Marillion feel FEAR could be landmark album

By Scott Munro
( Prog )
published

Marillion frontman Steve Hogarth says upcoming album FEAR could be regarded as a landmark – and might make fans think of band’s early material

Marillion
Marillion

Marillion frontman Steve Hogarth says he thinks their upcoming 18th album FEAR (Fuck Everyone And Run) could be regarded as a landmark achievement for the band.

The follow-up to 2012’s Sounds That Can’t Be Made is set for release on September 23. And the frontman reckons the new material could even remind fans of the band’s early records.

Hogarth says: “I think this album, in a strange way, is going to remind people of Brave, it might even remind people of very early Marillion.

“It’s still the band doing what the band does. It’s very rich musically. Maybe they’ll look back on this one as being one of those landmarks like people think of Misplaced Childhood as a landmark, that they maybe think of Brave as a landmark and how they think of Marbles.”

Marillion have previously addressed the album title, which features in a lyric from their track The New Kings, saying they hadn’t set out to offend people needlessly. The track highlights “old systems of democracy have become overwhelmed and compromised by money and corporations.”

And while some might be surprised at Marillion taking a political viewpoint on the new album, keyboardist Mark Kelly says it’s something that’s featured in their music for years.

He says: “We’ve always had political lyrical content – right back to the beginning. I think what’s changed is having grown up, grown older, the less we care about what people think.

“There was a time back in the Fish days when we had to remove the world antichrist from Market Square Heroes. Now we just go, ’No, fuck it – it’s staying.

“That was Steve’s attitude. He was like,’I’ve been doing this for years, if I can’t say what I want to say, then I don’t want to do it.’

“So if it’s going to upset a few people, so what? What should upset them is what the song is about rather than the words.”

Hogarth adds: “I thought it would be great to have a title that shows everyone that we believe in something and that we haven’t mellowed at all, and we’re not making this music to be easy listening – and we’re not making this music to be attractive in a marketplace.

“I’m making this music because I’m getting old and I don’t know how many more records I’m going to make, so I should say something important.”

Marillion continue their live dates next month, when they play Verona’s Teatro Romano di Verona, in Italy.

Marillion FEAR (Fuck Everyone And Run) tracklist

  1. El Dorado (i) Long-Shadowed Sun
  2. El Dorado (ii) The Gold
  3. El Dorado (iii) Demolished Lives
  4. El Dorado (iv) F E A R
  5. El Dorado (v) The Grandchildren Of Apes
  6. Living in F E A R
  7. The Leavers (i) Wake Up In Music
  8. The Leavers (ii) The Remainers
  9. The Leavers (iii) Vapour Trails In The Sky
  10. The Leavers (iv) The Jumble Of Days
  11. The Leavers (v) One Tonight
  12. White Paper
  13. The New Kings (i) Fuck Everyone And Run
  14. The New Kings (ii) Russia’s Locked Doors
  15. The New Kings (iii) A Scary Sky
  16. The New Kings (iv) Why Is Nothing Ever True?
  17. The Leavers (vi) Tomorrow’s New Country

Marillion 2016 tour dates

Sep 10: Verona Teatro Romano di Verona, Italy
Oct 21: San Francisco The Regency Ballroom, CA
Oct 22: Beverly Hills Saban Theater, CA
Oct 25: Denver Paramount Theatre, CO
Oct 27: Chicago Vic Theatre, IL
Oct 28: Chicago Vic Theatre, IL
Oct 29: Northfield Hard Rock Live, OH
Oct 31: Toronto Danforth Music Hall, ON
Nov 01: Montreal Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre, QC
Nov 02: Quebec L’Imperial Bell, QC
Nov 04: Boston Royale Boston, MA
Nov 05: Washington 9:30 Club, DC
Nov 06: Philadelphia Keswick Theatre, PA
Nov 08: New York PlayStation Theater, NY
Nov 27: Aylesbury, Friars Waterside, UK
Nov 28: Manchester Academy, UK
Nov 30: Glasgow O2 ABC, UK
Dec 01: Leeds Beckett Student Union, UK
Dec 03: Cardiff Tramshed, UK
Dec 04: London Forum, UK
Dec 06: Utrecht MusicCentrum, Netherlands
Dec 07: Utrecht MusicCentrum, Netherlands
Dec 09: Lille L’Aeronef, France
Dec 10: Paris Elysee Montmatre, France
Dec 11: Lyon Radiant-Bellevue, France

The Marillion Quiz

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.