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Well, no one was expecting that! Sunday afternoon at Port Zélande saw the fans asking questions, pleading answers from the not so nameless faceless members of the band. Lucy was in charge of the thumbscrews and comfy chair

Lucy: a question from Margriet Zijlstra: “We are all mad about Marillion. Is there anyone in the band as mad about a band as we are about Marillion?”

Pete: I used to be mad about The Beatles, not recently. I don’t listen to music anymore.

h: (long pause) maybe XTC at one point, when I was 17, Genesis and Yes, and The Beatles of course.

Ian: When I was young (before electricity) The Who, and I am still fond of the band Magma.

Rothers: I’d say Pink Floyd, Crowded House and probably the amazing Kate Bush.

Mark: What they said.

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Lucy: A question by Simon Boundy: “I always thought that Steve Hogarth would make a good actor. Have you had an ambition to be an actor, is it something you would do?

h: I have done a bit, yeah. Cross dressing. I nearly did a few things. If the right thing came along that I felt I could do. It’s not like I could do anything. Think about actors, they have to be chameleons. Lots of the things that I do and express on stage with the band are simply a reflection of the emotions of the songs at the time that I wrote them in the first place. In a way that’s not really acting but reliving what was going on inside me. But to act an emotion from somebody else’s thought is another thing. I want to try to be a tiger, I am not sure I could manage that. We could give it a go, obviously.

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Lucy: This one is from Wayne Sorrell: “What is the first thing you think of when you wake up. And the last one when you go to sleep?”

Mark: Lately I have been thinking: Oh my God, did I do this click right? Or another cue, or something that has to do with this weekend. It takes over your life for a couple of months. So that’s on my mind constantly. Thank God, it’s nearly over.

Rothers: Yes, I go on with what Mark said. The months that lead up to this convention are an insane amount of work. Every waking hour you try to burn six or seven hours of music into your brain to a point that the music starts to dribble out of your ears during your sleep. That’s pretty much what you think about when you go to sleep, in the middle of the night when you are awake and in the morning when you get up.

Ian: When I wake up in the morning I always wonder if Mark got that click right! No, it’s mainly coffee.

h: For me the process of going to sleep is a bit like the tide is going out: it washes all the good things at night out to sea but in the morning, all the things that are fucked up are come back to me, lying on the beach. When I wake up, I lie in bed and think for a half an hour: Oh God no, oh damn this, uh I messed up this, oh fuck that, and then I think I had better get out of bed as I can’t stand this much longer… so that’s usually it.

Pete: I am just the same. I am living the music just like the others, bits and pieces that are to do with this convention. Thank goodness is going on quite well!

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Lucy: Next question Andy Cook: “If each band member could swap everybody else’s instrument with each other and still have a 5–piece band, who would do what?

Lucy: h, if you are not allowed to be a singer, what would you take over?

h: I would do the lights.

Lucy: So that means Yenz is on vocals.

h: Yeah, in his kilt. Show what you’re wearing Yenz. (Yenz is wearing a Scots kilt, despite being Danish.)

Pete: Not what’s underneath it, Yenz.

Lucy: So Pete, what would you do.?

Pete: I always wanted to be a drummer. So, I’d probably climb behind Ian’s kit. (Everyone calls for Pete to play the drums.) Oh no! Not now!

Audience: (chanting): Pete, Pete, Pete.

(Pete gives in and plays the drums.)

Lucy: He’s not bad, is he?

Lucy: Ian, what would you do?

Ian: I would like to play bass to give the drummer a hard time.

Rothers: (In a dark voice) I play bass guitar.

Mark: This is gonna be an interesting band. I’m going to play bass as well. In the earlier days, when we did an Italian TV show and we got bored and thought it was a good idea to swap instruments, we were miming anyway, so it didn’t matter, and we swapped instruments and I tried to play bass and it’s quite hard actually. It is a whole tool.

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Lucy: Two more questions. This is from someone who’s not here but he wants me to ask it anyway, Stuart Mitchell, who asks: “Which Hogwarts house you would be sorted into:. Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor or Ravenclaw?”

h: Snape… Slytherin (shows his black clothes).

Pete: Well, we’d have to wait to see what the hat said really, but I’d like to think I’d be in Griffindor.

Ian: I have no idea what you are talking about it.

h: You could drive the steam train.

Rothers: Gryffindor

Mark: (Looking at h) I go with you, Slytherin.

h: At last.

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Lucy: Ok. The final question for tonight is from Lee Peer: “What if you could fuck everyone and run… where would you run to?”

h: I would come here.

Pete: Steve said I’d run to Aylesbury! As much as I like Aylesbury, I would go to my yacht, somewhere in the Caribbean. No, I’d give all the money back and stay at home.

Ian: What was the question? I’d like to stay home really.

Rothers: Well, if you are on the run, there is only one place to run to, Rio de Janeiro.

Mark: I don’t think the destination is important, it’s the running that’s important! Oh, thanks to everyone who joined me on the Friday morning run. Very civilised. Friday was better than Sunday; Sunday nobody was really in a fit state.

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A question now that comes from an interview Hanneke did with Pete.

Hanneke: I now have a totally different question, but I really want to know! “I saw ‘white rabbit’ on your Twitter account and I understand it has something to do with the first of the month. What is the story behind it?”.

Pete: That’s like a lucky thing. ‘White rabbits’ is just a thing that people say in England on the first day of the month. And I guess it’s a good luck thing – it only applies on the first of the month?

Hanneke: We don’t have this here in Holland.

Pete: No, I know, I don’t blame you, it’s mad isn’t it (laughs)?

Hanneke: It’s like the mad hatter (aughs).

Pete: Well yes, exactly. I can’t explain it, it’s a family tradition. We all used to say ‘white rabbits’, my mum said it to me and my dad too. I guess it’s just an old English Tradition; not just my family but other people in England get it too but I don’t know where it comes from.

⟩ Filmed by Hans Kruizenga ⟩ Transcribed by Hanneke de Bruijn ⟩ Photo by Alan Jones

This article should have appeared in the Summer 2017 issue of The Web UK Magazine but was omitted due to lack of space.

Click here to view the pdf of the layout of this article.


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