Marillion fought their way through myriad trials and tribulations to breach the dawn of the sentimental mercenary with this stumbling visionary suburbanshee. While their similarity to early Genesis had drawn both praise and criticism, the group had found an audience for their neo progressive sound through extensive touring for their debut album 'Script for a Jester's Tear'; but founding drummer Mick Pointer (who had originally come up with the name Silmarillion from the book by J.R.R. Tolkien) was fired when it was over. What followed was a succession of different drummers including Andy Ward, John Martyr, Jonathan Mover, and finally Ian Mosely.
Mark Kelly reveals: "We decided to lock ourselves away in a house in Wales to write 'Fugazi' and, to be honest, for the first few months I thought the game was up as we only really had one song written, Assassing, and that was written before going to Wales. With hindsight I can see a pattern was forming that would be repeated with every subsequent album. We always take a few months to get into “writing mode” and then the ideas come fast and furious...Ian Mosley [was given] a chance to come down to Wales and help out with the writing. Ian had put himself forward to audition during the summer but we had already hired Jonathan by the time we heard about him. Luckily John Arnison kept his number and called him to see if he was interested in helping out as a “session drummer”. Ian brought technical ability tempered with experience. Needless to say Ian soon became a full-time member of the band, the main reason we were keen to make him a member is so his wages would be brought in line with the rest of us. £360 per month, half of what he got paid as a session man!...Time was passing and EMI were getting impatient to hear the follow up to Script. Luckily Fish already had a lot of the lyrics written so while we were struggling to come up with musical ideas Fish was telling EMI how well we were doing and that “Punch & Judy” would make a great first single. The people at EMI had no idea that at that stage there was no music for Punch & Judy!...We eventually went into the Manor studios near Oxford with Nick Tauber (producer) and Simon Hanheart (engineer). Our first job was to finish writing Incubus and the title track Fugazi. It didn't take long, a couple of days at most. Why so quick? Nothing focuses the mind like knowing every day is costing you £1000!...It wasn't all fun and games with Nick; in fact we soon became aware that Nick was losing the plot. I think a few months off work would have been a good idea for him but he was on a roll and even wanted to work Christmas Day! There was a lot of class A naughtiness around although at the time I didn't realise how much...We were starting to fall behind our schedule so Nick's solution was to work longer hours. A typical day would start at midday and finish between 3 and 6am. It was only years later that we realised the stupidity of working such long hours. These days we realise that after midnight things take twice as long, it's the law of diminishing returns. Back then we thought it was great fun to stay up all night and if we got tired there was always artificial “stimulants” to keep us going. Very rock ‘n roll...Things were getting more and more hectic as time went on. We had a tour booked and we could see the album wasn't going to be mixed in time. Simon Hanhart was responsible for holding the sessions together as Nick became more and more unreliable. Throughout the mixing we had to keep changing studios because the time we had allotted kept running out. We clocked up 10 different studios on that album...In an effort to finish the mixing before the tour started another producer was hired, Tony Platt...We had our reservations about Tony but felt we had no choice. We then had a ridiculous situation of trying to be in two studios at once, Fish Ian and Pete were in Masion Rouge or was it Odyssey? and Steve and myself were in Abbey Road with Tony mixing Incubus."
'Fugazi' features Fish (Derick Dick) as the Voice; Steve Rothery on Yamaha SG2000, Gibson Les Paul Standard, Roland GR303/505 Guitar Synth, Fender Stratocaster, Ovation Acoustic, Roland JC120 Combo, Marshall 50W MV Combo, Mesa Boogie, Roland 501 Chorus/Echo, and Boss Effects Pedals; Mark Kelly on Bosendorfer Grand Piano, PPG Wave 2.2, Roland Jupiter 8, Minimoog, Emulator, Yamaha DX7, Yamaha GS1, Korg CX3, Church Organ (Recorded at Angel Studios in London); Pete Trewavas on Aria and Fender basses, and Trace Elliott and Peavey Amplification; and Ian Mosley on Yamaha Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, and Simmons Drums; with Linda Pyke doing the backing vocal on "Incubus"; and Chris Karen providing additional percussion.
Dick remembers: "Our second album was to be aptly named ‘Fugazi' (all fucked up, all screwed up), which was a word I'd found in a book called ‘Nam' - a collection of reminiscences from veterans of the Vietnam war, put together by Mark Baker. I'd always been intrigued by that particular war and had been obsessively reading about it during the ‘Script' tour which ended at Hammersmith Odeon, London. As a band we had no doubts that a replacement for Mick was long overdue. Auditions and rehearsals at Nomis Studios first provided Andy Ward (ex Camel) who lasted until midway through our first American tour before succumbing to a near nervous breakdown and leaving us to cancel the remaining dates. John Martyr had a short appointment with us in the USA but failed to gain the support of the band as a whole. So it was back to Nomis and on a recommendation we auditioned Jonathan Mover prior to relocating to writing for the ‘difficult' second album at Rockfield Studios in South Wales. I didn't like him or his technical abilities which in my opinion were out of line with our quintessential British style. We were under a lot of pressure to make a decision and get into the writing sessions, so I backed off and hoped it would work out. It didn't. I became more and more irritated by Jonathan and reluctantly forced a ‘me or him' scenario on the others I admit I wasn't exactly opened armed to Jonathan and did indulge in psychological warfare (including cherry bombing his bedroom and bathroom at every available opportunity!), in order to test his mettle. I just knew he wasn't right for us and I also knew who was. Ian Mosley had been drumming with Steve Hackett the ex Genesis guitarist. I'd seen him twice, most recently during a visit back home to Edinburgh after the ‘Script' tour. He arrived in a battered old Merc and as soon as we were introduced it was obvious we had our man. The audition was practically unnecessary but added to our commitment that this was the Marillion drummer. His maturity and confidence, as well as his musical abilities, were to help cement the band and provide us with a dependable line up to face the hill of the second album...Peter Hammill had supported Marillion on the ‘Script' tour and we'd become good friend during that time. He'd given me a tape of Islamic music that would provide a major influence over two of the album tracks ‘Assassing' and ‘Incubus'...Rockfield was our writing haven in between sporadic international forays. The recording schedule loomed and we'd decided to stick to Nick Tauber but pursue an out of London experience at the Manor Studios in Oxfordshire. We landed there on the verge of Winter. Christmas came and went. The break was indulged with a tour, we'd run out of time at the Manor and still had a lot to do. Maison Rouge was the next studio on line for recording and mixing and the stress was building. It showed most on Nick Tauber who was beginning to have a number of questions raised over his ability to complete the project. EMI decided that we needed to bring in another producer to assist the mixing and to use Abbey Road Studios simultaneously to get the album finished. The recording of ‘Incubus' was completed at Pete Townshend's Studio, Eel Pie, but the mix was done at Abbey Road while we were also listening to mixes at Odyssey Studios off the Edgware Road. The band spent hours in taxis throughout the night commuting between studios listening to mixes of a project that was becoming out of hand: 'Fugazi' ... The vocals were mostly done at Eel Pie and Maison Rouge, but the mixes were all over London. Mark & Steve went crazy shuttling throughout the city and while I was doing the promo for the tour the band were being beaten down by alternative mixes. One night in particular at ‘Odyssey Studios summed it all up: Ten hours or so into the mix the desk computer crashed dumping all the work so far. Nick burst into tears and slumped over the desk and we all looked at each other before trying to reassemble both Nik and the mix before getting into taxis to head to Abbey Road to hear a mix of ‘Incubus'...We never heard the finished album until we were on tour and hired an hour at Amazon Studios in Liverpool for a playback. I always find it strange that some people still find this their favourite album. I only have blurred and savage memories of the traumas of delivery. The songs are great and ‘Incubus' is probably my all time favourite from my seven years with the band. But the period of creation to delivery and the surrounding fracas can only be described as 'Fugazi'."
'Fugazi' charted at number two hundred and nine in the US, forty-two in Germany, twenty-nine in the Netherlands, twenty-three in Sweden, and number five in the UK.
http://www.marillion.com/
https://myspace.com/marillion/music/album/fugazi-9647864
"Assassing" – 7:02 (Dick/Kelly/Rothery/Trewavas)
"‘Assassing' (why I put the ‘g' on the end remains a mystery to me!), was inspired by the culls that persisted throughout the early stages of the band, but focused in particular on Mick Pointer more than anyone."
"Punch and Judy" – 3:21 (Dick/Kelly/Rothery/Trewavas/Mover)
"When I'd penned the words I'd always heard a Bo Diddley type beat, but by the time Jonathan had his kit out and on it, it bastardised itself into a quirky over complicated rhythmic base that took it miles off a mainstream single. The lyric was about my paranoia over commitment in a relationship and about my vision of a marital hell culminating in a scenario of blaming the partner for all of life's failures Traditionally dark by my standards it never really worked as the ideal single."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W9nXlbc9ag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kK90TUyLzk
"Jigsaw" – 6:49 (Dick/Kelly/Rothery/Trewavas)
"‘Jigsaw' is probably the ‘wordiest' lyric I've ever written. All about the games we play in a relationship and the secrets we hold back until they're ready to be played. The chorus is still a favourite but the verses were just too complicated."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnpaSWQ2F2w
"Emerald Lies" – 5:08 (Dick/Kelly/Rothery/Trewavas/Mosley)
"‘Emerald Lies' was about jealousy and in my never ending break up, get together, break up cycle with my long suffering girlfriend, the lyric was obvious. Touring was having a very negative effect on my personal life (from her point of view)."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-XPNZxA7Mk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DOgOtw6clE
"She Chameleon" – 6:52 (Dick/Kelly/Rothery/Trewavas)
"‘She Chameleon', a song that existed in some semblance of order in 1983 was resurrected for inclusion. Inspired by the ‘groupie' phenomenon that came to be in 1983 and tripping on acid backstage with Julian Cope after a ‘Teardrop Explodes' concert - it was about my attitudes to sex on the road. The question was ‘who was using who?'. The middle section was always too ‘twee' for my liking and I'd always wanted a more gothic approach. It never happened."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ipK8vuPCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23X3XeMxohY
"Incubus" – 8:30 (Dick/Kelly/Rothery/Trewavas)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sis6GVEtHa0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S01SuU4aiKk
"Fugazi" – 8:12 (Dick/Kelly/Rothery/Trewavas/Mosley)
"The title track was inspired by a journey on the Piccadilly line from Earls Court where I lived in a flat for a while with my girlfriend, to the Marquee Club where I lived during the night. Coming down from a trip and listening to my Walkman and viewing the other occupants if the carriage it summed up the album and my views on life at the time - Fugazi we were."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPm8SWILMco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCgK5qFSDJg
No comments:
Post a Comment