Marillion ( B12 )

The bulk of the funds for the memorial were raised at a gig held at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury on the evening of the unveiling which Marillion headlined, alongside Howard Jones, John Otway and the Dung Beatles, all of whom have close association to Aylesbury and in particular, the Friars.

Line-up, influences and sound changes

"One of the reasons we're still together is because we're successful enough that we can still make a living, but we're not so successful that we can afford to do nothing."

—Mark Kelly in 2016

Marillion's music has changed stylistically throughout their career. The band themselves stated that each new album tends to represent a reaction to the preceding one, and for this reason their output is difficult to 'pigeonhole'. Although the band has featured two very distinct and different vocalists, the core instrumental line-up of Steve Rothery (lead guitar, and the sole 'pre-Fish' original member), Pete Trewavas (bass), Mark Kelly (keyboards) and Ian Mosley (drums) has been unchanged since 1984.

Their 1980s sound (with Fish on vocals) was guitar and keyboard-led neo-progressive rock. They have been described at their outset as "a bridge between punk and classic progressive rock". Guitarist Steve Rothery wrote most of the music during the period Fish was in the band. Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers commented, "What I love so much about Marillion is that they could be very strong and powerful and have very quiet passages, but the powerful stuff was really edgy and heavy... I just thought he (Fish) wrote good lyrics, and they wrote good music, and it fit together effortlessly."

They were often compared unfavourably by critics during the Fish era with the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis, although the band had many other influences. Fish was influenced by a wide range of artists and his favourite albums were by artists such as Van der Graaf Generator, Joni Mitchell, the Who, Pink Floyd, John Martyn, Yes, Lowell George, Led Zeppelin, Roy Harper, the Faces, the Beatles and Supertramp. Rothery's main influences were Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, David Gilmour, Andrew Latimer of Camel, Steve Hackett, Jeff Beck and Joni Mitchell, with Gordon Giltrap also an early influence on the development of his playing style.

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