Mark joins Tallulah from backstage in Bonn as Marillion's German tour begins with the live debut of "Ribbons and Lace." The book's final chapter covers the story behind "Gaza," the Frankfurt cement mixer accident, sudden hearing loss, marathon mishaps, a famous F1 fan, and a Nick Cave encounter.

A little pre-tour update...

Mark and Tallulah are joined by David Stopps, the promoter behind Friars Aylesbury, which he founded in 1969 and has run for 56 years. David recalls the club's earliest nights — including King Crimson and Genesis — managing Marillion for 5 short weeks, managing Howard Jones, and the Kickstarter behind Aylesbury's David Bowie "Earthly Messenger" statue. Plus Marillion's hometown return on 21 September.

Links:

How to make a Living from Music - David Stopps

David Bowie "Earthly Messenger" statue, Aylesbury

Friars Aylesbury

Stagehand (the road-crew charity David fundraised for during Covid)

In this mini episode for our Patreon members we discuss two very different cover version of two Marillion songs, Beautiful and Trap the Spark. We also discuss the work of Thea Gilmore and more. You can hear the music yourself by clicking on the links below.

I'll post the "Number Station" jam here in a few days.

Credits: Nikki Holland - Musical Direction, Arrangement, and Lead Vocals
Mike Gusway - Bass, Funk Master, and Arrangement
Tristan Marshall-Diver, Jamal "King Mellowman" Clarke, and a special guest - Vocals
Terry Birkett - Lead Guitar
Doug Austin - Drums

https://nikkihollandmusic.bandcamp.com/track/beautiful

Credits: Ella de Jong – vocals Herman Woltman – guitar and vocals Bart Soeters – bass Willem Smid – drums Fay Lovsky – other guitar parts Ruben Mulder – Hammond organ Lyrics translated by Tsead Bruinja

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nVvbCG9Ap9o&si=BeZVOEzSsdiuJjIT

https://open.spotify.com/track/6wFXO0uo3NHizLg9uHb1vD?si=08fd7a837b434002

https://ellaandherman1.bandcamp.com/track/spikerje-in-wolk

Credits: Written by Thea Gilmore. Played and produced by Thea Gilmore. Additional programming & Production: Seadna McPhail. Additional Acoustic Guitar: Jim Kirkpatrick. Keyboards: Asher Stonier

https://www.theagilmore.net/echo

Mark and Tallulah are joined by Guy Vickers — barrister by day, musician and lyricist by night — the man behind the lyrics on Mark Kelly's Marathon and the legal brain behind Marillion's battle with EMI.

• 00:25 — Introducing Guy: weekend warrior, full-time barrister

• 03:13 — How Pete's dinner introduction kicked off the EMI streaming dispute

• 06:03 — The dissolved companies crisis: six months to save the pre-'96 royalties

• 10:05 — Pitching the box sets to EMI, and Fish's pub reunion proposal

• 13:27 — Marathon begins: number stations, spies and lyrics as relationship code

• 19:30 — The Anthropocene concept and what makes a human human

• 21:02 — Writing Amelia and 2051: Earhart, Kubrick, Clarke and Stephen Hawking

• 23:00 — Finding Ollie and hearing Amelia sung for the first time in New Orleans

• 29:15 — Why "Marathon"? The Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow logic

• 34:07 — The lost song about plagiarism (and Led Zeppelin's borrowed blues)

• 39:00 — Why Amelia crashed: Morse code, blind spots and unknown unknowns

• 43:47 — Wingsuits, risk and how you'd want to go out

This week we dive into Mark's years on the FAC and PPL boards, fighting for artists' rights while Marillion were being short-changed by their old EMI deal. The lawsuit that followed and the after-the-event insurance gambit, the sleepless night when EMI claimed Marillion had no legal standing because Marillion Limited had been dissolved! Plus the Portugal writing session that ended in a tactless row with H over a lyric, and the six-month silence that followed.

This week Mark calls in from Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios — with a quick video tour and the story of meeting Peter Gabriel for the first time.

Then into deputising for Adam Wakeman in Travis (with "drink beer" written across half the setlist) and a candid post-mortem on Somewhere Else — the dropped pre-order, the EP that never was, Mike Hunter's confidence taking a hit, and which songs hold up (and which really don't). Plus "Almost a Midwife Mark", and the tweet that got Mark to delete Twitter, tour meet-ups, and a Marillion quiz coming for Patreon members.

This week we answer your questions. If you have a question for inclusion on a future episode ask it on our Patreon "Questions questions" chat.