My life in lockdown: Singer Fish talks finishing his new album, remembering how to drive, and making movies

As the frontman of prog rock legends Marillion, Fish (real name Derek Dick) shot to superstardom in the Eighties, selling over 15 million albums worldwide, before embarking on a successful solo career.
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In the second in our exclusive series - with more famous names to come - the Evening News caught up with Dalkeith-born Fish to find out how he is coping under lockdown.

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What is the best thing about lockdown?

Singer Fish.Singer Fish.
Singer Fish.

The total change in tempo. Life seems to have gone from a frenetic tango to a waltz and I am enjoying the rhythm change. I'm lucky we live in the country and have a large kitchen garden and overall space to escape in and to.

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My wife Simone and I have welcomed the lack of demands and intrusions and taken advantage of the peace and quiet to enjoy quality time together.

I find I'm getting more done and enjoying doing it more - tidying up clutter and sorting things out that have been waiting on getting sorted out for quite a while. In what might seem like a perverse way, I actually have come to enjoy it.

What is the worst?

Going out, remembering how to drive a car, and mentally preparing to stand in supermarket queues with the obligatory mask and hand gel aplenty, waiting to dance your way gingerly through people traffic, hoping you remember everything to get in a particular aisle as the arrows don't let you retrace your steps.

Have you been more creative during lockdown?

I just finished recording my new album, Weltschmerz, in February - so since the lockdown I've been heavily involved in listening to sound mixes sent over from my producer, Calum Malcolm, who has his own studio in Fife.

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Assembling all the content for production, overseeing the manufacturing and getting everything set up for release at the end of September takes up a fair bit of time. And being at home with no tours on the horizon means I am doing a lot more internet interviews and promotion.

Every Friday at 6pm, on the Fish Facebook pages, I have a live Q&A session for nearly two hours where I play new material and generally spread stories and anecdotes amongst incoming online questions from fans.

We reached 80k people online last week.

The interest on our mail order site at fishmusic.scot has meant we can survive and it can compensate in some way to the touring I've lost so far.

The way we are set up here with my own label and mail order service has meant we have been more capable of riding the storm than most. The Royal Mail and delivery guys have been outstanding at keeping the postal services going. It's been a godsend to a lot of small businesses.

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We also have a 'Funny Farm Kitchen Garden' Facebook page, where I have started making short movies about what we do out in the garden.

I shoot the footage and send it over online to my director friend, David Barras, in Edinburgh, who edits and sends it back for it to be posted up.

It's picked up a lot of interest from fans who are budding gardeners. It's just an amateur/beginners take on it all - and not in the league of Monty Don or the Beechgrove team, but it's fun to create and fool about with.

What’s your exercise routine?

There's a cross trainer machine and a yoga mat in the outside shed, and my wife is making me feel guilty when she turns up the music when she works out. But for me at the moment, heading out to the garden for a few hours every day keeps mind and body healthy.

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Not great for my weary back - and with my 'spine repair guy' in lockdown himself, I'm wary of overdoing things.

Having a torn tendon in my shoulder just now doesn't help, but that treatment is going to take a while as the NHS have far more important things to deal with at present.

What's the first thing you plan to do when the restrictions are lifted?

I want to hug my daughter Tara.

A Message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

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Joy Yates

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