Fish tales

Marillion’s Early Stages box set is just out and Tim Jones caught up with former frontman FISH to delve into it.

Early Stages: The Official Bootleg Box Set 1982-87 is a six-CD EMI set which takes in gigs at Glasgow and London 1982, Reading 1983, London 1984 and 1987. Fish took time out from a solo tour as the bus broke down en route to Budapest. “It’s been one of those tours. The gearbox went seven hours out of Athens, en route to Macedonia. Thank God we were near Thessaloniki, which is lovely”.

Did you have any say in what went into the box set?

What was available went in. Luckily, with the changes at EMI, we still had some of the good guys, and it’s not as if we could do anything about it, because it’s the 1982 contract. We thought, ‘fuck it’, and if they’re gonna put it out, let’s make it as good as possible. And it helps out – Marillion have a new album, I’m touring mine, by chance. I was talking with the guys and it was interesting to write about. I have lucid memories of 1982-84, but we didn’t have recordings of 1985-86, so I had to fill in the sleevenotes, and as I was writing, I got angry about certain elements. It all started to come back and the band politics became startlingly clear. So I was quite sad by the time I got to 1987. The box was radio recordings with a mobile. It sounds great, though. You forget how good we were. …

by Tim Jones
<< Back to Issue 358

You must be a subscriber to view the full article, subscribe now for full access to all online content.

Already a Magazine Subscriber? Register now for online access.

Login Here

Free Newsletter


Subscribe to
our email newsletter by emailing:

anna.bowen@
metropolis.co.uk