Pete Trewavas (Marillion)

March 14, 2007 

mr-c:    The album, “Somewhere Else” is due out on April 9.  It seems that this one was relatively quick to complete compared to the last couple Marillion albums.

PT:       It appears that way.  We did actually spend some time toward the end of last year.  We had a plan to do a series of EP’s and we worked on five tracks actually with Mike Hunter.  We recorded four tracks that we were pleased with and we thought, “Alright we can put an EP out.”  We were going to put it out in January, 2006.  We thought that would be good because January is a good, quiet time in the charts and we thought we might get a chart position.  But then we thought, what do we follow it up with?  If we start that momentum going and get the fans buzzing about an EP and it’s quite successful because it gets into the charts, what do we do after that?  So we thought we should hold-fire on that and actually work on an album.  So then we went back to the studio.  Mike Hunter lives up in the North of England – he works in various studios, does a lot of Indy bands actually.. he works with a band called “Alfie” quite a bit and a band called “Manson.”   Not Marilyn Manson.  So we were back in the studio and we carried on jamming and coming up with our little ideas.  Any ideas that we liked or we thought “that’s different,” we kept to one side and then sent them to Mike.  He was very positive about them so he came down for a few weeks of work on them with us .  So then after we had two or three ideas that were working quite well he went back up to his place and we did more jamming.  More and better ideas came out of that.  So then Mike came back down and we started getting the studio set up for recording and we just kept on writing and writing until we got into kind of a nice place where we were really enjoying ourselves and we were enjoying what we were coming up with. 

Mike was picking up on some interesting ideas that weren’t necessarily the same as Dave’s (Meeghan).  They’re both very professional, very good at recording and both very passionate about their music, but in slightly different ways.  So that brought a new edge to what we were doing.  Mike had his own ideas on how he wanted to record us and what he wanted to capture.  He wanted to capture the essence of what we do live and try and get those classic moments of a band playing really well in the studio.  That’s very hard to capture and we haven’t done that in a while.  We’ve tended over the last few years to go down the route of building up a soundscapes which is so easy to do when you’ve got pro-tools or logic or something you can just have an infinite number of tracks and you can do lots of mixing with computers.  It’s quite easy to save everything and just noodle about and keep re-defining it every day as to what you want.

Mr-c:  You mentioned capturing the “Live Sound…”

PT:  Yeah this is the approach that Mike wanted.  He wanted a little bit more of the old fashioned approach to recording which you really notice on things like “See it Like a Baby” and the first half of “The Wound.”

Mr-C:  This was something I noticed throughout the whole album.  There was just an entirely different sound than in the last album.  And Anoraknophobia before it as well.

PT:  Yeah.  Interestingly, Mike mixed a lot of “Marbles.”  But the recording process with Mike was different.  He wanted to capture us doing it for real, so there’s a bit of an edginess about it.  You know, sometimes the best take of something isn’t necessarily what you think is the best version that you’ve played, because you’re listening out for mistakes and you want it to be note-perfect and everything.  And sometimes just what you do all together in the room is kind of bigger and better in that.

Mr-c:  From a sound perspective I kind of got the same vibe from the songs on “Somewhere Else” that I got from “Radiation.”  It’s more of a grittier and, as you put it, a live sound.

PT:       Yeah. It is. It’s more like that. I think it’s one of those moments – and I think Anoraknophobia was more like that compared to Marillion.com – we just wanted to turn things upside down a little bit.  Every now and again we think, “Ohhh…Let’s not play safe.”   You know, Marbles was an amazing album.  Marbles was something that we’re all very proud of, but we didn’t all want to instantly go “Let’s do another “Marbles!”  Because we would have been in quite a comfortable place to do that, to carry on what we do, but it was much more exciting for us and it keeps us fresh to try to re-invent ourselves yet again.  I think we’ve done that quite successfully.  And actually, you picked up on “Radiation,” and I would say and I have kind of been saying that this is what “Radiation” could have been with a little bit more thought, a little bit more effort involved.  We were in a situation with “Radiation” where we were quite… you know, we had been recording ourselves, but we were still building our studio and technology wasn’t quite what it is now, in 2006 and 2007 while we’ve been writing these songs  and recording.  We’ve got a very good studio with us and mike has been brilliant at capturing what he wanted and getting it out onto the medium that you can hear it on, whether that be download or CD or whatever the music ends up on next (laugh).

Mr-c:  I think one of the reasons the band stays as fresh and cutting edge as you do is because each release stands on its own.  I mean, Marbles was a masterpiece in my opinion, both recorded and live.  The sound quality, the mix, it’s just amazing and…

PT:  We’ve got a vinyl copy.  Apparently it’s amazing on vinyl.

Mr-c:  I didn’t know that.

PT:  We pressed up a double album on vinyl.

Mr-c:   Well, for the fans who may or may not know about it, is this vinyl version available?

PT:  Yeah that’s available through us at Marillion.com.  It’s kind of a limited edition, but I’m sure there are still some available.

Mr-c:  There you go.  Who says you can’t advertise on the Internet?

PT:  But yeah.. “Marbles” has so much depth to it.  The fact that it’s a double album allowed us to put a lot of different styles on it.  I mean, you’ve got “Ocean Cloud” and “Neverland.”  I mean, “Neverland” is a classic!

Mr-c:  An amazing song, especially amazing when it is performed live – what an amazing depth of emotion.

PT: Yeah. I think it is going to take over from “Brave” as the album for a lot of people.  But having said that, I think Somewhere Else is an amazing thing to follow it. It’s proved that it is such a good album because anyone how has heard it has said “Ah, now this is very good, this is a great album!” and compared to what it just followed… that’s a hard act to follow.

Mr-c:  I’ve covered everything from “This Strange Engine” onward and I really don’t think you guys get enough coverage here in the states.  Your music just remains so frustratingly obscure.

PT:   Well it’s tough in the States.  The States are so far away… and it’s almost like it’s 50 different countries isn’t it…   I mean, think of Europe… you don’t really think of Europe as one conglomerate kind of thing.

Mr-c: I’ve been reading the buzz on Myspace and various places where people congregate and the fans are really exciting and anticipating this new album.  They can hardly wait.   Now, there are going to be a certain number of people who are expecting “Marbles” version two and I think they are really going to be surprised – in a positive way – when they hear this new album.  Are you getting the same kind of vibe?

PT:   I think everybody will be surprised but I think what we did was the right thing to do to move forward.  Every album has a knock-on effect on what we do next, but you know.  But yeah were getting a great vibe actually.  We’re getting a lot of press – a lot of doors opened.  Particularly in the UK, but also in America.  We had Sirius come on board again… they wanted to do some stuff  with us.  Steve did an interview a couple weeks ago.  Steven and I went over for a listening party in New York and he did an interview with one of the guys on the same station as we did once before with Sirius.  But in the UK particularly we’ve had a lot more positive press.  It’s a bit early for feedback yet because the album isn’t out, but we have had people come on board wanting to do interviews, wanting to talk to us about what we’re doing.  Not just in a business sense, but also in a musical sense.  There was a time probably before “marbles” where most of the press didn’t really want to know us in the UK.  And that does have  an effect on the rest of Europe.  Though people claim that UK doesn’t affect Europe these days, it certainly does.

Mr-c:  Do you think that the charting of the two singles from the last album is behind the new interest?

PT:    I think the charting of the new singles was surprising to the national papers.  We just got above the radar, although we didn’t get played on the radio anymore – because we’re too old to be played – but the fact we were in the chart listings… you know, the Sun which is the biggest but trashiest tabloid we have, and the times and others like that as well… they were all kind of saying, “Oh this is interesting…” The fact that Marillion could be in the charts again, could have a top 10 single again .  And the BBC said, “Well, if you have a top 10 single we’ll definitely put you on Top of the Pops” and of course we did, but then they decided they couldn’t possibly put us on that week, blah blah blah.

Mr-c: As Steve once said, hell would have to freeze over…

PT:   yeah but even then it still got us noticed enough so that this time out it’s a bit easier to get those doors opened.  A knock on the door is all that’s needed now rather than somebody going in saying “Marillion? Who are they?”  They know who we are now.

Mr-c: Speaking of good vibes, last month you just did your Marillion weekend convention where you were able to get some feedback from the fans by playing some of the new songs.  How did that go over?

PT:   That went down very well.  We were very brave!  The first thing we did, we opened the whole weekend with the five new songs.  They went down very well.  I mean people were very, very excited about the fact we were playing five new songs.   They had heard we had some songs left over from Marbles and then they heard that we had some new songs that we’d written and there was this anticipation over what would we be playing and what would we be doing.  We chose to play them first because we wanted to sort of get them out of the way, really and then concentrate on “Strange Engine” which was the first night.  Just to let people know who wouldn’t know, we do three very different shows over a weekend, so we had to learn eight hours worth of music or something ridiculous like that.  And then the first night we always pick a classic album and play it as it was recorded.  Everything is almost note-perfect.  So we chose “Strange Engine” and we were recording that night, so we decided that we should play the five new songs so we could record those, play “Strange Engine” and then maybe play one or two of the new songs again.  So that went down really well because the fans got to hear them the second time so they knew what they were listening to.  So that was really cool.

Mr-c:  So, since you were recording, the fans can maybe expect a DVD or CD of the show to come out later on?

PT:   There will be that kind of thing going on, yeah.  We were talking about it today actually about that kind of thing.  There’s going to be a DVD or two actually because it was a very long weekend and then probably a special CD of the “Strange Engine” set.

Mr-c:  And of course the DVD that comes as part of the pre-order for fans who buy the CD now, before it is officially out.

PT:   That’s right. There’s a company called Townsend Records which is doing a special dealer initiative with us and wanted to have a special release.  So if you order the album through then (and you can do that through our website – we have a link to them on our site), you get the album and then the 3 track DVD.  

Mr-c:  How are the sales so far?

PT: So far, so good I think.   I mean, it’s hard to know altogether.  I mean there’s also HMV and Amazon and all these other people who have pre-order  campaigns going on as well, so we’ll find out eventually whether we have to sell the Rolls (Royce) or not (laugh).

Mr-c:  I think you’ll agree that Marillion has some of the most strident fans of any rock band.  I mean, you guys could sing a sixty-four minute version of “Happy Birthday” and you’d probably get a reasonable response from your fans.  But it’s good to know that they are there, they’re in force, and they’re highly anticipating this album.  And the fact that it’s available for pre-order on the big sites such as Amazon  has got to bode well also.

PT:   Yeah.  Obviously we’d like people to come to us to order stuff, but a lot of people trust Amazon and a few other companies.  It’s so much easier if your details are sorted with that chain…  I know I go onto Amazon and it says “Hello Pete!” and tells me what I last ordered and I don’t have to find out what my credit card number was because it’s got saved and all that kind of stuff and it’s just easier sometimes for people.   And if it’s a store that people trust then great.  And it’s all good for us in the end anyway, I mean any sale is a good sale really.  We’re very lucky the way we’ve chosen to do business these days.  The internet is such a good tool in that respect.  You can go straight to websites like Amazon.com…  you can go straight to our website!  You can almost talk to us face-to-face, which is cool.  But yeah, our fans, just going back to that…  Yeah they are amazing people.  It’s like a big family, it really is.  And there’s a lot of faith there between them, but also there’s an honesty from us as well.   You know, you say it jokingly, but yes we could go and record “Happy Birthday” for sixty minutes and release  it and it would get a pretty good take and we’d probably make some money off of it, but I think people who know us know that if they pre-order something from us – if they decide to take a little bit of a chance with something of ours they know that it’s going to be as good as we can possibly make it, because we sweat and we care so much about this music.  The guys that do the artwork care as much as we do about the music about the way the whole thing looks and is packaged.   We’ve chosen over the years, and we’ve been around for many years, we’ve just decided a long time ago that you only work with people that A) You like working with and usually means people who are good at their job. Usually people that are on the case and know what they’re talking about are good people to work with.  And all the assholes are usually the ones that haven’t got a clue and are completely out of their depth.

mr-c: All that you just mentioned is the exact reason why you have the fans who are so strident.  They’ve come to expect it and they get it.

PT:   They know that whatever they get from us is going to be honest and it’s going to be from the heart and from the soul.  And you can hear that.

mr-c: Well let’s switch gears here for a minute and talk about “Somewhere Else.”  I’ve interviewed Steve Hogarth a couple times and with him as the singer and the lyricist for the most part …

PT:   For all the part these days.   He wrote all the lyrics.  I think that this one and on Marbles the lyrics are particularly strong.   He has grown as a lyricist.  He has always had the ability, I mean you look at “Easter,” and over the years some of the other songs.  He always used to write at least 50% of the lyrics, but yeah his work as a lyricist and as a poet really has grown.

mr-c: Well this time I have the rare opportunity to get another perspective from the band about the songs.   IF you were forced – and I know this album is kind of your baby right now – but if you had to choose one song from Somewhere Else that is your favorite, what would that be?

mr-c: Steve has always had this uncanny ability to come up with little phrases that, while the whole of a song might be really powerful, just a few words that just grab and won’t let go.

PT:   Doesn’t he though?  He just come sup with it.. and it’s usually the simplest words as well! 

mr-c: Some of these things, like the line in “Interior Lulu” which goes “If you can break it, it’s already broken.”  They just resonate, no matter how many times I listen to a song.

PT: That’s where there is a lot of care and a lot of detail goes in.  Getting the right moments of the music with the right lyrics and the right melody.  The jamming and coming up with the good ideas is the fun part. T hen to actually work out what to do with it and where you go with it – and to do all that and not break it… because sometimes you have a great idea, but making it into a great song is very hard.  That’s where the craft comes in and that’s where the effort and the hours of torment.  You know, in the past we’ve spent a week going over which two chords should do “this” in a particular chorus in a song.  I mean, we get very anal sometimes if we really have to.  And you know, some of it comes from Mike as well.  He’s a musician himself as well as an amazing engineer and a great mixer… he’s kind of the whole package.  We could actually leave him on his own and he’d write the next one (laugh).  If we weren’t around, he’d just get on with it and do it.  But he brought things in.  And sometimes he’d be really apologetic because he obviously realizes that there’s a thing between the five us which is immense and it would be a shame to dilute that in any way, but every now and again – usually after a bottle of red wine in the evening – he’d come in the next morning and say “I’ve got a bit of a string part I was thinking about last night!” and sure enough there it would be.  Sometimes we’d say fine, that blows our socks off!  And a particular part… he came up with some great little lines at the end of Faith.  WE rearranged Faith and he came up with some really nice lines. 

mr-c: How did the idea come about for the vocal effects on “Somewhere Else?”  I’m talking about the way it sounds like part of the song is a conversation between NASA and a space capsule?

mr-c: Vocal affectation like that, as long as you don’t take it overboard like some bands do, can really elevate a song, putting a very interesting and original spin on it.

mr-c: Now that you’ve talked about Steve’s personal crisis, you’ve already kind of answered my next question which was about the general mood of the album.  It’s somewhat somber.

PT:    The general mood of the album is broken up into two areas of thought.  They’re both very similar.  One is kind of concern over the state of the world with songs like a voice from the past and “last century for man” obviously  and then the state of where you’re headed in relationships and things.  And I think the two are inter-linked in a way.  There seems to be a lot of people in the western world who are very unsure about a lot of things.

mr-c: Especially after 9/11...

PT:    Yeah sure 9/11 and there are a lot of things as well.  I mean there have got to be a  lot of things that the general public don’t really know about. Otherwise America and England wouldn’t just have invaded Iraq for no reason

mr-c: At least you have to hope so anyway...

PT:    You really do though.  You can’t know everything. That’s a bad thing and sometimes it’s a good thing.

mr-c: That leads me to something I hadn’t planned to talk about, but you know one of the most admirable things about the band in my opinion is that Steve can talk about “the state of the world” as you put it and draw attention to things, but do so in such a way that doesn’t come off as preaching or lecturing.

PT:    Yeah. I think people don’t want to be schooled. They don’t want to be told this is what I think and I’m right.  What we’re trying to do  and what I think is right for bands like us to try to do is to draw people’s attention to things like this.  And if it makes you think for five minutes longer about poverty or about the greenhouse effect or about whatever then it’s been a good thing.  If it moves you and makes you think that’s absolutely right, I’m going to go do something about this, then that’s even better.

mr-c: Just to switch gears one more time, while music-reviewer.com has a worldwide audience on the Web, a lot of readers are from the US, so I have to ask… Are there any plans to come over to the US to support this album at this point. 

mr-c: I had the opportunity to see you, H and Steve Rothery at your acoustic show in Boston last year and, of course we had a great time, but one of the things that amazed me most about that night and really says something for your fans, was that I met several people there from Denmark who had come all the way over, just to catch the show.

PT:    That’s really cool that people do that.  We do get quite a lot of Americans that come to Europe to see it and you kind of expect that because we seldom play America.  But for Europeans to come and see us play in America… just because they want to see what we’re like in America… that’s cool too.  Wee have very good friends… we have become almost like a dating agency in some ways.  There’s a lot of people who have gotten together because of Marillion weekends or because of Marillion gigs or tours.  Some people do a whole tour as well… and that’s mind blowing!  Which leads me to one of the things we’re hoping to do on this tour… Because of the amount of music we had to rehearse for the convention, we’re able to just almost completely change the show from night to night which is going to be really good for the tour, really cool.

mr-c: Especially for anybody who has the opportunity to go to most of the shows.

mr-c: So with the Marillion weekend show under your belt, how do you think the music translates live, for the upcoming tour?

mr-c: Well, I want to wish you the best of luck.  I hope the album does really well and I hope to see you back in the US really soon. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to music-reviewer.com