Rising to prominence more than four decades ago, FISH (Derek Dick) joined neo-prog rock band, Marillion as the lead singer and lyricist. Between 1981 and 1988, he released 11 UK Top 40 singles with the band, including Lavender and Kayleigh, and albums including Misplaced Childhood. Following his departure from Marillion, he launched his hugely successful solo career,and has gone on to release numerous Top 40 singles and a Top 10 album.
Ahead of his highly-anticipated, and final solo headline tour across the UK later this year, we caught up with the legendary singer-songwriter to chat all things touring, living in the moment, plans for retirement and more!
Read all about it below... and book your tickets for his Farewell Tour: Road To The Isles now.
Coming down of a demanding and hugely successful European tour took me a while to recover from but it has set me up beautifully for the UK leg. I’ll be chilling for a while but after the New Year I revise on my homework and start singing in the shower a bit more.
I’ll be on our new home, the croft on the island in the Outer Hebrides so there will be a quite few opportunities for walking the beach and singing along to the setlist playing in my buds. It’ll keep the seals entertained.
The tour has been fantastic so far and I’ve been enjoying the performances and the shows as every one of them has been special for many reasons. There’s been quite a bit of emotion around but all in all I’m feeling relaxed and comfortable with it all and enjoying the moment.
One of the finest bands I’ve ever worked with playing a diverse set full of old favourites from across my career with an incredible energy and passion that has made every show memorable. And the singer is in pretty good shape and enjoying himself more than ever on stage.
I had to choose from such a huge catalogue of songs but pick out the ones I really wanted to play with the full electric band for the final time. It was tough and there have been a couple of songs I’ve missed out but there’s 37 songs in the musicians’ lockers so enough to choose from for the setlists. We are onstage for just over 2 hours so getting the set list right every night is a challenge as there’s you’re trying to mix up the songs so there’s a good dynamic and the curve of the performance doesn’t break. You’re trying to design a rollercoaster very night with fast bits, calming bits, huge rises, and euphoric drops and never making it boring.
Nothing out of the ordinary to be honest. The band rider, not my personal rider has a few bottles of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a couple of bottles of Shiraz, a few Weissbier’s and others and of course ham and cheese sandwiches, the classic tour favourite. Oh and a pig dressed like a jester!
Everyone getting older and it doesn’t appear I’ve tapped into a teen audience. I’ve not had the Britney Spears endorsement yet. It’s loyal fans in the main who have supported me throughout my career who are the core audience, but I think I’ve picked up quite a few stragglers that lost contact with my solo career and found it again through the Fish on Friday programmes on Facebook and of course, Spotify finds.
I sleep in a bed that doesn’t move as soon as I’m off the bus and can get into the hotel room. Up late afternoon / early evening for a long hot shower then after email and accounts duties, I go online to find a recommended restaurant to hunt down. Hopefully have a great dinner then back to the hotel... and if no one is in the bar for a last one for the road. Then I head to my room for a spot of Netflix and sleep. That’s how boring it is now. It’s all about recovery and getting ready for the next gig. Days off are now exactly what they say in the itinerary. All night partying went long ago.
That story is way too long for here. In short, my wife and I wanted a new adventure, so we bought a croft on a small island in the Outer Hebrides and we are going there after the tour. I’ll be gardening and writing books and my wife is running a small restaurant and café on the croft. I never thought I’d be finishing a tour and going straight into a lambing season.
Not really. I knew there was an end game, and I didn’t want to end up singing ‘Kayleigh’ for the rest of my life on a chicken in a basket circuit or at 80’s revival festivals. My last album ‘Weltschmerz’ was the best I had created since ‘Vigil’ and had brilliant reviews and was acclaimed by fans. That was where I wanted to leave it. I left ‘Marillion’ after our best album and I’m leaving my solo career after the finest album and a great tour. That’s how I think it should be done.
It felt really good. I was closing the circle and polishing up a couple of outstanding treasures in my catalogue. A good way to close down the Chocolate Frog Record Company that has been dealing with my albums on mail order for the last 15 years or so. The first two solo albums, remixed and repackaged in deluxe editions as the label’s final releases. A cool circle. The new versions are stunning, and they will all be gone by the end of the tour. All the existing solo catalogue can be found on my website.
Closing the label down is as emotional as the gigs as it’s been a huge part of my life and without which and the support of fans buying from us, I wouldn’t have made it this far.
At the moment, it’s ‘Plague of Ghosts’ the 20 min epic from the 'Raingods with Zippos’ album. It’s got a whole new lease of life and the band have come together to create a whole new dynamic bristling with drama and energy.
Marillion memories? Too many to mention. You can read about them in the autobiography I’m going to be writing on the island.
Not really to be honest, maybe David Gilmour. I’m not the easiest to work with as I can get strong views on where songs go and I need counter balance. Steve Vantsis and I developed a strong writing relationship over the last three albums and I’m sure we will find it hard to not get together at some time in the future to work on a project of some kind or other.
There’s no plans... My connection with the film world will hopefully be with screenplays.
As I said I want to develop my writing skills and get working on memoirs rather than a straightforward autobiography. There’s a new vegetable garden to be designed, dug and filled to support the restaurant and farm shop with bakery my wife is putting together. She’s running a restaurant and cafe on the croft. We’ve got 13 sheep just now and next April after the tour we hope to have around 20 more lambs. The croft is a brand-new adventure for us both and we are looking forward to the challenges. It’s not retirement by any stretch of the imagination.
See above.
Bidding a final goodbye to the music industry after four decades of hits, memories and touring, FISH will be playing thirteen celebratory and emotional shows.
Many of these dates are now sold out - tickets are still available for Portsmouth, Bristol, Aylesbury, Newcastle Upon Tyne and Nottingham. Book tickets or sign-up to the waiting list for all other dates below.
