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HISTORY OF...
çedf,888,0f0,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff
¾THE HISTORY OF MARILLION
²------------------------
¹ I  am  ¾FUGAZI¹  of  ¾TAURUS¹,  and  feel
welcome  to the second article in this
series  about  the  magic  artform  of
symphony  rock.  In the first issue of
Buzz I published "The Beginner's Guide
to    Symphony    Rock",    a   little
introduction  to those who aren't very
familiar with this kind of music.  And
now  I  continue  with an article that
describes  the  history  of Marillion,
perhaps  the most successful symphonic
band of the Eighties.  This article is
about   the   early  stages  of  their
career,  and  lets you know just about
everything  - from the very beginning.
It  was first published in the Swedish
symphony  rock  magazine  Grendel, and
was translated into English by me.


 On  Christmas  1978,  a  group  named
Silmarillion  was  born.   It  was  an
instrumental   band   of   four   from
Aylesbury  in  southern  England.  The
name  was taken from J.R.R.  Tolkien's
book   with   the   same  name,  which
happened  to  lie on a table when they
named  the  group.   The basist got so
enthusiasted  that  he put the name on
his bass guitar.  Later it seemed like
the   interest  had  ceased  somewhat,
because he decided to delete the name.
But  he  only  managed  to  cover  the
letters  "Sil",  and  the  rest of the
letters - Marillion - were left.
 Their  history  ended  in  a  hurry -
after  putting up a one hour show they
once  played  at the Hanborough Tavern
¶çedf,888,0f0,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff¹in Southall and split up shortly after
that,  after the unexpected resignment
of the guitarist and the keyboardist.
 After    putting    in    the   usual
advertisements in the music magazines,
drummer  Mick  Pointer and basist Doug
Irvine   started   to  test  different
guitar   players   from   all   around
England.   Without  result,  until one
early  Sunday morning in the summer of
1979   Steve   Rothery   from  Whitby,
Yorkshire  turned  up  without notice.
Brian  Jelliman  from Aylesbury joined
as  a  keyboard  player,  and  now the
kernel of Marillion was built.
 With   a   feeling  that  new,  fresh
material was needed, they put up a new
repertoire,  this  time  with  Doug on
vocals.    Their  first  step  was  to
record  a demotape in Enid's Studio in
Hertford.   Encouraged  by  the result
they  made  their first performance at
the  Berkhamsted Civic Centre on March
the  1st 1980 in front of a crowd that
was moderately interested.
 Marillion  were prepared to play just
about everywhere, which was to include
St.   Alban's  mental  hospital (where
the  interest  wasn't  very  high, but
still  higher than in Berkhamsted) and
a   market   in   Watford  where  they
performed  together  with a wizard who
for   instance  could  drive  two  six
inches  long  nails  up  his nose.  In
November  1980  they could count to 14
performances,  and  at  this time Doug
Irvine decided to leave the band.
 After  a fast meeting (typical enough
at a local pub) an ad was put into the
magazine  Musicians Only looking for a
¶çedf,888,0f0,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff¹new basist/singer.  But it didn't yet
feel  like  they  were  in a need of a
separate singer and front man.
 Doug's resignment unluckily coincided
with  the  recording  of  a song (that
later  on  was going to be called "The
Web")  in  Leyland  Studio,  close  to
Buckingham.    Because   of  this  the
recording continued with Steve Rothery
on both guitar and bass guitar.
 During  this  time  answers on the ad
started   to  drop  in.   One  of  the
answers  came from two guys - a singer
and   a  basist  from  Scotland.   The
instrumental  song was sent to them as
a hint of what kind of music Marillion
played.   The two Scots travelled down
for  a  test  recording  on the 2nd of
January  1981  -  confident  enough to
bring  all  their belongings, and with
lyrics finished for the song!
 The  band immediately returned to the
studio  for a test recording, and Fish
(or  Derek  William Dick, which is his
real  name) and Diz Minnitt joined the
gang.
 Again  all material was renewed, this
time  to  comprise  singer and lyrics.
The  band  worked  hard and patiently,
and   was   ready   for   their  first
performance   at   the   Red  Lion  in
Bicester  in  March 1981.  After this,
every possible place to perform at was
bombed with booking permissions.  They
also  got  invaluable  help  from  the
promotor  of  Friar's rock club, David
Stopps,  who  was  impressed enough of
Marillion to book them as a warm-up to
John  Cooper-Clarke  at  Friar's  Club
during  the  Aylesbury  Week of Art in
¶çedf,888,0f0,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff¹May  '81.   This  was a real kick for
the   band,   and   they  gained  more
publicity   than  they  had  ever  had
before.
 During  this,  the need of a demotape
became  more  and  more  obvious.  The
responsible  persons  for  the  places
they  were going to perform at were of
course interested in knowing what they
sounded  like before they booked them.
The    nowadays   legendary   demotape
featuring  "Garden  Party",  "He Knows
You  Know"  and  "Charting the Single"
was  recorded, mainly for this reason.
It  was  recorded  in July '81 and was
produced  by Les Payne.  As the result
of  eager  requests  from  the growing
number  of  fans, they decided to make
copies  of  it to sell at gigs.  About
400 tapes were produced and sold.  The
cassette is no longer available though
the  interest still is very high among
the fans.
 Marillion  had  already  realised the
importance of visual effects on stage,
and  for  the earlier mentioned gig at
Friar's  a  engineering  of a cemetary
was  arranged,  with  all  ingredients
(even   carbon  dioxide  snow!).   The
props   were   collected  from  Hammer
Horror  Films.   The  band appeared in
monk's   frocks,   that  went  totally
transparent  when  the spotlights were
turned on!
 Despite  this  little  incident,  the
reactions  were  positive  enough  for
David Stopps to arrange a gig for them
at Friar's main stage, as a warm-up to
the  American  group Spirit on the 1st
of August '81.  This gave them quite a
¶çedf,888,0f0,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff¹lot  of attention, and during the rest
of  the  year  they became warm-ups to
artists  like  Budgie, Lindisfarne and
John  Martyn.   The  first gig at the
classical  rock club Marquee in London
was  as  a warm-up to Girl in November
1981.   This,  together with about 100
other  gigs  around England, gave them
many fanatic fans.
 In  November  Brian Jelliman left the
group,  and  Mark  Kelly was recruited
from  Chemical  Alice,  a  group  that
Marillion  had  been  warm-ups  to  at
Chadwell Heath.
 The first gig of 1982 was as warm-ups
to  Spider  at Marquee, which later on
resulted    in    Marillion's    first
reservation  as a main band at Marquee
on  the  25th  of  January.   This was
another great step forward.
 Now  the  media and radio One started
to  show  their  interest.   Marillion
were  offered  an  appearance  in  the
Tommy  Vance's  Friday  Rock  Show,  a
program  they had been refused to show
up in just a couple of months earlier!
They  performed the songs "Three Boats
from   the   Candy",   "The  Web"  and
"Forgotten  Sons".   The  program  was
showed  on  television  on the 26th of
February  and  went in a rerun in May,
"on  public  request".  On the 27th of
february the first major article about
Marillion was published in Sounds with
the headline "The madchap raps".
 In  March  1982  Diz Minnitt left the
band   and   was   replaced   by  Pete
Trewavas,   who   left   his  band  in
Aylesbury,   The   Metros,   to   join
Marillion.
¶çedf,888,0f0,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff¹ Pete   had  to  learn  the  repertoir
quickly - he had only been a member of
the  band  for  two  weeks  when  they
started   their   six   week  tour  in
Scotland.   As  far  as we know it is
the  most  extensive  and intense tour
ever  made  in  Scotland by an English
band.   The tour was entirely arranged
by  Fish,  and  was  one  of  the main
reasons  to  the  huge fanatic retinue
that Marillion has in Scotland.
 Marillion  returned  to  England  via
Wales,  where  they  made a gig at the
University of Bangor.
 Eventually   the   record   companies
started  to  show  their interest, and
representatives  started to show up at
their gigs.
 In  July 1982 John Arnison - a former
manager of John Cooper-Clarke - became
the  manager  of Marillion.  In August
they  played  at the first festival in
Theakston, followed by the festival in
Reading.  On both occasions, they were
accepted with great enthusiasm.
 In  September a contract with EMI was
signed,   and  on  October  25th  they
released  their  debut single, "Market
Square  Heroes/Three  Boats  Down from
the  Candy",  with the almost eighteen
minutes long "Grendel" on the B-side.
 It  was  followed  by  "He  Knows You
Know/Charting  the Single" in February
1983.   And  on the 14th of March, the
debut  album  "Script  for  a Jester's
Tear" was released, and it quickly got
to the 7th spot on the English top 20.
In  June  another single was released,
containing Garden Party and Margaret.
 Same    month   Mick   Pointer   left
¶çedf,888,0f0,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff¹Marillion.   He  was  the  only member
left  from  the  beginning in '78.  He
was  replaced by ex-Camel drummer Andy
Ward.   The  following months the band
performed   at   numerous   festivals
around Europe.  During the rest of the
summer  they  made a tour across North
America, which had to be broken due to
the resigning of Andy Ward.
 A  number  of drummers came and left,
and   in   January   1984  Ian  Mosley
(ex-Steve  Hackett  Band) was welcomed
as a new drummer.  This line-up (Fish,
Steve  Rothery,  Pete  Trewavas,  Mark
Kelly   and   Ian   Mosley)   is   the
traditional set-up of Marillion.
 The  fourth single, "Punch and Judy",
was  released  in  February  with  new
versions  of  Market Square Heroes and
three  Boats  Down from the Candy as a
B-side.    Marillion's  second  album,
"Fugazi", was released in March.  This
album  was  more  mature.  On "Script"
the   songs   were  very  complex  and
perhaps  too  overworked.   On  Fugazi
they  showed  that they had grown up a
bit,  with  sharp  songs as "Incubus",
"Assassing"   and   "Jigsaw",  not  to
mention the title tune.
 This  was  followed  by a live album,
"Real  to  Reel", and later on, in May
1985,    they    released   "Misplaced
Childhood".   This was a theme album a
la   the   Seventies,  which  actually
contained   hits   in   the  shape  of
"Lavender" and "Kayleigh".  The latter
one  became  no.   1  in  the  English
charts,   and  Marillion  was  now  an
established   band,   known  all  over
Europe.
¶çedf,888,0f0,aaf,f8f,ff0,fff¹ 1986  was  a  year of touring, and in
1987   they   released  "Clutching  at
Straws",  a  studio  album with a more
refrain-based style of music, not like
the traditional symphony rock.
 The  rest of the year and some months
of  1988  was  occupied with concerts,
and  in  July 1988 they released their
very  last  album as an original band.
It  was  a  double live album entitled
"The Thieving Magpie".
 In the end of 1988 Fish left the band
to  start  his  own career.  Marillion
were  left  without  their  front man.
They  recruited  the  new singer Steve
Hogarth  (ex-Europeans),  and  so  far
they   have   released  three  albums,
"Season's End", "Holidays in Eden" and
"A  Singles Collection".  The music of
the   new   Marillion  can  simply  be
described as pop music, something that
has disappointed many Marillion fans.

  NEXT ISSUE: INTERVIEW WITH FISH

           Ç04