Guitarist Steve Rothery Reflects on 25 Years of Soaring Tone and Elusive Fame
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PROG ROCK SPECIAL COVER STORY COVER MARILLION Guitarist Steve Rothery reflects on 25 years of soaring tone and elusive fame. BY MICHAEL MUELLER on each one I tried a slightly different approach. with an active circuit to switch in, so you’ve arillion is the greatest band you’ve It drove Mike a little crazy, because I don’t actu- got one position is a mid-boost, the other is a never heard of.” It seems to be ally like knowing what the chords are. If I’m try- treble and bass boost, and the center position “ a common sentiment among the ing to find a melody or a part, I’d prefer to use is off. And then you’ve got the trim pots in the band’s faithful following. Even the my ears, because there’s more chance of getting back that determine the amount of gain you Mpeople here in the U.S. who have heard of something interesting and different that way. want to give the boost. So you can kick in the Marillion only remember the band as Genesis- mid-boost to thicken the sound just enough to influenced prog-rockers from the early ’80s, For years you’ve used a Squier Strat with the give it another character, so it’s extremely flex- with a flamboyant, face-painted frontman EMG pickups and Kahler tremolo. Why Squier ible. I’ve got two Strats and one Telecaster, all named Fish. Time for a little refresher course. instead of Fender? loaded with the Lindy Fralin pickups. After Fish and Marillion went their separate ways in 1988, the band recruited singer Steve Hogarth. Since “H” joined the band, they have released ten studio albums, which in turn re- flect the band’s constant evolu- tion, from the mellow prog-rock of 1989’s Seasons End to the more experimental prog-pop sounds (à la Radiohead) of their latest release, Somewhere Else (Townsend). And all along the way, Marillion’s intensely loyal fans have grown ever more fervent. So, if you are already a fierce Marillion devotee, Somewhere Else should serve to intensify that special relationship. If you still think of jesters’ tears and sugar mice when you hear the name Marillion, the record will serve as a long overdue reintroduction to the band. And if you’ve never heard of Marillion, well, then, as the band says at their Web site, www.marillion.com, it’s a love af- fair waiting to happen. Tell us about the new record. This was the first album pro- duced by Mike Hunter. In the past we worked with Dave Megan, who was trained by Trevor Horn, so he’s very much of the layering up school. Sometimes that can sound great, but I pre- My whole thing about Squiers as opposed Are you still using the Roland JC-120? fer a more natural feel; a lot of the guitars from to Fenders is that at the end of the day, a guitar Yes, for the older songs, but for the last three the original guide tracks made it. For the title is a piece of wood, and you either have good albums I’ve been using the Groove Tubes Trio track, “Somewhere Else,” I literally came in and wood or bad wood. Quite often you change preamp and Groove Tubes power amp, through did one take of the guitar that runs all the way your pickups and electronics anyway, so re- a Marshall 4×12 loaded with Celestion Vintage through the song, so it’s totally improvised. ally, having that little transfer on the headstock 30s. The Trio is so versatile; the three channels makes zero difference. fall just where you’d want them to be. The tone The album has a big sound. controls don’t do that much alone, but they It’s big but in a slightly different kind of way. And now you’re using Levinson Blade guitars. interact with each other, and the frequencies There aren’t very many overdubs on it. We re- Yes, they were handpicked because they they’ve chosen are all based around old vintage corded four, five, or six takes of each song, and just did it for me. They have a passive system Marshalls and Fenders. 58 GUITAR ONE guitaronemag.com JUNE 2007 PROG ROCK SPECIAL which I’d used from Seasons End through to about Radiation or Marillion.com. Did you use the 2290 for delay !! or chorus or both? Primarily delay, but also be- cause it’s got five sends and re- turns, so it’s great for routing ef- fects and also the output gain .%7 can be set. I’m actually look- .%7 ing forward to trying out the TC Electronic G-System. I might re- place some of my rack with one of those for the next tour. I’m getting one in the studio next 30).30). week to try it out. I tried it when it first came out in L.A., and I Is that what you used on Somewhere Else? wasn’t impressed. But that was in a very busy Yes. It’s all Groove Tubes. Most of the new music store going through a not very good album was done with my Blade Tele. It’s got amplifier with a not very good guitar, which more natural twang and sustain than the can’t really teach you much about anything, Strats. Some of the solo sounds are not quite other than not to go to music stores. as overdriven as in the past, because you don’t need to do that with a Tele, due to its sustain. Are you using any stompboxes? I’ve got a setup in my home studio, which is Even with the various amps you’ve used, your sort of a selection of the best custom-switched lead guitar tone has been fairly consistent stompboxes, like Analogman’s modified Boss across the Marillion catalog. pedals and Keeley’s tremolo pedal, which I I think from Fugazi (1984) onward, I’d love. There are various, unusual distortion found my sound. The solo sound that I’ve boxes, and I’ve got a Boss Digital Dimension C used really since then, with variations on pedal off of eBay, which is quite expensive, but things like “Easter” [Seasons End], “Afraid it’s got quite an unusual sound. of Sunlight” [Afraid of Sunlight], and “The Great Escape” [Brave] is my Squier Strat into For the previous two records, the band asked a Boss DS-1 distortion into a Boss digital de- fans to preorder the albums to raise the mon- lay into a Roland JC-120. But sound’s always ey needed to make the record. Did you do the been very important to me, and when you’re same thing with Somewhere Else? writing, you write differently depending No, we decided not to do it. There were ;\m\cfg\[`eZfccXYfiXk`fe on what sounds you’re using. And you feel various debates, and we seemed to come to n`k_E\[Jk\`eY\i^\i# more inspired if you have something that the decision that we shouldn’t do the preorder. k_\EJ:XgfnfibjfeYfk_ gives you this fantastic wash of sound. A lot But we just recently had a fanclub convention, -$Xe[()$jki`e^^l`kXij% of players don’t concentrate enough on get- which we do every couple of years. This year, ting not only a great sound but also a choice 3,000 people flew in to the Netherlands for a of great sounds to go between for different three-day event, and that raised us quite a lot parts of a song. of money, which will help with the running of the band. Tell us about the delays and chorusing you used to create the textures on Somewhere Else. Did the whole preorder concept come out of I used various different pedals and rack ef- the 1997 This Strange Engine tour, which was fects for this record. One was Roger Linn’s funded in part by your fans? Adrenalinn pedal, which has modulation and Yes. That showed us the power of the pulsing kinds of effects, primarily. But what I re- Internet, and the devotion of our fans. Without ally like about it is that it syncs to MIDI clock, so that event happening, we wouldn’t be having K_\i\dXibXYcpc`^_k# when you record backing tracks and everything this conversation right now. It forced us to very goes to a tempo map, they send me a clock carefully consider how we could best gain our È`e$kle\#É\Xjp$kf$lj\EJ:Xgf that corresponds directly to the tempo at which own independence. `jXe\e^`e\\i`e^dXim\cf]Xe^c\j we’re recording. What all that means is that the effect pulses and waves in time with the track Somewhere Else is your 14th album, in a ca- Xe[c\m\iX^\% and creates an amazing groove. A pedal I used reer now spanning 25 years. Is it frustrating for the first time on this album was the Electro- that people in the U.S. still don’t know and un- Kipfe\Xkpfli]Xmfi`k\dlj`Z Harmonix POG. That’s an interesting sound; not derstand Marillion? jkfi\#`]aljk]fik_\\og\i`\eZ\% something you’d use that much but it’s quite We just don’t fit in here, really. We never unique for textures. I like to blend just a touch have. “Kayleigh” was a hit single [in 1985], of that sound with our normal, kind of quite and therefore the album, Misplaced Childhood, clean and slightly delayed sound, for additional did well.