Med 72 dagar kvar till Sweden Rock Festival fortsätter vi idag med serien “Inför Sweden Rock 2015”. Nästa akt ut i denna serie är FISH. Rocknytts Kjell Ögren fick chansen att ställa några frågor till Fish, eller Derek William Dick som han egentligen heter.
Fish dök först upp på rockscenen i början av 80-talet som sångare i det engelska neoprogressiva symfonirockbandet Marillion. Bandet hade stora framgångar under 80-talets mitt, inte minst här i Sverige, och deras tredje skiva Misplaced Childhood som släpptes 1985 hade spår som tog sig in på topplistorna. Fish och Marillion gick skilda vägar 1988, men han har fortsatt sin karriär som soloartist sedan dess. Hans senaste skiva “A Feast of Consequences” släpptes hösten 2013. Nu kommer han tillbaka till Sweden Rock för att bjuda oss på en resa bakåt i tiden.
Thank you for taking your time for this. I would also like to take the opportunity to say a very personal thank you for your music. I first encountered Marillion in my early teenage years, and it has had a huge influence on me since then. “Script for a Jester´s Tear” is probably the most played record in my collection over the years, and I still find it as brilliant as I did back then. Having said that, let us talk about your participation at Sweden Rock Festival this summer. The title of your show is Farewell to Childhood. Is it true that you will give us the whole Misplaced Childhood record from 1985 from start to finish?
– Yes, I’ll be performing the entire album as it’s a piece of work that demands a full rendition as it was written with a distinct dramatic curve and works best played as it was written and recorded. 
The album is very special to me as it represents a moment in time that defined my career and holds a lot of memories from a period that was very exciting and crammed with experiences both dark and magical. The lyrics reflect a lot of very personal thoughts and emotions and became a very definitive part of the style I am best known for.
You are also working on your next album called “Weltschmerz”, which is also claimed to be your farewell album. Are you planning to leave the music arena for good after that (which of course would make us all very sad), or what are your plans for the future?
– I decided on the “Moveable Feast” tour that we have been on since I released my most recent album, “A Field of Consequences” that it was time for a change. The music business has been very good to me over the last 34 years but I felt I was getting trapped in the eternal album/touring cycle and I didn’t want to become a parody of myself living in a wheel till I die and want to retire with some grace. The music business has changed a lot since I jumped on the bandwagon and for me it’s not as much fun as it used to be. I still love the live performances but all the machinery around touring, recording and releasing albums has become more difficult to deal with and is taking up far too much time that could be spent doing other things that I’ve always wanted to do. I need new challenges and new experiences. I won’t be retiring as a creative artist as I intend to follow a career in writing, both books and screenplays and of course there’s the elusive autobiography and possibly more acting roles. “Weltschmerz” will be my last solo album as I wanted to follow up on the success of “Feast of Consequences” which received great reviews and was widely acclaimed. I am writing that this year in between the ever expanding “Farewell to Childhood” tour and recording it next year for a release hopefully in early Summer 2016. I intend it to be a very personal album with perhaps influences from the “Misplaced” style of writing combined with our approach to “Feast”. After it’s recorded I am selling my house and studio in Scotland and plan to move to Karlsruhe to live with my German partner and her young family but in 2016-17 I will be playing my final shows and hopefully one of them will be a fond farewell to Sweden Rocks!
Will you be playing any new material at all, besides from the Misplaced Childhood set?
– Our slot at the festival means that “Childhood” will take up the bulk of our time on stage so there will only be space for a few other numbers in my set list. I don’t expect to have any of the “Weltschmerz” material ready for performance until much later in the year when we play some indoor shows in Europe and Scandinavia.
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You also played at Sweden Rock Festival at 2012. What are your thoughts on returning to this event? Do you feel that the reception of your show last time was good, even though the people attenting it was mostly hardcore metalheads?
– I think we genuinely surprised the audience as we delivered a very rocky set and there was a lot of energy coming from stage. The reaction from the crowd was fantastic and I think we left a great impression on them. I’m really looking forward to coming back again and hold no fears playing on a festival bill together with acts that are obviously musically heavier than us. I’ve played on similar bills in the past and held my own and you have to remember that in 85-86 the album was top of the heavy metal charts for quite a while as fans from across the spectrum embraced it. I think on the day we will be something very different to experience and I’m positive the Sweden Rocks’ audience will appreciate that. I’m sure it will be a fun day all round for everybody and after all that’s what everyone wants and what music is all about!
Again, thank you for answering our questions. Finally, I would like to say a very warm welcome to Sweden in June. I look forward to watching your show at Sweden Rock!
Sweden Rock Festival äger rum i Sölvesborg och det är 3-6 juni som ska markeras i kalendern.
Klara band är bl.a Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Mötley Crüe, Toto, Slash, Ace Frehley, Backyard Babies, Five Finger Death Punch, The Darkness, Ghost, Airbourne, Opeth, Meshuggah, Extreme, Hammerfall, D-A-D, Children Of Bodom, Gojira, Dokken, Michael Monroe, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Molly Hatchet och Lucifer’s Friend.
Mer info och biljetter: www.swedenrock.com
