Welcome to The Web UK

Welcome to the Web UK website!

Whilst it is true that the seemingly inexorible rise of social media, particularly Facebook, has shifted the focus of fan–based communities away from more traditional dedicated forums and websites, particularly for more news–based items, and provide a means of interacting with our members that we couldn’t achieve elsewhere. The knock–on effect is that our need for this site had declined in recent years, but we felt that it was a valuable repository of material that had considerable value for our members.

It also provides a space where we can archive some FB material such as the just–for–fun contest to re–imagine Marillion singles as though they were from the 1960s.

So, expect to see some new material in here, but mainly a great place to revisit some content that we hope will have considerable value to you as members.

Comments and feedback are always welcome (info@theweb-uk.com), so please get in touch and have fun poking about the site!

See you on the road or on social media!

Alan, Anne, Fraser, Lucy, Malcolm, Pete, Sheelagh and Stuart – The Web UK

About the Web UK

We are The Web UK, the official English–language fan club for the rock band Marillion and we’ve been around since 1981, which makes us blooming old. You can probably hear the creaks and groans.

The aim of The Web UK is to keep you, the fans, up–to–date with happenings in the Marillion camp, wherever you are in the world! To do this, we produce the Web Magazine, which contains all the latest news, tour dates, information and interviews with the band and those close to them, and album and concert reviews – all backed up with professional photos of the band.

You can read a sample edition of the magazine for free by clicking here.

In addition to the magazines we also aim to provide special events like fan club conventions and pub meets (sometimes with band members present), international trips to shows and the exclusive free Marillion Web Christmas CD or DVD, usually including Marillion tracks not released anywhere else and more surprises!

The Web UK Magazine is available for subscription worldwide: UK £10 Western Europe £12; USA/Rest of the World £14. For two issues of The Web UK Magazine plus a Christmas CD/DVD, which we feel represents excellent value for money. To subscribe click here.

About the Band

Formed in Aylesbury in 1979 Marillion eventually solidified their line–up in 1982, with the arrival of Pete Trewavas on bass guitar. The rest of the band were Steven Rothery on guitar, Mark Kelly on keyboards, Mick Pointer on drums, and vocalist Fish. This line–up recorded the Market Square Hero EP and debut album Script For A Jester’s Tear, released in 1983. As Wikipedia says: “The band emerged from the post–punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the premier neo–progressive rock band of the 1980s”.

Replacing Mick with Ian Mosley in 1984, the band enjoyed an upward trajectory releasing Fugazi, Misplaced Childhood and Clutching At Straws, the latter two providing several hit singles. From Misplaced, Lavender reached number five in the charts and Kayleigh hit the number two spot, and from Clutching Sugar Mice reached number six. The band were a big draw live too, progressing from sold–out shows at the Hammersmith Odeon to Arena–sized shows with Clutching.

However, constant touring and recording put the band under immense pressure and the cracks soon showed. In 1988 Fish left the band, somewhat acrimoniously, to embark on a successful solo career. Salvation arrived in the form of Steve Hogarth, the former keyboardist and vocalist of new wave pop band The Europeans. It was either join Marillion or become a milkman! With some songs already partially formed, Marillion kept and expanded on the music; Fish kept his lyrics, some of which appear on his debut solo album Vigil In A Wilderness of Mirrors.

Steve Hogarth, or h as he has come to be known, made his Marillion debut on 1989’s Seasons End, his vocals giving Marillion as smoother, less abrasive sound. With h and John Helmer helping out with lyrics, the band recorded a further three diverse albums for EMI: the pop-rock Holidays In Eden, the disturbingly dark, concept album Brave and the superb Afraid Of Sunlight. The band expanded their sound quite dynamically across the first four albums with h, widening the themes and the subject matter of the lyrics.

This Strange Engine marked a series of big changes for the band. Having left EMI, it was the first of three albums to be released via the Castle Communications label. The band also invested in their own recording studio, the Racket Club, a place where the band could write and rehearse as well as record. This was their first self–produced album, with Dave Meeghan on hand to mix. 1998’s Radiation and .com in 1999 followed, with the latter seeing Marillion taking advantage of the burgeoning power of the internet to communicate directly with fans, helping to build a closer relationship with them.

As early as 1997, Marillion harnessed the loyalty of their fans to finance a successful tour of America, as their US label couldn’t afford to fund the trip. The history of the band’s use of the internet is described by Michael Lewis in the book Next: The Future Just Happened as an example of how the internet is shifting power away from established elites, such as multi–national record labels and record producers.

Despite interest from other record companies Marillion decided they wanted to have total freedom with regards to the running of the band and making albums and in 2001 the band took this idea one step further. Anoraknophobia became the first album ever to be completely financed by asking the fans to preorder the album before a note of music was recorded. This then unique crowdfunding exercise resulted in 12,500 copies of the album being ordered, giving the band the flexibility they desired. Anoraknophobia saw the band continue to expand their sound, breaking away from their neo–prog roots, incorporating elements of rap, groove, funk, trip hop, blues, jazz and dub.

Something else born out of the close relationship with the fans are the Marillion Weekends. The inaugural Convention, a three&ndahs;day celebration of the band, took place in April 2002 at Pontins Brean Sands Holiday Park. Now taking place every other year the Weekends have grown exponentially with 2019 seeing five events across Europe and North America, taking in Port Zé;lande in Holland, Lodz in Poland, Leicester in the UK, Montréal in Canada, and Lisbon in Portugal. It is a tradition that the band play an album in full and choose themed set lists across the other nights. There’s also plenty of other entertainment with support acts and events like Swap The Band, where talented fans can go on stage and play Marillion music. The Weekends attract fans from all around the world and are great places to meet up and immerse oneself in the music.

The recording of thirteenth album, Marbles, was financed by the band; the pre–order campaign financing the publicity campaign that saw the single You’re Gone reach number seven in the UK chart. Fans who pre–ordered the album received a two–disk Campaign Edition of the album with their names in the 128–page booklet. An emotional rollercoaster ride through the themes of love, loss and madness, Marbles is another high point in the band’s catalogue.

Since then the band have grown steadily in popularity with an expanding worldwide fanbase. 2007’s Somewhere Else was a top thirty hit as, unlike the fan–funded albums, it was eligible for inclusion in the charts. 2008’s double Happiness Is The Road saw the band return to a fan pre–order and trying the experiment of releasing the download free via p2p platforms. 2009’s Less Is More saw acoustic reworkings of some of the band’s back catalogue using different instruments, plus a new song, It's Not Your Fault. Somewhere Else was also the start of the band’s relationship with producer Michael Hunter, who has been on hand during the recording process of every album since, as well as producing a multitude of live releases.

Whilst always a touring band, the changing nature of the music business has meant Marillion spending more time on the road and the last decade has seen the band’s stage show grow bigger and more spectacular, with the inclusion of video screens showing specially created films to enhance the songs. Marillion’s live career reached a new peak in 2017 with a date at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall, which sold out in four minutes and saw fans from all over the globe travelling to London for this special occasion. So successful was this that the band returned to the same venue in 2019 for two sold–out nights as part of their With Friends From The Orchestra tour.

This live activity has meant just two albums in the last ten years, 2012’s Sounds That Can’t Be Made and 2016’s Fuck Everyone And Run (F E A R), the pre–order for this being run via PledgeMusic and offering a range of extra items such as handwritten lyrics and a deluxe limited edition. Both releases prove Marillion have plenty to say, including songs like Gaza, El Dorado and The New Kings, which are caustic commentaries on the state of the world today. Marillion also proved they can still tug on the old heartstrings too.

With Friends From The Orchestra, released in 2019, saw re–recordings of some of Marillion’s vast back catalogue with the In Praise Of Folly string quartet: Emma Halnan on flute and Sam Morris on French horn. The band played a number of live shows with The Friends on the back of this release, as documented on the recent With Friends at St David’s live release.

Despite two lockdowns in 2020, the band have written and recorded the 20^th studio album of their long and illustrious career. This new album, entitled An Hour Before It’s Dark, has been released to great acclaim and we are excited to be accompanying Marillion on their continuing musical journey.

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