Rock singer Fish speaks out on industry struggle ’30 percent will give up’
After seven solo albums, Fish wants out of the business
Fish quit in 1988 and yet heâll always be fondly associated with the band because of hits like Kayleigh, his achingly tender apology to a former girlfriend. Now, after eleven solo albums â five of them Top Ten â Fish wants out. His new one will be his last, he tells me. The only snag is the farewell tour.
âIt should have been this year,â the singer says from his âwee oasisâ in East Lothian.
âI shouldâve started a tour on Friday the 13th of MarchâŚand look what happenedâŚâ
Itâs a small set-back compared to the battles Fish has fought against debt, ill-health and bare-faced lies. Two days after he quit âthe Marillsâ, he was hit by claims heâd been fired for drink and drugs abuse.
âI wrote a resignation letter and sent copies of it to everyone in a taxi,â he recalls. âThe next day I get a letter from the manager saying they âno longer require my servicesâ!â
Then his face was splashed all over the front page of a Scottish tabloid. .
Fish performs live during a concert at Kesselhaus Berlin
âIt said I was an alcoholic and a drug addict, and thatâs why the band wanted rid of me. It made out that Iâd been fired. I was fuming.
âCarol Clerk from Melody Maker told me they were offered ÂŁ12,000 for a picture of me âcompletely p***edâ. There werenât any.â
Not because Marillion didnât indulge, but because they did it in private.
âSmash Hits called us the âmost boring bunch of guysâ,â he grins. âBut we were like the special forces of partying, we were under the radar.
âI remember coming to a hotel room in Sweden to find my mate and a woman passed out on the floor. Three mini-bars had been drunk dry. We were a real party band. A great gang.â
Fish, 62, no longer indulges in liquor or cocaine and has been happily married to his third wife Simone Rosler for three years.
His only unshakable (and unfathomable) addiction is to Hibernian FC.
Simone is German, like his first wife, former model Tamara Nowry; and living in southern Germany inspired the dark underbelly of his haunting final album, Weltschmerz (pain of the world).
âBefore we married, we were living between here and Karlsruhe.
âIt was a strange time because of the refugees, the feeling of being on the frontline and the feeling of hopelessness.â
Consequently Weltschmerz âslipped into darkness,â he says.
âBut like Sam Mendes and American Beauty, it turned into a thing of beauty.â
Fish in the Netherlands in 1991
The album covers mental health, depression, eco-chaos âand the dark beauty of it all.â
He adds, âItâs definitely the last. Iâve had enough. I want to write novels and plays. Itâs a good time to stop.â
The big guy â 6ft 5 in his socks â is still a big fry on the prog-rock circuit with fans all over the globe.
He was born Derek William Dick in Dalkeith, Midlothian.
His father, Robert, owned a garage and petrol station. His mother Isabella, a minerâs daughter, worked in it and he pumped his first gallon at twelve.
âIt was half a mining town, half a market town,â he says.
âThere was a strong sense of community.â
Young Fish at the Marriott Hotel in Amsterdam in 1987
Heâs an odd fish, this Fish; awkward but bright and sincere.
âIâm on the spectrum,â he admits. âI was an introverted kid. I spent a lot of time in my room listening to progressive rock before it went crap, early Yes and Genesis, thinking âthis is my musicâ.â
At school, he âhated Englishâ but found he excelled at it.
In 1976, aged 18, he went into forestry (he still has a chainsaw in the garage), but music was his real passion.
Derek did his first gig in 1979 âsinging covers in a pub in Galashielsâ.
After trying to form a band, he and bassist pal Diz Minnitt spotted an advert for an Aylesbury based band seeking a bassist/singerâŚthe band were Silmarillion, who became Marillion.
His nickname Fish â acquired âfor spending too long in the bath tubâ â and his stage make-up allowed the introvert to create an extroverted stage persona.
âTo be someone else, and build up my confidence.â
They had no lyricist, so Fish stepped in.
His Script For A Jesterâs Tears â inspired by the death of Keith Moon â became the title track of their debut album.
Fish did his first gig in 1979 ‘singing covers in a pub’
âThat first album is weird,â he says. âIt doesnât sound like me singing. The high falsetto notes. How did I do that? A vocal coach would have said âStop now or youâll blow your voiceâ. It sounds like someone singing in bad keys.â
Well, a fish must have its own scales.
âI was trying too hard but finally found the confidence to express myself on Misplaced Childhoodâ â their third and most successful album, which spawned hits Kayleigh and Lavender.
Fishâs first wife Tamara starred in the video for the former. They have one grown-up daughter, Tara.
1987âs Clutching At Straws was another sizeable hit, fuelled by Fishâs anger at music biz manipulation.
It was the last he did with Marillion â he hated their managerâs 20 percent cut of their earnings and the bandâs peculiar approach to song-writing.
His first solo album, 1990âs Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors was a Top 5 hit, but neither he nor Marillion ever equalled the success theyâd had together.
âI left after a massive album, the best one,â he says. âVigil was a big stiff single finger to the people trying to write me off.â
That year, he made his acting debut in the US TV show Zorro.
Marillion performing at the Royal Albert Hall
Roles followed in Taggart and The Bill followed.
The highlight was appearing with Daniel Craig in the 2005 sci-fi thriller The Jacket. âI was petrified! But the scene was electric. I walked out on such a highâŚ
âI could probably pick up character roles now but screenplays are my obvious route,â he says.
Not to mention that long-promised memoir, which is bound to cover his 90s money struggles caused by record company legal bills and costly tours.
In 2000 it looked like Fish had had his chips. He was ÂŁ900,000 in debt.
The âcherry on topâ was his 2001 divorce from Tamara. âI was advised to go bankrupt but I refused and worked through it.
My father taught me âdonât run away, deal with itâ.â
He sold the house, moved into the studio and continued to tour and record; reliving Marillionâs finest hour with his 2016 Farewell To Childhood tour.
Steve Hogarth sings with the Marillions in 2017
Simone manages him and the couple are the record company.
âIâm much better at risk assessment now. I only tour when itâs economically viable.â
In 2012, he divorced second wife Katie Webb after just eleven months of marriage.
The decade was awash with bad news, from the death of his father â âthat smacked me harder than I expectedâ â to his 2017 spinal operation and bouts of sepsis in 2019, which delayed Weltschmerzâs release.
Home (the Fish tank?) is happily isolated. Heâs a lockdown enthusiast.
âIf Pink Floyd played Earlâs Court tomorrow, I wouldnât go,â he says.
âI feel sorry for musicians. 30percent of them will give up. Itâs a shocker, theatre too.
The government are lacking in their response.â
He will decide in March whether to tour next year.
In the meantime, Fish has books to write.
*Weltschmerz by Fish is out now.
Published at Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:01:00 +0000