Fish Takes A Break

Former Marillion lead singer Fish needs to rest his voice for at least six months and will not be doing any full touring until 2010, according to a story on Classic Rock today.

Fish's report of the news, emailed to fans, is pretty amusing:

“It started off pleasantly enough and my speaking voice was deemed to be not too bad considering I’d just completed a tour.

“She [the specialist] took internal photos of my throat and vocal chords with an endoscope and pronounced that I didn’t have nodules.

“I thought everything was going to be diagnosed as down to heavy usage and prescribed a rest from singing for a while.

“Just as I thought I had an all clear she pointed out a white area on one of my chords and said: ‘But this is worrying!’

“As soon as I heard the phrase ‘irregular cell growth’ my mind went cold and focused. I knew what it meant.

“In all honesty I am 50 years old, I smoke(d), drink, have a ‘colourful’ history, have sung nearly 1,700 gigs in 27 years and have conducted probably three times as many interviews. It’s like standing on the M1 and expecting not to be hit by a car.

“I am taking at least six months off from singing. I’d like to think that I can play some festivals in the summer of 2009 but there will be no arranged tours until 2010.”

Get well soon, Derek Dick, and stay off the M1!

12/19/2008 Update - After reading Fish's MySpace blog, Fish fears that this might be throat cancer. I did not realize that when I posted yesterday. Clearly it's more a serious topic than my blog post alludes to. Get well soon, Fish.

Fish-Era Marillion Live Box Set Coming

For fans of prog-rock, one of the most under-appreciated bands from the 80s has got to be Marillion. The band was kind of a combo of Genesis and Floyd but they certainly had their own style. The band's first four studio albums were with singer Derek Dick, or as he is better known, Fish.

Fish's lyrics were Roger Waters meets Jim Morrison. Kind of psycho, very introspective and poetic. The third and fourth albums, Misplaced Childhood and Clutching and Straws, are my favorites. I felt that the band hit their stride on these albums and they are both for lack of a better word concept albums.

Fish split with the band over artistic and management issues after Clutching, but went on to a pretty cult-status solo career. Meaning, not commercially successful but artistically very successful. His latest album, 13th Star, is said by fans and critics to be his best yet.

Marillion also carried on with a new singer, Steve Hogarth, and have put out 11 more albums and counting!

But now, finally, there is a record label interested in giving us all a glimpse into why the band was so compelling in the first place - its live work with Fish in the 80s.

Marillion: "The Early Stages" - Official Bootleg Box Set 1982-1987 is due to be released this November, just in time for Christmas. The six CDs are all live shows spanning the Fish years. More info can be found here.

To give you a small snapshot, here is a video of the band doing Bitter Suite from Misplaced Childhood in the mid 80s. Dig Fish's Jim Morrison-esque poetic ramblings at about 1:50 minutes in. Also love the Steve Hackett meets David Gilmour guitar work at about 3:30...