THE PROG
INTERVIEW FISH
Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue it’s Derek Dick, who, as Fish, rose to fame in the early 80s as frontman for prog game-changers Marillion. Four UK Top 10 albums, three Top 10 singles and one spectacularly acrimonious split later, he began his own eventful solo career, and in 2020 released his swansong album, Weltschmerz, to great acclaim. We sent one of our tallest writers to look the former lumberjack right in the eye (more or less) and ask him the questions you always wanted to…
Words: Rich Wilson
For Fish, it’s all been about the journey. Raised in Dalkeith to the east of Edinburgh, there was an initial love of progressive rock and distant fantasies of becoming a rock star, before reality bit, and propelled him into a short-lived career as a lumberjack.
A fortuitous meeting with a school friend and a fleeting chat with Peter Gabriel provided the inspirational drive to front a band. Travels through the Scottish Borders, Cambridge and Retford saw Fish seeking a band that could match his keen expectations, and eventually led him to Aylesbury, where, in 1981, he joined Marillion. A tenure of seven years produced some of the finest progressive albums of the decade, and an unexpected hit single in the form of Kayleigh, before he resigned from the band to pursue a solo career.
That path has been similarly eventful. Legal cases with his former band and EMI brought him to the brink of bankruptcy. Such stressful distractions aside, he has built a formidable solo catalogue, not least in the form of his final recording, 2020’s Weltschmerz. It’s also apparent that, creatively, there remains much for Fish to accomplish.
Acting has provided opportunities over the years, there’s talk of screenplays, novels and an autobiography. Then there’s his weekly Facebook broadcast, Fish On Friday, which provided an entertaining routine for both singer and fans over the last 18 months.
He’s also just completed a UK tour with the final full performances of his 1990 album,
Vigil
In
A
Wilderness
Of
Mirrors, culminating in ‘Vigil’s End’, a ‘global broadcast event’ recorded live at The Assembly, Royal
Leamington Spa in December. Plans are afoot for a (possible) farewell jaunt in 2023.
Weltschmerz, Fish’s final album.
Dave Gilmour said, ‘Talk to the [Marillion] guys. Once you let the lawyers off the chain, you can’t do anything about it’.
Marillion (L-R): Pete Trewavas, Steve Rothery, Andy Ward, Mark Kelly and Fish in 1983.
PAUL SLATTERY/CAMERA PRESS
Taking you back to your childhood in Dalkeith, was there any particular spark to your love of music?
I loved music and loved lying in bed on a Saturday morning, listening to Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart on the radio. But music became more important when I went to High School. For me, it was the whole early 1970s progressive scene with all the album covers. Seeing Tarkus and thinking, ‘What the hell is that?’ It was just something different.