Marillion are one of the UK music scene’s best kept secrets; purveyors of soulful, powerful, and often deeply-moving music, with a long-standing reputation for blistering live shows which have earned them an impressive and faithful global fanbase.

Steve "h" Hogarth fronts the band (original lead-singer, "Fish", having departed in 1988) and brought a new heart and energy to the band when arriving in 1989 and becoming lead-vocal/lyricist.
Predictions of doom were swiftly dispelled, as across a further TWELVE albums, Hogarth – along with existing members Steve Rothery (guitar), Mark Kelly(keyboards), Pete Trewavas (bass), and Ian Mosley (drums) – reinvigorated and constantly redefined Marillion’s sound. They forged into new musical territories with a succession of inventive, emotional albums, displaying little regard to the vagaries of the musical "Fashion Police", or radio playlists. The line-up remains unchanged to this day.
After the release of 1999’s ‘marillion.com’ the band banished the spectre of record company pressure once and for all by launching their own record label (the aptly-named Intact imprint) and freeing themselves up to produce some of the finest music of their career.

Thanks to their much lauded (and much copied) pioneering Internet-based rock n'roll business model, Marillion have developed a unique and intimate relationship with their fans. From sponsoring entire tours of the USA to funding the recording of recent albums, Marillion’s global fan-base is unique in its affection and dedication.

As a result, such passionate, wholesale support has allowed Marillion to step outside of the conventional music industry and find their own path.
In 2001 ‘Anoraknophobia’ saw Marillion take the groundbreaking step of asking fans to pre-order an album 12 months before release. An amazing 12,000 people signed up, helping to finance the recording. The band once again took pre-orders for the 2004 masterpiece ‘Marbles,’ but this time the money was channelled into a campaign fund to promote its launch.
When singles ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’ and ‘You’re Gone‘ breached the UK top 20 – the latter making it all the way to number 7 – jaws dropped right across the music world.
Not bad going for a band without major label backing.
But it was merely the latest twist in the history of a group who have held on to the conviction that what they’re doing MEANS something more than entertainment or selling records.
The band has evolved into a vibrant musical force – to those who already love Marillion, they’re something special; to everyone else they’re a love affair waiting to happen.

During 2012 the band continued the writing and recording of their 17th studio album 'Sounds That Can't Be Made' at the Racket Club & Real World Studios. Sounds That Can't Be Made was released on the 17 September 2012 in both a Deluxe CD/DVD & Standard CD formats. The accompanying tour saw the band play a string of gigs in North and South America and all over Europe continuing on into 2013.

'LESS IS MORE' ACOUSTIC ALBUM PRESS RELEASE 2009

earMUSIC, the Hamburg-based international pop/rock label part of the Edel Group, is proud to announce the renewal of its relationship with one of the most original and innovative names in English rock: Marillion, and their label Racket Records.

Marillion, known for embracing a direct “fan business model” through their marillion.com website, years before anybody else, have maintained complete artistic control over their music, to the recognition of a continuously growing passionate fanbase.

Marillion/Racket and earMUSIC first joined forces in 2009 for the release of the album “Less is More” (the first worldwide deal Marillion chose to strike after many years of total independence). The “traditional” distribution in retail stores through Edel will complement the activity Marillion are conducting through their website, offering many titles not available elsewhere.

Releasing over 20 UK Top40-Hits, more than 15 studio albums and touring all over the world Marillion have remained one of the most innovative and musically diverse bands in the UK music scene. They have maintained a constant presence for over 25 years and were recently referred to by Classic Rock magazine as “A National Treasure.”

The final night of the “Less is More” tour (December 7th, 2009) was filmed in HD by 9 cameras to capture a rarely-seen intimacy of performance-detail while the soundtrack was mixed in 5.1 DTS surround mix by Marillion producer Michael Hunter. These factors combine to capture the overwhelming warmth and Christmas atmosphere of the final night of this unusual tour.

Soon to be available on February 18th, 2011, you can relive this experience in high definition Blu-Ray Disc (the first ever for Marillion) as well as 2-disc set DVD and CD. The performance follows the same approach as the “Less Is More” album, in which the band completely reinvented their songs chosen from across the last 20 years, often re-writing the music entirely into alternative acoustic arrangements. This experimental approach sees the band playing dulcimer, autoharp, celeste, glockenspiel, xylophone and pipe organ revealing the musical flexibility and depth of this extraordinary rock 5-piece whilst giving new space and focus to Rothery’s sublime guitar playing and Hogarth’s incredible voice.

Steve Hogarth says:

“It’s interesting for instance, how the alteration of melody, chords and arrangement on “Hard as Love” completely changes the meaning of the song from an overall feeling of anger and menace in the original, to one of sadness and resignation now, without one word being changed. I loved this tour – it was great to have the sonic space for the subtleties in the voice to be heard and for the meaning of the words to be more exposed. It was also cool to watch the boys swapping instruments and be in amongst all those different colours. I think this movie really captures a new face of the many faces of Marillion”

On top of the full album tracklist, the band revisit 10 additional classics during the more uptempo second set of crowd-pleasers, again with many surprises for those who have only heard the studio originals. While the band is taking it’s time (as usual!) to write and record a new studio album to follow the tradition of excellence that earned them the trust of the best fanbase in the world, Marillion´s label Racket Records will announce new releases in the upcoming months.