other
people.
Many
thanks to Fish and Tara for talking to us, and to all staff and crew
at The Brook in Southampton.
You can check out Krissy's review of the concert here and a selection of live photos here
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