Ian Mosley has been the drummer in Marillion for more than 20 years, joining them just in time for the recording of their second studio album, Fugazi. Prior to joining the band in 1984, Ian had toured extensively with ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett as well as appearing on several of Steve's albums, including Highly Strung, Till We Have Faces, Time Lapse Live, and Feedback. Before joining the world of rock-and-roll Ian appeared in the West End, playing in the orchestra for the musical Hair and also playing drums for Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar. I caught up with Ian on the eve of the UK leg of the Somewhere Else tour.

Hi Ian and thanks for talking to us here at Hardrockhouse. You’ve just completed the European leg of the tour, how did the shows over there go?

IM - Well I got back from Poland yesterday and the gigs have been amazing, usually there are one or two that you look back on and say were outstanding but every single gig has been great. And also the weather across Europe has been really good, we were in Hungary the other day and it was 32 degrees, Poland was 25 or 26 and we get back to England and I find out it’s been raining for a week (laughs). But yeah all the gigs have been great, it’s a bit of a slog at the end of the tour because we’ve been in places like Bratislava and Poland and so we’ve been doing overnighters on the bus and the roads are not quite up to scratch yet in certain places.

Was that the first time you’ve played in Hungary?

IM - Yes it was very nice, I always like going to new places and that was one of them and of course the crowd were well up for it. And then we finished the Polish leg of the tour by doing a radio show for a station called Roxy FM in Warsaw and it was the smallest gig in the world. We played to 15 competition winners who were sat on sofas in a living room and we had the full backline, it was very bizarre (laughs) but very good. We toured Poland before the wall came down but its very different now, there is a lot of money being pumped into the place, a lot of investment going on over there.

Looking at the set list so far you seem to have been rotating it pretty much every night

IM - Well we always say were going to do that and usually what happens is that the sets start off at two and a half hours long and as the tour goes on it gets whittled down to an hour and 45 but this time we have actually managed to do it. We try to keep the core numbers in but we got to the point where we would say to the audience “any requests” and if it’s a track we had rehearsed up then we would play it. In fact if it’s a track we haven’t rehearsed up then we try and do it anyway but more often than not it’s a disaster (laughs)…especially given the keyboard programming element. We’ve been trying to rotate every show really, and if the shows are close together then it’s more important.

Well you always seem to get a pretty large travelling contingent that will follow the band from city to city

IM - We seem to yes, and they seem to be quite pleased that we have been chopping and changing the set and it is good to do it like that really for the band aswell, it keeps that feeling of spontaneity.

How have the new songs been going over, any that stand out for you?

IM - I think the title track seems to be going down really well and a particular favourite of mine is one called ‘Voice From The Past‘. I really like that track and I think it’s a really good arrangement, the lyric and the music; it‘s almost like it plays itself. Sitting behind the drums you can usually tell what’s going down well and definitely those two have been doing so.

‘Most Toys’ seems to be a bit of a controversial one…

IM - Yes you either seem to hate it or love it really (laughs); and it’s strange because one night we asked for requests, I can’t remember which city we were in, and they all shouted out for ‘Most Toys’, I think we’ve played it three or four times over the European tour…but yes it has proven to be quite controversial and split the fan base. I don’t mind it, it is what it is really…I think out of the whole band then it is Mark’s least favourite track on the album

Reviews have been really positive, is this something that’s still important to you?

IM - Its always nice to get good reviews but we’ve never really taken much notice of it. We got really good press for Marbles and yes it is a good thing and we have had some good press and got back in the charts and that’s a great thing really. The previous album wasn’t chart eligible but this one was and it appears to have done really well. I haven’t actually had a chance to see the sales figures yet, I’m just home for a couple of days and I’m just repairing a few things before we start again

And you have the single coming out soon, last time around you managed a couple of Top 20 hits

IM - It’s good to have a chart position and raise the profile of the band and try to get through to the people who still think we split up 15 years ago. So yes, we’ve got the single coming out in a week or so and if that does anything in the charts then that will help aswell. And the more successful the band is then the more money we can put into the shows and put a better gig on and that’s what it is about for us really, I mean we are still an albums band we’ll see what happens.

Anyone buying the single might be surprised to see a Britney Spears song as one of the extra tracks, a live version of ‘Toxic’ no less

IM - Well we did it for a laugh at the convention in Holland and it just went down a storm so why not (laughs), it was just a one off although we might do it at some point I don’t know…we haven’t actually spoken about that one. We might do it on the last night of the tour although we haven’t actually rehearsed it. It was strange that 2 weeks after we had played it at the Convention she went into rehab and had shaved her head.

The Marillion Weekend Conventions have become a pretty regular event now, every two years or so, any thoughts on where the next one might be?

IM - It’s too soon to say really, I mean the last one was brilliant. One of the major pluses was that we built our own venue for the gig and the accommodation was just so much better than Butlins. The logistics of doing it in Holland were quite complicated though; we thought we might try it but we were quite nervous with the thought of getting people out to Holland. We were quite lucky with the weather, it was snowing the week before we went and the week after it flooded (laughs) but when we had the Convention it was beautiful.

You worked with a different producer this time around, Mike Hunter. Was it a case of having gone as far as you could with Dave Meegan?

IM - Well, not really, we think Dave’s a genius but we have had a relationship with Mike since the Brave album and he mixed some of the tracks from Marbles and whilst he was mixing them we thought it was time we gave him a try. So we invited him down to the studio to stay for a few weeks whilst we were writing to see how we got on and it just worked really well. He came in very early on the writing process and recorded everything whilst we were jamming and put it all together. I think the first track he played me was ‘Last Century For Man’ and I was knocked out by the string arrangements he had done on the second half of it. So Mike really is an inspiration to be around he’s just a 24 hour musician really; actually he’s a 23 hour musician and the other hour is football (laughs) and when he has a day off he’ll be off to see a band or doing a music course and he’s a really lovely guy

You’ve already announced that the next studio album will be out next year; how much of that one has already been worked on?

IM - We’ve got about 7 or 8 tracks recorded and we’re going to review them all when the tour is over and we’ll go back into the studio and do a bit more writing. So we’re probably more than half way along and the tracks are really strong and everyone’s really pleased with them.

With Marillion being so busy at the moment it doesn’t leave you much time for solo projects….it’s been a while since your last one

IM - The solo projects for me are more of a collaboration really, getting people I like in to come down to our recording studio for a few days when the band are on some down time. If I haven’t played for a few weeks then I get a bit twitchy. So if the studio is available and I can get some people together who are fun to play with then I’ll just do it. At the moment there are no plans because Marillion are so busy but I would like to do something guitar based next time, my son plays guitar, he’s 19 and well into very heavy rock so I wouldn’t mind having a go with him and there’s a rumour I might do a track with Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden at some time in the future….so I’m always up for suggestions.

You could always call up your old mate Steve Hackett…

IM - I haven’t spoken to Steve for ages actually but he’s a really nice guy and an outstanding guitarist and if he was around and up for it then I’d love to go back in the studio with him. It really depends on who’s around and it’s really just about going into the studio and having a good time and working with people who are fun.

So 14 albums …how long can Marillion carry on for?

IM - Well when I first joined the band I gave it a couple of years and all know is that the tour so far as been great, there has been a really good atmosphere and everyone feels as far as albums go that we are still moving forward. It’s not a case of us recording the same album all of the time; and whilst everyone is really happy and healthy then…well I know I would like it to go on for as long as possible…