Interviews
Steve Rothery from Marillion talks to Britsound
Interview with Steve Rothery, April 9, 2007.
ROB QUICKE: You are about to embark on a massive tour to support the album Somewhere Else. First of all, let me ask you why didn’t you do a pre-order this time?
STEVE ROTHERY: There was a lot of debate internally with the band about whether or not to do a pre-order. Some people love that: to have a special version of the album, even if it is a lot more expensive. We felt at this particular time, we were going to try and do it without a pre-order. It might well be something we do with the next album, depending on the situation. We have just had one of our fan club conventions in Europe on the coast of Holland. Financially, we didn’t need to do it this time so we thought we would try this, and also, we had quite a few problems at retail I think, that even though the percentage of albums that we sell with pre-order is just a fraction of the total sales, there are still certain parts of retail that got up in arms about this. So, yeah, that’s one of the main reasons why we didn’t do one. We will see how that works out!
RQ: But again, the way in which Marillion conducted business has been rather atypical for the music industry: for example, doing the pre-orders through the Internet. How much has the Internet - and keeping in touch with your fans through the Internet - really been such a big deal for Marillion?
SR: Well, I don’t think the band would still be going if it wasn’t for the Internet, really. Way back to ‘97 when a fan started the US tour fund to bring us across because we couldn’t afford to tour the US on the album - This Strange Engine and they raised $60,000 to bring us across and that was 10 years ago. That really opened up our eyes to the importance of the Internet as a way of having as much contact as possible with our audience - with our fanbase. Then, obviously, we did the pre-orders for Anoraknophobia and Marbles and it is incredibly liberating, the amount of freedom it gives an artist. If you can go to your audience like that or at least a certain percentage of them and they are willing to put their hands in their pockets and pay for an album before they are going to get it, then it gives you a huge amount of cash you can then use either to make the record or promote it. It levels the playing field really for a band in our situation and a band on a major label.
RQ: But does it also affect the kind of music you make? Are you truly free now to make the kind of music that you would want to make without interference from record companies, for example?
SR: Absolutely, yeah. There have only been a couple of times in the career of the band really where we have had any sort of interference, mainly on Holidays in Eden when EMI insisted on putting us with a pop producer. Generally speaking, we have always had a lot of freedom. Obviously, when you are the label, the management as well as the band, then you have complete freedom. I suppose in a way we are quite selfish. Ultimately, we make music for ourselves and we hope other people will like it.
RQ: I was in a vinyl shop a couple of days ago in Chicago. I went to the ‘M’ section, as you do, and there was a healthy selection of Marillion you will be glad to hear.
SR: Good!
RQ: So let me ask you: what was it like - going back to the ‘80s - when your albums were released on vinyl and you could go into the shop, pick it up and see the beautiful artwork? What was it like for you, that feeling to hold the vinyl in your hands?
SR: I personally think we lost an awful lot with the transition to CDs. The whole impact that artwork has on an album sleeve is so much greater than that little square that you get on a CD. It is a shame to have lost that. There are loads of arguments about the fidelity of sound - which is better - but just purely as an artistic statement, I think - especially when you have gatefold sleeves - you have an ability to create something different; something that will set you apart from other people whose records are racked around yours. It’s like a canvas, especially if artwork and image are an important part of your identity. I think it really helps. I think it helped us in the early days.
RQ: Do you have all of Marillion’s records on vinyl?
SR: Probably somewhere. I usually pass them on to family for safe keeping. I do still have a record player but the last time it was used was about 15 years ago!
RQ: What was it like when Marillion were much younger and you were releasing your albums on vinyl? These days people just download MP3s and with MP3s there really isn’t any artwork and if there is artwork, it is just like a thumbnail image. Does it feel like less of an album if you are downloading it?
SR: I know what you mean. I think if you don’t have those visual associations - or even down to having the lyrics in front of you – it’s not quite the same sort of experience, but I think that is maybe just a generational thing. Like so many people these days are so used to music only existing on their iPods or on their PCs. They don’t really see the point of owning physical copies of them which I can understand. Unfortunately, that kind of leads you on to a situation where some people don’t see the point in paying for it either.
RQ: I did an interview recently with The Guillemots and their lead singer Fyfe Dangerfield. The Guillemots, who are nominated for the Brit Awards recently. And Fyfe Dangerfield said this: He said: “The album that we made, Through The Windowpane, was designed to be anti-iPod.” It was designed to be listened in one go - like the good old-fashioned concept album. And I asked him: “Well, did you get it pressed onto vinyl?” And he said: “Yes, we actually got it pressed onto vinyl.” And I kept thinking to myself - even though I didn’t bring it up - that was Misplaced Childhood, wasn’t it? When you would sit down, you put the vinyl on and you put it on side one and it would play side one all the way through. And, frankly, it would be a pain to get up and to skip around the tracks. These days, it is so easy to skip, to fast forward, whereas with vinyl you literally really were forced in many ways to sit down and listen to the complete side of music. Do you think that has had a big impact on the way music is listened to?
SR: Yes, probably. I think listening to an album was more of an experience, where a lot of people just listen to music on shuffle on their iPod these days and don’t even play an album in one go. I suppose it depends really. I think with our sort of music, you are kind of missing some of the experience if you do that: you can enjoy it more if you immerse yourself in the experience.
RQ: Don’t you think it would be ridiculous to try and listen to Marbles on shuffle?
SR: Absolutely. The reason we put the songs in the order that we put them in is because we think that makes the record flow in the best possible way. Just to dip in and out isn’t going to be the same.
RQ: So Somewhere Else is s single disc. Obviously, with Marbles - with the pre-order - it was a double disc and the same with Anoraknophobia: so did you deliberately say: “Well, we are not going to make this a double album”?
SR: We did have quite a lot of complaints from people who bought the single album with Marbles because you are kind of then expecting them to buy the double version or maybe there are a lot of people who never actually heard the double version. Maybe half of our audience never heard an album’s worth of songs. In that respect, that didn’t seem like a particularly good idea. We recorded quite a lot more songs than appear on Somewhere Else. We have got most of the next studio album completed and ready to go, probably for a May 2008 release. But really, we thought it made more sense to choose the songs - we had about 18 songs - to choose the songs we thought would work best together. It’s quite a rare luxury for us because usually you just record an album and that’s it. But in this case, we could choose which songs we thought worked best together on the record.
RQ: So another album in about a year’s time?
SR: That is right, yes.
RQ: That is remarkably quick for Marillion, isn’t it?
SR: Yeah, it is (chuckles). It won’t happen again in the near future, I can promise you that!
RQ: I was just trying to think there, because with Afraid of Sunlight for example, you wrote on the back of the album: “This album was knocked out.” What did that mean?
SR: It was a bit tongue in cheek really because that was the only other time that we were under pressure form the record company. We were under pressure during the making of Brave. The reason, or the idea, of Brave was to make an album in two months and it really didn’t work out like that: it took nine months and cost a fortune. Our A&R person at the record label - at EMI - a guy called Nick, kind of had a lot of egg on his face over this so when it came to Afraid of Sunlight, we were in a situation where we had to record the album in 10 weeks. As it was, EMI dropped us after that record which, looking back on it was absolutely insane because I think it was our finest record to date. It was still selling thousands of copies, so to drop a band in that situation is insanity.
RQ: Now let's talk about Somewhere Else - was there a deliberate action plan or did you just say: “Well, we are going to write the songs and see how it comes together?” Is there a larger concept, basically?
SR: Not really. Lyrically, the album is dividend into two themes. Some of the songs deal with the break-up of Steve’s marriage and the pain that that brought him. Plus a little bit of a rebirth of the start of another relationship. And the other part of the album is really commenting on the state of the world: A Voice from the Past, which is about third world poverty; and The Last Century for Man, which is about the problems that humanity faces.
RQ: And what about Faith because I know that is being released as a live version so far. That was recorded some time ago, wasn’t it? Did it seem to fit in well with the other songs?
SR: What happened was that we recorded Faith for the Marbles sessions but it didn’t quite happen for us. We recorded this album with Mike Hunter, who mixed a lot of Marbles. We worked on four tracks that were left over from the Marbles session with the idea of having a four-track EP at the beginning of last year, and Faith was one of those tracks. As it was, we decided not to do that. We decided to continue on and make an album so Faith is the only one of those four tracks that is on this record but two or maybe three of them will be on the next record.
RQ: So let me ask you then: you are releasing a single, See it Like a Baby. Do you think you are going to get a Top 10 hit like you did with Your Gone or is that not the plan?
SR: Not really the plan. See it Like a Baby is just a promotional tool really to let people know we have got a new album coming out. It is going to be available as a download but we are not expecting really to chart. It is just an advert for the main album.
RQ: And if there was a favorite song on the album - an album that really displays your guitar prowess - what would it be?
SR: Well, my favourite track on the album is probably the title track, Somewhere Else.
RQ: And why is that?
SR: Just because I think it has all the classic Marillion elements in there. I think it’s a great performance from everybody in the band. It’s a great lyric from Steve - a lot of intensity there. It ticks all the boxes for me.
RQ: Are you still enjoying guitar playing? Are you still developing as a player?
SR: Probably - I hope so! The more albums you make, the more things you discover. Your approach maybe changes sonically, and I think just writing, you find new ways to express yourself. I think there is a bit of life in me yet - I don’t think I have said it all yet.
RQ: What about your equipment and your guitars: do you often buy new guitars? How often do you experiment with your equipment and your set up?
SR: Yeah, quite often. I usually buy a new box or two for every record. There is a track called The Wound on this album and I am using an Electro Harmonix POG pedal, a polyphonic octave generator which gives like an octave to the sound and that is quite an unusual sound. I have got a lot of rack equipment at the studio, plus I am set up here at my home so I have got a lot of equipment.
RQ: Two final questions. I am going to have to ask them! First of all - well, I spoke to you about this last time - people want to know: any update as to when The Wishing Tree album will come out?
SR: Oh, dear!
RQ: I know that you are busy now with everything that is going on but people want to know –seriously.
SR: Absolutely. I am working literally...I am in my studio as we speak in front of the computer so that gives you an idea. It’s just the sort of thing that I can only work on in my spare time, depending on what else is happening in my life with the band and everything else. I would like to think that it is going to be out this year. Realistically, I would probably think October.
RQ: Now, Steve, can we hold you to that?
SR: You can try! (laughs)
RQ: Will you be putting up more songs on your MySpace page because the two songs you do have have been well played by now, by the way?
SR: Absolutely, yes. It’s something that we have talked about. It’s hard to know the best approach to take because you don’t want to give away the other tracks, then on the other hand, it would be nice to have something else up there. Maybe in the next month or two, we might get another track up there.
RQ: Well, we look forward to it. Steve Rothery from Marillion: thank you for joining us on Britsound. Cheers.
SR: Cheers, thanks a lot Rob!
Links:
http://www.marillion.com
