"We don’t have many people asking us when we are going to get back together with Fish, but some are surprised that he left the band, ha-ha."

Steve RotheryВ is theВ guitarist and founderВ of Marillion. He seems to be the main driving force nehind the band trhough the years. He turned 49 recently andВ Marillion released their 15th srudio album 'Happiness Is the Road'. Marillion are set to play their first ever concert in Bulgaria next year. And these are damn good reasons to talk to Steve Rothery on the phone...

and interview conducted by Vassil Varbanov

THEY TOLD US YOU WERE IN THE STUDIO DOING SOME STUFF...WHAT EXACTLY?
I’m doing this project called the Wishing Tree. I did an album some thirteen-fourteen years ago and I finally came around doing a second album with a friend of mine, a female singer. So, we’re mixing now. It has been three or four years in the making and this is the final stage.

BUT WE’RE HERE TO TALK ABOUT MARILLION AND WE HAVE TWO MAIN REASONS – THE FIRST IS YOUR UPCOMING SHOW IN BULGARIA AND THE SECOND IS THE BRAND NEW ALBUM OF YOURS – ‘HAPPINESS IS THE ROAD’. ARE YOU HAPPY WITH IT?
Yes, I’m very happy with it. It’s a double album and it covers really well all the aspects of what we do. The first one is a concept Album and the other is just a collection of songs, so it should be what a Marillion fan wants. It is really amazing.

YOUR BAND HAS BEEN FAMOUS FOR BEING ONE OF THE FIRST TO START ITS OWN RECORD LABEL MAINLY THROUGH THE INTERNET. A SEVERAL YEARS LATER DO YOU STILL THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA?
Oh, yeah. It is pretty much the reason the band still exists. We do everything ourselves these days – we manage ourselves, we do our concerts ourselves – we are our own record label, so we have complete artistic control. And it is actually more financially viable that way. We no longer sell hundreds of thousands of records but we still sell a lot and we can afford to continue making great music.

I CAN IMAGINE THAT YOU DON’T LIVE IN CROWDED LONDON.
No. We all live around and about our own city of Alyesbury which is at a half an hour drive from Oxford in the countryside.

LONDON HAS BEEN KNOWN TO BE PRETTY MUCH THE EYE OF THE STORM FOR THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. YOU DON’T LIVE THERE BECAUSE YOU ARE MORE EXPERIENCED NOW AND YOU CONTROL ALL YOUR STUFF YOURSELVES, OR BECAUSE BASICALLY WE CAN ALWAYS SAY THAT MARIALLION HAS ALWAYS BEEN FAR FROM BEING A PUNK ROCK BAND THAT NEEDS THE URBAN SUROUNDINGS?
Marillion has always been based around Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. It will be thirty years next year since I joined the band. And during these thirty years we have always been based here. Our studio is based here. Now the music industry has changed so much and the big record labels are struggling to survive and you don’t have to be in London, you don’t have to have this expense. As an artist you want to be somewhere where you have the freedom to create and the freedom from distractions.

LONDON HAS BEEN SERIOUSLY AFFECTED BY THE SO CALLED CREDIT CRUNCH – TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU FEEL AFFECTED BY IT, NOW THAT YOU ARE A BUSINESSMAN AND HAVE A RECORD LABEL?
It did impact me. If people are short on money they would try to spend it on essentials. And even though people love music it doesn’t come first before feeding your family and paying your mortgage and the basics in life. So, a band in our situation is a little bit vulnerable, but thinking of the tour that we just finished – it went really, really good – we’re doing well – way better than a lot of artists and many labels.

YOU ARE A GUITARIST AFTER ALL, BESIDES BEING THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THIS BAND FOR SO MANY YEARS NOW. I ALWAYS WANTED TO ASK YOU – WHO HAS BEEN YOUR GUITAR HERO OF ALL TIME?
So many really. It’s so hard to point a finger at one. Probably if I had to I’d say David Gilmour. But so many people – from the early days Hendrix and Santana, then David Gilmour, Steve Hackett, Jeff Beck. There were many guitars that are way more about melody and emotion than flash techniques.

SOME MARILLION FANS CANNOT FORGET THE FISH YEARS. DO YOU STILL GET MANY QUESTIONSВ REAGRDING THE PAST WITH FISH?
Not so many these days. Obviously that was a very important time for the band because we were so successful and we sold so many records and the profile was so high. But because now we’ve made 11 albums without Fish, and that’s like 20 years, most people want to talk about what we are doing now. What sets us apart from most bands in our situation is that we’re not selling just the nostalgia of the old days – we’re about what we currently do and what the current album is. So that’s why it is not a complication. We don’t have many people asking us when we are going to get back together with Fish, but some are surprised that he left the band, ha-ha.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR SETLIST THESE DAYS? IS IT JUST FROM YOUR NEW RECORD OR YOU HAVE SOME STUFF FROM THE PREVIOUS TEN ALBUMS WITH STEVE AND SOME FISH-ERA MATERIAL?
To tell you the truth we haven’t really decided on a set yet. Partially it will be dictated by the amount of equipment we can bring with us because we will fly to the concert. We will construct the set around how much equipment we can bring. But I think we will have some old stuff. I can’t promise how old. But I guess we will play some fairly old stuff because this is the first time we are coming to Bulgaria and we’re excited by the prospect.

FISH HAS BEEN TO BULGARIA TWO TIMES ALREADY… IS STEVE SINGING SOME FISH STUFF?
Not generally. We don’t do that. Occasionally we do. We have these fanclub conventions in March in Holland and in April in Canada. And sometimes at those we play some of the old songs.

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