by Alexandra Mrozowska
— Senior Columnist —
When a member of a renowned band decides to branch out and see about a side project, it’s more often than not an infamously dubbed ‘supergroup’ they find themselves a part of. Pairing one big name with others often works in commercial terms, but a clash of egos may be inevitable too. Is it one of the reasons why Mark Kelly, the longtime keyboard player of Marillion, joined forces with relatively unknown musicians to form his solo band, Mark Kelly’s Marathon…? “I didn’t want people to have preconceived ideas about what it might sound like,” says Mark, the ‘it’ he’s talking about being the project’s self-titled debut out on November 27 via earMUSIC. But there’s more to Mark Kelly than just an artistic side to his persona. Initially, we sat down to talk the upcoming Marathon album and all the news from Marillion’s camp. However, the conversation eventually shifted to twists and turns of the music industry Mark’s been a part of for four decades, from streaming services and music piracy to a phenomenon he’s credited with inventing – crowdfunding…
Hardrock Haven: Alongside your career in Marillion, you founded your own project Mark Kelly’s Marathon in 2018. What’s prompted such an idea?
Mark Kelly: Well, I’ve been talking about doing a solo album for many years, but not really seriously, to be honest. First I started talking about it ‘round about 1995, but I wasn’t really into it as I’m not really good at working on my own. I like to collaborate with people, so I never got really far with it and it just was one of these things that I’ve always been thinking in terms of, “Ah, maybe one day I’ll do it”, but I was in no hurry. And then, a few years ago that changed when a friend of mine mentioned that he writes lyrics and said, “How would you like me to write some lyrics for some music from you?” So I sent him some music which was mainly some ideas that I had from working with Marillion that were never used. When Marillion write albums, we jam a lot and we come up with a lot of ideas and most of them never get used. These were ones I particularly liked, so I sent them to him and he basically wrote the lyrics for the song “Amelia” to go with the music that I sent him. And that was the start of it really. So, then I started looking around to see if I could find another people to work with to create the music ‘cause I don’t play anything apart from keyboards. I asked my nephew, who’s 23 and a musician and used to working on his own – he plays the guitar and bass and programs drums and does production – if he liked to work with me and he helped me develop the ideas to the point when they were ready for somebody to sing them. And trying to find a singer took me about a year (laughs). I was looking on Spotify – looking for bands there that were completely unknown. You know, there’s thousands of bands there that have got like a few thousands streams – ones that nobody’s heard of. And I would literally just randomly select [them] and listen to the singers and see if I had anybody I liked. And one day I came across this band called Big Blue Ball. As I was listening, I thought, “This guy’s got really good. He’s got a great voice. He sounds a lot like Peter Gabriel. He would be perfect for me.” Anyway, I checked out and this guy actually was Peter Gabriel (laughs). It was some project that he did in 2007 and it’s on Spotify and it’s called Big Blue Ball… It’s actually really good, but anyway, it wasn’t very helpful because obviously I couldn’t ask Peter Gabriel to sing. But I was telling this story about me mistaking Peter Gabriel for somebody unknown in an interview I did, and a friend of mine read it, and called me up and said, “I know just the guy for you. If you want somebody that’s got a voice like Peter Gabriel, check this guy out.” And that was Ollie Smith, who I invited to have a go at singing with me. So, that’s how I found Ollie. And from there, we worked and it actually came together as an album. But the reason it happened this year, I suppose, as well is because I always imagined going into the studio with the band and recording the album in a traditional way. And I was always trying to find the time, and Marillion would start working on our next studio album at the beginning of this year… And then after the COVID thing happened and everybody went into lockdown, I was at home and I phoned up the rest of the guys from Marathon and said, “Well, how about everybody record their parts at home?” So because of the fact that we had three or four months with nothing to do, I managed to get it recorded. So this year’s actually been quite creative for me – even though it’s been pretty bad for a lot of people, I’ve actually had a good year so far.
Hardrock Haven: Not only you I guess – so it was for most of the musicians I talked with recently… Anyway, you’ve just mentioned that material you recorded under the moniker of Mark Kelly’s Marathon is in part unused material written for Marillion. Why didn’t Marillion use it in the first place? Was it too different stylistically, or were there just too many ideas coming up to use them all?
Mark Kelly: Well, I think it’s a number of things. Definitely we come up with too many ideas; we’ve got well over a thousand unused ideas… Stylistically, I’m not sure. Some of them certainly to me sound like they could have been used by Marillion. And it’s not all unused ideas – mainly the ideas in the song “Amelia” and other bits and pieces but most of this was the stuff that I came up by myself or with Conal, the bass player. It’s a difficult question to answer – I suppose there are some things I know Marillion probably wouldn’t have wanted to do. There’s this song on the album called “Puppets” which has got a piano vocal introduction verse and to me, it sounds like a Progressive Rock style. It’s more like old Marillion than modern Marillion I suppose, and with Marillion there’s always been a desire to move on and do something different – not to sort of do music which maybe sounds like it might have been from the past. Whereas with my solo album, I was sort of being a bit nostalgic really and trying to create something that reminded me of when I first started liking music. I wanted to make an album that was… well, not a concept album, but in that sort of style.
Hardrock Haven: You’ve mentioned the moment when you got into music – what albums or artists are you so nostalgic about?
Mark Kelly: Mostly Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson – that sort of thing really, the bands from the early ‘70s. It was probably the period I liked best and I think it’s just because I was a teenager at the time and that was what I grew up listening to. But I like songs that tell a story and that take you on the journey. That’s why quite a few songs on this album are long and there’s a song that’s fifteen minutes long and it’s not like verse-chorus-verse-chorus like a lot of songs. It’s what you’d call an episodic piece of music that moves through the different movements rather than being very repetitive like a lot of modern music. So that was the sort of thing I was trying to do. And even with the length of the album – it’s only forty five minutes long and I made it no longer just so it’d fit on the vinyl. It’s going to be released on vinyl with a cover painting which fits on a gatefold sleeve… I was being really nostalgic with my approach.
Hardrock Haven: You’ve also mentioned the fact that you were searching for an unknown singer for the band – and indeed, with the exception of guest performance by your Marillion bandmate Steve Rothery, there are no famous names credited on the album. What made you collaborate with this exact line-up and what did each of the musicians bring into the band?
Mark Kelly: I suppose I was looking for the unknown musicians because I didn’t want people to have preconceived ideas about what it might sound like. But somebody like the drummer, Henry Rogers – he’s somebody I’ve known for a number of years and he has played with quite a few other Progressive Rock bands. He’s a really good drummer, he’s young and I like his style, so I already knew I wanted him to play on it. With the guitar players, there’s a guitar player who’s called John Cordy and he’s completely unknown. The way I found him was that I asked Steve Rothery if he knew of any good guitar players, thinking he might suggest himself (laughs). He said “Well, I saw this guy on YouTube called John Cordy. You should check him out, he’s really good.” But they’ve never met before, so I messaged John and suggested that he might be interested and he was surprised that Steve Rothery has even heard of him (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: I can imagine his reaction (laughs).
Mark Kelly: (laughs) Yeah, his reaction was quite strange. But in the end Steve did actually play on the track “Puppets” once I explained to him that I would like him to do some guitar on one of the tracks. And the reason I asked him was because that piece of music that makes the chorus of that song was from a Marillion jam and Steve did play some lead guitar on it. And I wanted that guitar part and that sound. So since it was Steve, I said, “Can you please just do what you did in the jam?,” and he said “Yeah, no problem.” So that was how it came about.
Hardrock Haven: And is the recently released single “This Time” actually a rightful representative of the entire album?
Mark Kelly: Not at all (laughs). Well, I started up with releasing “Amelia” as the first track, because otherwise with “This Time” most people would say, “Oh yeah, it’s a short song, it’s really catchy and really instant…”
Hardrock Haven: …almost radio friendly to a certain extent.
Mark Kelly: Yes, but my issue with a song is that I really like it, but I was worried that if I started with that track and if it was the very first thing that people heard from the album, they might get the wrong idea of what sort of album it is. And so, “Amelia” represents the album better as a whole. But I think a ten minute track – which is how long “Amelia” is – is not ideal for a lot of radio [stations] or any possibility of having it head outside of Progressive Rock circle. So this time I thought now that “Amelia” is out and people can investigate something else from the album, this was a good option for a second single – something to maybe get a bit of extra interest from people that aren’t necessarily Marillion fans. Because that’s really the audience that I was first trying to appeal to. But now, with “This Time”, I’m hoping that people that aren’t Marillion fans but might be interested in it will hear it.
Hardrock Haven: Speaking about “This Time”, many reviewers point out to Pop influences in this song. As we talk this obvious association with the Progressive Rock circle, are you indeed influenced by Pop music too?
Mark Kelly: I think there isn’t a lot of difference really between the music that The Beatles were making in the ‘60s and that sort of music that maybe Genesis were making in the ‘70s, Both were being innovative, they were writing strong vocal melodies and strong musical passages. The [Beatles] songs were obviously much shorter, the singles. But I like music to have good melodies, I like it to be harmonic and catchy I suppose… but I also like it to be interesting as well, so it’s getting a balance really. With “This Time”, I came up with a verse for it. And the thing with Ollie as the singer is that he’s got a very commercial approach to singing, so he had some really instant and accessible melodies – which is probably why it sounds more like a Pop song. But I don’t mind that. I like Pop music too, although this I’d call more Pop-Rock really (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: Obviously, you’ve already said that you were working with a lyricist – Guy Vickers, to be exact. So it’s not about the lyrics precisely as for the overall themes for the album and one of them seems to be a communication breakdown among people. Do you think it’s an important topic to discuss in songs?
Mark Kelly: Well, if there is a theme, that’s probably a communication breakdown indeed and maybe also exploration because of both “Amelia” and “Twenty Fifty One”, the two longest tracks on the album, deal with both of these subjects in different ways. Even “This Time”, I suppose, is about communication ‘cause it’s about what happens possibly with long-distance relationships. Guy [Vickers] wrote the lyric and his wife’s American, so they spend a lot of time apart. He lives and works in the UK and they move between the UK and the USA, so he knows what it’s like. My partner is from Brazil, so we spent a number of years apart where we’ve been communicating by FaceTime… It’s difficult, but at least it’s possible. I think trying to have a relationship with somebody living in Brazil, in a different time zone and thousands of miles away, wouldn’t be at all possible twenty or thirty years ago. So I’m grateful that we had the technology to get us through two or three years of being apart. We’re living together now, so it’s all fine (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: Absolutely. According to what you’ve said a while ago, the pandemic sort of accelerated the process behind making the album. What about the other plans? You’ve mentioned that Marillion’s new album was in the works right before COVID hit…
Mark Kelly: Now it’s turning out okay, ‘cause when I finished the Marathon album in the summer, we’ve resumed the Marillion album and we’re actually back in the studio now. Well, maybe not today, but generally we have been in the studio most days working on the next Marillion album and it’s got to the stage now where we’ve been arranging some of the jams that we’ve had. And I suppose we’ve got twenty or thirty unfinished song ideas – parts – that we will now take to the next stage and narrow it down to make fifteen things some of which will end up on the finished album. We’ll be recording after the Christmas time, I reckon, and we’ll have it finished by the summer. But that’s a guess – I’m not saying that’s absolutely the timeline (laughs). But I’m expecting that’s what will be.
Hardrock Haven: It’s next year anyway, so that’s good news for the fans. And speaking of both Marillion and the pandemic, it’s amazing how Marillion stayed connected to their fans even in times like these. How did the idea for the virtual Marillion Couch Convention started?
Mark Kelly: That was Lucy Jordache, our manager, who suggested it. I don’t know how it all got started, but initially the idea was to try and do something to replace the Marillion Weekends that we’d normally be doing. You know, we got together every couple of years and we’re doing five or six all around the world each time now. We mainly do one in New Zealand and one in the UK… we’ve done one in Montreal, one in Santiago… But the Couch Convention was a way of just connecting with everybody and saying, “Let’s all do the same thing for a weekend,” which was not only streaming the Marillion shows, but also lots of other things going on as well. And it was quite nice for the band. We had quizzes and online chats with people, Steve Rothery did a cocktail making session (laughs) and I did a virtual park run with people… There was even a dog show (laughs). But it was amazing how people really got into that whole thing. And also, I never watch our videos. I never watch us playing on screen, but this time we sorta had to, because we were taking part in it. And it was quite a pleasant experience and being out to chat with people on messaging while it was happening was fun too. It was a good weekend.
Hardrock Haven: Looking back at decades of your career with Marillion, is there anything you’re particularly proud of?
Mark Kelly: Actually I’m proud of the fact that we’re still here. It’s amazing. We’re not hugely successful these days, but we are successful enough that we can make music for a living, which is great. I mean, I think that’s an achievement that we’ve been able to make music for a living for forty years. When I first joined Marillion, I said I would give it one year and see how it goes. And then… (laughs) Then we signed a record deal, and here we are. Next year will be my fortieth anniversary, so I think that’s amazing. I never would’ve expected then that we would still be here, making music, nearly forty years later.
Hardrock Haven: And is there anything you wish you hadn’t done?
Mark Kelly: “Regrets, I had a few…” (laughs). Not really. Things like I wish I’d paid more attention to what was going on with the business side of things in the early days of the band. But none of us did. We were too busy – kept too busy by everything that was happening. We could have been more sensible, but it’s nothing to be really worried about and nothing that keeps me awake at night I think. We survived. I think was probably the hardest period for Marillion; the late ‘90s and we survived that. It’s been actually the last five or six years we’ve been on the up; it’s not like we’re in decline, we’re actually playing nicer and bigger venues and selling out the places like the Royal Albert Hall in London… So it feels like we’re having a bit of renaissance for the last few years. That’s good time to be in Marillion (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: You’ve also mentioned this division between the ‘classic’ Marillion and what you currently do as well as the band wanting to move forward musically rather than look back. Are you satisfied with the way your music evolved throughout the years?
Mark Kelly: I am. I think that with Marillion we have to accept that there are five of us and that we work like a democracy. And I suppose you could draw a Venn diagram where our musical tastes are all different but we intersect somewhere in the middle – and that’s the area that we work in. Each of us push and pull in different directions, and what comes out is the Marillion sound. But over the years we were also really conscious of not repeating ourselves and not doing something that sounds like it might be something we could have done ten, twenty or thirty years ago. So that means that Marillion sound has evolved over the years. For me personally doing the Marathon project was a chance just to make some music. I was being a bit self-indulgent, just making the music that I just wanted to make. With Marathon I’m the boss (laughs) and I decide what music we make… So the rest of the guys brought a creative input into the process, but at the end of the day the final choice comes down to me, which is quite nice, you know…? (laughs)
Hardrock Haven: I guess so (laughs). Having been in the band for so long, you witnessed the major changes happening within the music industry. Did it change for the better, or for worse?
Mark Kelly: I have to say it’s generally worse than it was in some ways… Okay, the music industry’s fine. I’m not worried about the music industry – the record labels are doing okay and the demise of the music industry that was predicted with the whole filesharing, Napster and all that didn’t happen. And now we’ve got streaming services which are doing very well. But unfortunately, for a lot of bands, there’s less money than it used to be. I think it’s a difficult time and especially now that the bands can’t tour, I think it’s really hard. To be honest, for a lot of musicians to make a living [out of music] is practically impossible… So I think it’s a difficult time and I don’t know what will happen in the future… Hopefully, I was reading today that there’s a vaccine that’s ninety per cent effective that’s being created by Pfizer. If that turned out to be the case and everybody could get vaccinated and things could return to relative normality, I think it’d be really a sigh of relief for many musicians in the world that we can get back and play. That’s how musicians make their money these days. But on the whole, I’m optimistic about the future.
Hardrock Haven: Fingers crossed for the things to resolve. These days, many bands wouldn’t function without crowdfunding campaigns and you’re the one credited with inventing it years ago. Where did the idea come from and did you expect it to become somewhat of a norm in the music industry?
Mark Kelly: I certainly didn’t expect it to become a norm. Okay, like with most ideas, there’s a number of factors that came into place. One I think it was an idea that the time has come – you know, with the invention of the Internet and with networking possibilities of the Internet it meant that something like crowdfunding could actually exist. The inspiration for it came from something that happened in the USA actually – when we released an album This Strange Engine [1997]. We didn’t have a record contract in the States and there was a Marillion mailing list called the Freaks with about a thousand people, mostly US residents. And I was on the list too, and I was asked the question if Marillion will tour in the United States that year. I said, “It’s unlikely because we don’t have a record deal and we always lose money when we tour the States”, because that’s how it was then. It was just so expensive and we were only playing in clubs… So I said it was unlikely and these fans were like, “What about if we raise the money?” And that was a revolutionary idea – more of a charity than crowdfunding because the idea was basically we open a bank account, people make donations and then if we get enough money, we come and do the tour. So they asked me the question, “How much do you think you would need?” and I didn’t really know but I’ve made a guess and said “Sixty thousand dollars would probably be enough.” And that’s pretty much what happened – they basically raised sixty thousand dollars and we came and did the tour. And nobody got tickets to see the band for their donations – it was literally like they gave money and that was it. And they still had to buy tickets when we came on tour… So, it was a sort of experiment in how dedicated the fans of Marillion were and how far they were prepared to go in order to see us play. And we learned a few things from it. One was that some people making donations didn’t even live in the States so they weren’t even gonna see us… and they were still putting money in ‘cause they liked the idea. There was a guy in the UK that put eight hundred pounds in just because he was so excited about the fact that this was happening and he wanted to be involved. So that was a valuable lesson. A few years later, in 2000, we didn’t have a record deal in Europe either and we were being offered various deals. And I said, “Well, what about if we ask the fans to fund the record rather than take a contract we don’t really want for an advance that we need?” So that’s pretty much what we did. We asked the fans if they were willing to pay for the album in advance. And that was the first crowdfunded record, so a simple idea that worked really well because of the Marillion fanbase being so dedicated and their trust in us. I don’t think it would’ve worked for any band at that time doing it for the first time. We were in a fairly unique position I think and that’s probably why it worked so well for us. And when somebody proves than a concept works, then it’s easy to follow, isn’t it? So I think that’s what happened.
Hardrock Haven: And what do you think are the pros and cons of crowdfunding now that it became much popular?
Mark Kelly: The pros are that it makes it possible for almost any band – any band with a fanbase, I mean – to fund the recording of an album. Now it’s probably not as necessary to have raised that sort of money because recording has become cheaper. Many people can record reasonable quality in a home studio for not a lot of money. But I think the downside is that some people see it as a way of making some easy money and that’s not really the purpose of it as far as we’re concerned. It’s a way of engaging with your fans – they feel like they’re a part of the project. When they’re putting money upfront, it’s like they’ve got an investment in it almost. They’re much more engaged in what’s going on, they follow when the album’s gonna be released and then consequently the touring and the rest of it will be on their radar as well. So that’s a good thing I think, and I don’t think there’s many downsides. I think it’s been a really useful tool and it’s not just for music – people fund just anything via things like Kickstarter from technology projects to art works and whatever…
Hardrock Haven: Exactly. So, what kind of advice would you give to bands who rely on crowdfunding to exist, with that pioneering experience under your belt?
Mark Kelly: I’d reiterate what I said – that it’s about engagement really and you need to make sure that you’re giving back and that you’re including the fans in the process and making them feel like they’ve got a connection with you. It’s not just about taking their money and that’s the end of it. We’ve always communicated with the fans, we’ve always had that bound with the fans – right from the very beginning. Before the Internet, we used to hang around after the shows and meet people and sign autographs and take photographs and that sort of thing. In fact, it got to the point where the fans knew that we were doing it and so many fans stayed behind after the shows that we would be left for hours… And in the end we had to stop doing it, ‘cause you had one thousand people wanting to say hello after a gig (laughs). So we stopped that after a while. But that’s the idea – it’s a way of doing it. It’s not just about the music. It’s like a family thing (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: For some time you were also a co-CEO of The Featured Artists Coalition – an organization which represents the artists’ rights in digital age. Do you think the rights of artists are more respected within the music industry now than it was a few years before?
Mark Kelly: I’d like to think it is, but things are moving far too slowly really. I’m not as active with the whole Featured Artists Coalition these days. I stepped down from that role just because it was just taking up too much time and I had to sort of make some choices about where I was gonna spend my time. And Marillion really is my most important thing in my life work-wise… But I do think it’s important that artists get together and have a voice – otherwise, things won’t change. And I think there’s a lot to be done still. I think the fact that we moved over to this new world of streaming is great for the labels, because they’ve left behind all the costs of manufacturing and distribution and all that. But they still got the same arrangements with the artists, where the contracts are still based on physical product when there is no physical product. So the record labels are starting to make real money and not passing on a fair share to the artists. So there’s still work to be done, you know.
Hardrock Haven: So with all that problems about streaming royalties you speak about, is your general opinion about streaming platforms a negative one after all?
Mark Kelly: It’s a tricky one. As a listener, I love it. I use Spotify all the time and as I’ve mentioned, I used Spotify trying to find a [Marathon] singer. When you start exploring it, there’s so much great music on there. At least now, ‘cause I was a subscriber to Spotify in 2009 when it first got going and there wasn’t as much music then, and there certainly wasn’t as much obscure music and all the rare stuff. But now pretty much everything I could think of and that I’ve ever heard is on there. So it’s a great resource, it’s like having a fantastic library at your disposal. So as a listener I love it, but as an artist, I know that I’m not getting paid very much for having my music on there. Marillion currently stream about a million tracks a week on Spotify and the income of it wouldn’t be enough to even keep one of the band members on a working wage (laughs), never mind the five of us – or six of us counting Fish… So I think there’s a long way to go. There’s things that could be improved, like the way that they work out payments. Without getting too technical [about it], I think it’s not fair that they distribute the money that comes in on a pro-rata basis, depending on popularity of artists. The most popular artists will get a share of money from people that never listened to them. For example, if you’re a Progressive Rock fan and all you listen to is Progressive Rock music, Beyoncé is still gonna get some of your money. And that’s not right in my opinion. The money that the listener paid should go to the people that they listen to in whatever proportion. But that’s not what happens – it could, but it just doesn’t matter to Spotify or the record labels how the money is distributed because it’s numbers going for them… They have so many millions of streams and song titles that a company like Universal Music probably brings in over a billion dollars a year in streaming income, so they don’t really care. Anyway, that’s my issue with the streaming services, but I think it’s great for a thing for a listener.
Hardrock Haven: You’ve also mentioned filesharing, so do you think these days music piracy is still that much of a problem as it was a decade or two ago?
Mark Kelly: Probably not. I mean, we got to the stage now where people can still pirate their music if they want to, and it’s the same with movies. But now that you’ve got access to so much music for not too much money, for most people it’s just easier. Especially as you can have a free account on Spotify and listen to music – okay, in a bit restricted way, but there’s no reason to pirate music anymore. It’s sort of the same with movies – with things like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix… There’s easy access to what you want to watch or listen to and I think the part of the problem with the piracy was that it wasn’t always easy to get the digital copies of whatever you wanted to listen to when you wanted to listen to it. So it’s still a problem, but not as much of a problem I think.
Hardrock Haven: At the beginning you’ve mentioned your Marathon album being also released on vinyl, and obviously these are the kind of physical products people are now interested in again. So do you think we’ll reach that stage one day when people stop buying any kind of physical product and rely on streaming only?
Mark Kelly: I actually don’t think so, because I think there’s something really nice about owning a physical product. I think people still collect CDs and especially vinyl records. For some people it’s more than just a music, and that’s why I was trying to appeal to by releasing the album on vinyl. I’d made sure that the artwork was a big picture that would look good on a gatefold sleeve. You open it up and you can see the entire picture across the two sides of the gatefold sleeve, with lots of detail and imagery that goes with the lyrics so when you listen to the music, you can lose yourself in the artwork as well as the music. And I think you can’t do that with streaming, you know (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: Absolutely, that little thumbnail doesn’t really work that way (laughs). So what was your experience as a listener of – as you put it – losing yourself in the album artwork like, and with which albums?
Mark Kelly: I used to love the old Yes albums, like Close To The Edge and Yes Songs, the triple live album that was just a huge painting by Roger Dean. And that for me was a perfect marriage of imagery and music. I had no idea what Jon Anderson was singing about, but it sort of didn’t matter really (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: I get the picture (laughs). You’ve mentioned that the new Marillion album is supposed to be out next year. But what are your plans for 2021, once everything hopefully goes back to normal – regarding Marathon as well?
Mark Kelly: Well, we [Marillion] have some tour dates booked for the back end of 2021. We’re planning to do some European shows and UK shows which is in October/November. I’m really hoping that goes ahead ‘cause tickets are already gone on sale. And then I’m hoping to do some shows with Marathon, maybe even opening for Marillion – some of those shows would be really nice. We’ve got some plans to do Marillion weekends in the spring of 2022, so that’s gonna keep us busy, and then… Well, you never know! Hopefully we can visit North America and South America by the second half of 2022. It’s a long way off, but I think it’s hard to make plans at the moment. We don’t really know what it’s gonna be like, but we’ll see. That’s a rough idea of where we’re gonna be (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: Is there anything you’d like to wrap our interview up with?
Mark Kelly: I think you’ve asked me just everything. Thanks for the interview!
Photo credits: earMUSIC
