After decades of Marillion touring without reaching Australia, Steve Hogarth is finally heading to Sydney and Melbourne for intimate H Natural performances. In conversation with Paul Cashmere, Hogarth discusses the songs that shaped his life, the Marillion catalogue he might explore, the origins of fan-funded albums and why his Australian visit could lead to something bigger.
Steve Hogarth has spent decades fronting Marillion, building a distinctive musical partnership with a band whose relationship with its audience has often operated outside the conventional record industry. Yet despite the group’s international following, Australia has remained an unvisited destination for both Hogarth and Marillion.
That changes in December, when Hogarth brings H Natural to Sydney and Melbourne. The solo performances offer a different perspective on the singer’s music, combining piano and voice with personal stories, songs from his own catalogue and Marillion material stripped back to its emotional essentials.
Hogarth describes H Natural as something closer to an interaction than a conventional concert. Without a fixed setlist, he responds to the mood of the room, takes requests and draws on a lifetime of musical influences, from David Bowie and Bob Dylan to the songs his father loved. The format also gives him an opportunity to revisit Marillion songs that Australian audiences have never experienced live.
His conversation with Noise11 ranges from the personal significance of “Easter” and “Afraid Of Sunlight” to Marillion’s pioneering relationship with the internet and the fan-funded recording model that gave the band greater independence from record labels.
With two Australian performances already sold out at the time of the interview, Hogarth also reveals that his visit has prompted discussions within Marillion about the possibility of the full band finally touring Australia.
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