FISH is set to perform at the magnifiscent Roman theater in Plovdiv on 21 September.

The legendary ex-MARILLION singer will go for the first time with an Orchestra on a number of songs.

an interview conducted by Vassil Varbanov



HEY FISH, HELLO, HOW ARE YOU?
Very well, thank you. For s change it stopped raining in Scotland.

WELL, IT’S BEEIN QUITE A WHILE SINCE YOUR LAST SHOW DOWN HERE IN BULGARIA…
Yeah…

MORE THAN SIX YEARS, HUH?
We were supposed to be there on the 13th Star tour but we had a serious problem with the bus in Greece and we ended up loosing the gig which was a great shame, because we were looking forward to the show so much.

And of course, so much had happened since then...We were fifteen months on the road and 180 shows with the FISHEADS CLUB ACOUSTIC TOUR. So, I had to carry on the road. I had a couple of problems over 2008, 2009 and 2010, so it has been a long long time.

But we are back with the electric band, you know, next month.


 

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR NEXT STUDIO ALBUM – ‘A FEAST OF CONSEQUENCES'. IS IT JUST A WORKING TITLE OR IT’S CONFIRMED AS THE OFFICIAL ONE?
Yeah, that’s the title of the album. We are actually working on it today. Foss Patterson is here for five or six days and we started working on one keyboard writing.

I’ve done some work already with Steve Vantsis who worked on the ‘13th Star’ album. We are really trying to get this album written over the next three-four months, you know, for recording in November-December. 

It’s good to be working back with Steve Vantsis again.  We did a great job together on the 13th Star album. But I think the direction of this new album is very much influenced by the Fisheads acoustic tour.

We took a lot of songs and deconstructed them. A lot of songs that we felt were naturally fitting into the acoustic set. A lot of songs from the ‘Vigil…’ album. And things like ‘Fugazi’ and ‘Incubus’ that we were playing...and we recognized that how we originaly wrote those tracks with basically  - tempo, guitar, keyboard catch ups.

And that’s what we are doing on this album. That’s entirely the route we are following –very straightforward, old-fashioned songwriting and then developing it in the studio. 

WHAT IS INTERESTING HERE IS THAT THE WORLD HAD CHANGED DRAMATICALLY WITHIN A DECADE…WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION AND THE MAIN DRIVING FORCE FOR YOUR POETRY TODAY?
Hm, I think probably the world around me.  I mean, I normally sit in a house with TV use on 24 hours a day or pretty much so. And I think living in the world we are living and living in the society we’re living is, I think, very difficult to ignore a lot of injustices and a lot of problems that had been ignored.

And I think that, as a fifty four year old, it kind of makes me angry, makes me frustrated and that kind of helps propel the writing forward.




WELL, HAVING THE REPUTATION OF BEING A MAN WITH A GIFT OF WORDS….ARE THERE ANY PARTICULAR GOOD LYRICS ON THIS NEXT ALBUM, OR YOU ARE NOT READY YET?
To give you an idea of what we are approaching at the moment…I visited the First World War battlefields in France, at the Somme last year and I was very struck by them.

It had a great resonance on me because both my grandfathers fought and survived the First World War. I was very impressed by a place called High Wood. And actually discovered that my maternal grandfather was digging trenches and was fighting there.

We have a song called ‘High Wood’ and it’s basically about the wood as it has returned. Because after all the destruction, the wood still grows and has retaken the battlefield again.

And it’s about the First World War and it’s about how during that battle there was a lot of things used, like there was cavalry against machine guns, there was flame torch used, there was the aircraft. Tanks were used for the first time, so there was a battle where technology really came into play.

And the song, ‘The High Wood’ takes on the sole idea of soldiers. It’s pretty much a military song, but it takes it from the First World War then all the way through Afghanistan and the eyes of a soldier.

It’s a very very complicated song. It could be around fifteen minutes long. We just started working on it yesterday.
.




TALKING ABOUT YOUR GRANDFATHERS, I HAD THE CHANSE TO SEE ON YOUR FACEBOOK, THAT YOUR DAUGHTER IS NOW A MATURE LADY WITH HER OWN CAREER…
Yeah…

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH WHAT SHE HAD ACHIEVED…AND TO WHAT EXTEND YOU HAD INSPIRED HER TO HAVE AN ARTISTIC CAREER AS WELL?
My mother was a model in the old days. And my daughter has always been surrounded by the entertainment industry. You know, she’s a beautiful lady and to go in the modeling makes a lot of sense.

But, I don’t the modeling is what she’s trying to do. I think she really like to break into acting and deal with that. She’s involved in designing.

I saw her yesterday, she’s got her own life now. We have very independent lives and she’s doing really well with hers. She was very positive yesterday, it was great.

She’s a very hedge strong woman, very wise woman. She’ll be good, you know…

YOURSELF, YOU DID HAVE SOME ROLES IN MOVIES IN THE PAST…ARE THERE ANY CHANCE TO SEE YOU ON THE BIG SCREEN ANY SOON AGAIN?
No, there’s nothing at the moment, Vassil. I mean, to be honest, when I get locked into the album it’s very difficult to do anything else. I am very much into it until end of January-February.  I’ve got to concentrate 110 % on getting this new album written.

And I will be out on the road with it, I think in May. So, it makes it difficult to do movies at the same time.

The last one I did was ‘Electric man’ which was a very small independent film. But as I said, there are so many conflicts between working as an actor and working as a musician. It’s very difficult.





YOU ARE GOING TO PERFORM AT THE 2ND CENTURY ROMAN THEATER IN PLOVDIV AND FOR THE FIRST TIME SOME OF YOUR SONGS WITH AN ORCHESTRA….IS THIS A BIG CHALLENGE?
It’s a huge challenge. Probably more for the orchestral arrangements, heh. We are coming earlier and we have a day of rehearsal with the Orchestra before. We are performing five songs with the orchestra and it’s going to be really interesting because none of this material has ever had an orchestral approach.     
 
So, I am really looking forward to see what the orchestra has done, I am really looking forward to the performances.  And especially in a place that’s got so much character, ancestry and resonance as a Roman Amphitheater. It’s going to be absolutely fantastic.

rights Tangra Mega Rock