12:40pm Friday 13th August 2010
By Will Gore
Prog rock has always been about synthesiser-fuelled musical excess but Fish, the former front man of prog pioneers Marillion, is stripping things back for an intimate acoustic tour that stops off at The House of Progression night at The Peel, in Kingston, on Monday night. He spoke to Will Gore ahead of the gig.
WG: This acoustic approach is a little different for you, isn’t it?
F: The idea to do an acoustic tour came last summer and it has brought a whole new dynamic to the music. I had issues with my throat in the last couple of years – I had to have an operation in 2008 and came back to do some big fan club shows in 2009 and pushed my voice too hard. It wiped me out and I had to have another operation. So we decided to take another format out on the road and, rather than go out and go nuts, we are doing an acoustic thing. We are totally under control and I’m not shouting over an electric cacophony.
WG: And you are also giving the fans a chance to ask a few questions, aren’t you?
F: There is an informal Q and A and we’ve been going on with out a setlist, taking a few requests. It’s very loose – there is a bit of talk explaining where some of the songs come from but it is more like stand- up than a po-faced question and answer session.
WG: So can we expect to hear a few of the old Marillion songs?
F: Yes – I have no issue with doing the songs. To me, Fish solo is just an extension of what I was doing in Marillion and when we do songs like Kayleigh and Lavender, because of the format, it really freshens them up.
WG: Will this stripped back sound affect the songwriting for your next album?
F: We will be recording a new album at the end of the year and this tour is helping us re-examine and deconstruct the art of songwriting. I’m re-finding my voice again – it’s clearer than it has ever been.
WG: Is there something in the prog revival that’s been discussed in the music press recently?
F: I think the media needs to freshen itself up now and again. When Marillion started in 1982 the media needed something to latch onto and it is like a big wheel turning – it is prog’s turn to catch a bit of the spotlight again.
Fish, The Peel, 2 Hampden Road, Kingston, August 16, £17.50, 020 8546 3516, houseofprogress ion.webeden.co.uk
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