The first album from Fish for five years was partly inspired by a visit to the Somme battlefields where he made a poignant discovery. The former Marillion frontman speaks to Matt Westcott ahead of gigs at The Sage in Gateshead and the Arc in Stockton

IN his time with progressive rock band Marillion, Fish tackled many a difficult subject. He continued in that vein when he went solo at the end of the 1980s, but the task he set himself for his latest album, Feast Of Consequences, is perhaps the most onerous he has ever undertaken.

Having split from his second wife after only six months of marriage and undergone surgery to save his voice, Fish went through what he calls “one of the blackest periods of my life”.

His journey back to the light took in a voyage of self-discovery which included the likes of Vietnam, Cuba and latterly the Somme battlefields.

All provided memories that he used to inspire his song-writing, but it was the visit to the village of Beaumont Hamel in 2011 which had the biggest effect on him and led to a five-song suite titled The High Wood.

“I inadvertently found myself sleeping in a bed and breakfast place that had been built in what used to be No Man’s Land,” says the 55-yearold.

“I discovered after about 48 hours that I had actually been about 100 metres away from where my maternal grandfather had been involved in digging a trench line as part of the Eighth Royal Scots Battalion.

“I saw a place called The High Wood, which is up on the Bazentin Ridge. It was the scene of a dreadful battle. The place had a profound effect on me. It was later that I started to read up on it and discovered that in an area about the size of six football pitches, 8,000 men had disappeared and were never traced.

“The wood was blown away to below stump level and yet it has regrown and is now the same as it was in 1914. I found that, in the sense of the world we live in and in the sense of Mother Nature and how it always comes back and reclaims itself, quite fascinating.

“My grandfather dug a trench called ‘Thistle Alley’ and so I was going to write a couple of songs, but it turned into this five-song suite.” The songs, The High Wood, Crucifix Corner, The Gathering, Thistle Alley and The Leaving, take the listener through the First World War and its horrors right up to the Afghanistan conflict and modern warfare.

“It is the most difficult set of lyrics I have ever dealt with,” says Fish. “It has got to be right.”

Had things been different, Fish could have found himself on the battlefield.

“I nearly joined the Army. I was up for Sandhurst and all sorts of stuff, but at that time I just wasn’t mature enough. I have never dealt with authority well.

“But I was always interested in military history. My mother said recently: ‘I find it interesting you have gone full circle. You started yourself off with military history, have gone all the way round on the rock and roll wheel and come all the way back’. It’s got to the point where I am actually looking at getting involved with an archaelogical dig at Beaumont Hamel next year, the 100th anniversary of the First World War.”

Fish believes the descendants of those who fought in conflicts have a duty to ensure their sacrifices are not forgotten.

“I think there is an obligation upon us to remember those things. I remember when I was in the Boys’ Brigade, marching in Dalkeith on Armistice Day with the old guys at the front. I knew a lot of old soldiers and I was lucky that both my grandfathers came back,” he said.

“There is a certain obligation and it has been like discovering a very elaborate family tree. A lot of people forget about the First World War, those generations have gone and those soldiers have faded away. I think it is important we remember what happened. I find it very hard to let even my imagination get into some of the stories and the history of those places.”

His 12-date tour, which begins this week, takes in large parts of England and Scotland, but aside from his homeland, it is in the North-East that he feels the greatest affinity.

“There is a certain kindred spirit between people in the North-East and Scotland,” he says. “I have always had a lot of affection for the Newcastle area.

“I think the sense of community is one of the most prevalent things that bonds us. Newcastle, and the North- East in general, came through that industrial revolution. There is definitely an empathy between us.

“Because of the way I tend to write my lyrics it brings out a certain passion as well, there is an identification.”

  • Fish plays The Sage at Gateshead on Sunday and the Arc in Stockton on Tuesday. For more details on Fish, his work, the tour and how you can buy albums, visit fishheadsclub.com