Introducing Steve Hogarth to the Marillion fans

‘Hooks In You Video’ Shoot

On 1st August 1989, Marillion filmed the video for 'Hooks in You' at London's Brixton Academy.  Apart from the lucky few that saw the band's small gig at the Crooked Billet pub in June, it was the first chance for many fans to see new singer Steve Hogarth.  The song, described by guitarist Steve Rothery as a "tongue-in-cheek heavy metal riff" was an odd choice as their first comeback single, and many of the band still regret the decision.  Keyboardist Mark Kelly recalls: "Almost any other song would have been a better advert for the album and new line-up.  Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?"  Hogarth believes that the song was chosen because it was a "rocker", and a solid live track, "something primitive to balance against the intricate involved stuff."

Shooting the Video & more Nerves  The video was primarily an "as-live" band performance in front of a crowd of lively Marillion fans.  Amongst these band shots were a number of inserts (also filmed at the Brixton Academy) featuring a glamorous woman in a wedding dress trying to get her "hooks into" Steve Hogarth.  It's all a bit cheesy, but typical of the era!  Steve remembers: "My main memories were of a very pretty Australian model running around in a lacy dress. Dunno what that had to do with anything, but it was the thing to do in the eighties!"

Before the gig, Steve was suffering from a bout of nerves: "I was up in the gods, looking at the kids coming into the hall.  I thought, I wonder what they're gonna make of me?  I knew that if I dwelt on it, it would get worse, so I didn't think about it!  To be honest I felt pressure more from the video cameras than from the crowd - I was under pressure to get it right.  To this day I don't know if I did!

"I was a trembling nervous wreck.  It was my first time ever in front of about 600 Marillion fans.  I'd been made aware (of the fans) by the rest of the boys in the band and it was with some trepidation that I walked on to the stage at the beginning of that shoot.  I thought, well if they are going to murder me, then there are cameras here to witness the whole event." Steve shouldn't have worried, as the crowd were actually chanting his name as he walked on stage:  "I thought they were chanting for Steve Rothery.  I was blown away.  They really welcomed me with open arms which says a lot about the warmth of those people.  They were lovely."

The Fans 

Around 600 fans paid 6 pounds each, and queued outside the Academy all afternoon.  At approx 8pm, the extras were let into the main room at Brixton.  Special 'Hooks in You' t-shirts had been printed and were available in the foyer.  Writing in The Web fanzine, Shaun Ryan described "a reunion party atmosphere.  I don't think anybody went home disappointed." 

Steve was amazed by the variance in the fans: "I remember looking along the front row at someone in an 'Iron Maiden' t-shirt standing next to someone in a 'Sugarcubes' shirt. No wonder the media can't understand us! They all had fun and made me feel welcome."

Shooting the Video  As the crowd waited for the crew to set up, they were treated to a preview of tracks from Marillion's forthcoming Seasons End album.  Mark Kelly walked on stage to cheers from the crowd: "Good evening.  That was a track from our new album.  Unfortunately we can't play live because it gets in the way of the video shoot [boos from the crowd].  Sorry about that.  Next time you see us we'll be doing it live.  We're gonna play you some more tracks from this album called Seasons End, then we'll be shooting the video."  The 'Meaty Mix' 12" version of 'Hooks in You' was then played to the crowd, so that they could get familiar with the song.  It had been blasting through the walls frequently during the day so many of the waiting fans had heard it a few times already!

The whole band then appeared on stage, to massive cheers, and mimed to 'Hooks in You' for the first time.  Afterwards, Steve Hogarth introduced himself to the fans: "Good evening.  It's nice to meet you.  This is a bit different isn't it really.  It's not really the real thing or anything.  We're not going to be in England until December for the real thing.  'Cos we gotta go away to places that aren't quite as important, and practice!  And get it right.  We're gonna do it again so I'll just shut up! Mark Kelly asked the crowd "What do you think of the new singer then?" and the crowd responded enthusiastically.

The band filmed the song at least a dozen times, to get enough footage for the final edit. Throughout the show, the director Nick Morris shouted instructions to the audience:  "I want your hands in the air", "Now Jumping", "Can the people at the back do a bit better.  We want to see you all enjoying it!",  "Have you got any life left?", "You're bunching up at the back...", "We're almost there."  Before each take, there were three high pitched bleeps, signalling the start of the song.  The camera crane swooped, and people were going to any lengths to get their faces (and flags) on the video.  In between the takes, the band were signing autographs, and prompting the crowd to sing Marillion songs.  The crowd sang an acapella version of 'Script for a Jesters Tear' followed by 'Gessabun.'  Ian Mosely drummed along for a short time.

After quite a number of takes, the band decided give the crowd a break from 'Hooks' and play an impromptu semi-acoustic number.  Tongue in cheek, Hogarth introduced it as "A song that Bros wrote, while we were recording our album in Oxfordshire.  We thought it was so good we added it onto the CD and cassette of Seasons End." Steve Rothery took a while to tune his 12-string acoustic guitar, then the band played a very rough and ready version of the song 'After Me.'  There were no keyboards, and the band forgot the middle section somewhat.  However, The band hadn't rehearsed it, and (as Mark had pointed out earlier) the band wasn't set up to play live, so it was an added bonus for the fans in attendance!

Hogarth "(The fans) were just wonderful, really supportive.  They were shepherded into this gig, and they're getting this song blasted at them they've never heard before, by their favourite band... with a new singer that I don't suppose they knew if they'd like or not.  When you make a video, you're stopping and starting, playing things back over and over again.  The third or fourth time they played it back they knew it then!  They knew the words and the tune, and they knew what I was doing.... they went spare!"

Getting to Know You... Between further takes of 'Hooks in You' there was a short Q&A session: Fan: "When do we get paid?" Steve Hogarth: "That's funny you should say that.  There is in fact a barrel full of fivers by the door.  And on your way out you've only got to take one.  OK, so whoever gets there first, you've gotta think of everyone else.  [To the rest of the band]  Anyone else want to say anything?  It had better not be as stupid as that actually!"

Fan: "Who's writing the new material?"

Steve Hogarth: "It's very difficult to answer that question.  Basically what happened is when Fish left the band [boos from the crowd]... it's alright, me and him are very good friends actually!  The boys wrote a lot of music, during their year of trying to find somebody small enough to sing. And so the music was written by Ian, Pete, Mark & Steve.  And a bloke called John Helmer (who is very talented), wrote quite a lot of lyrics on the album,  Probably about half.  Then they bumped into me, and I wrote a load more lyrics.  I wrote a couple of the songs."

Fan: "Will you be singing some of the old stuff?" Steve Hogarth: "We'll be singing quite a lot of the old stuff.  In fact we've rehearsed some of that and it's sounding great!" The crowd then sang 'Happy Birthday' to fan Stuart Andrews.  The band had bought him a card and signed it.  Another fan, called Mark was singled out for having seen the band over 100 times.  " This is turning into a Radio One Roadshow" remarked Mark Kelly, before the chat was wound up and it was back to shooting the video a few more times.

By the end of the shoot, Steve was having a ball! " I realised there was the potential to have fun with the crowd.  My grin was genuine, I did have a good time."  Tour Manager Paul Lewis described Steve as "a cracker.  Mental but a cracker!"  In the next Web fanzine, Steve Rothery claimed that "the band had loads of letters from people who obviously enjoyed it."  In return, the band took the opportunity to thank everyone for giving their support.  Next on the horizon was the release of the Seasons End album, and a European Tour to support it.

! NEW 2013 ! Six photographs of the video shoot recently appeared for sale on ebay. Here are the low-res previews of the photos:

And here is a ticket from the gig – signed on the back by Steve Rothery, Steve Hogarth & Mark Kelly:

NEW!!! 2021 Some more pictures from RAW magazine – Issue No. 26 (August 23^rd – September 5^th 1989)

The Finished Video  The 'Hooks in You' video can be found on Marillion's 'From Stoke Row to Ipanema' DVD, and is also available on You Tube (click the video to the right).  Also on YouTube are a couple of related clips: 'Hooks in You' on BBC's Top of the Pops, with the band wearing the same clothes as they did in the video shoot.  Not great quality, but interesting. A live version filmed by Channel 4's Rock Steady at Leicester De Montfort.  The full show also features on the 'Stoke Row' DVD A bizarre animation of the Hooks in You video, using lego figures!

Bibliography

Marillion - From Stoke Row to Ipanema DVD available at http://www.marillion.com/music/dvd/stokerow.htm Metal Hammer Magazine: "Summer Season" by Mark Day, 18th September 1989 Marillion / Separated Out - The complete history 1979-2002 by Jon Collins RAW Magazine: "Marillion Back in Business" by Dave Dickson, 20th September 1989 The Web (Marillion fanzine)  by Shaun Ryan, Summer '89 Marillion - Best of Both Worlds CD booklet liner notes The Web UK Magazine - "Well Seasoned", Autumn 2006  Marillion, Brixton Academy 01/08/89 show recording Hooks in You Video Shoot: http://www.silhobbit.com/silweb/Archives/1_hooks_in_you.htm

Tim Glasswell December 2009

Read a Portuguese translation of this page here: http://rodrigomarillion.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/hooks-in-you-o-making-of-do-clip/

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