Not the Weapon But the Hand (Mediabook)

'Not the Weapon But the Hand' is the debut album from Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri.

Steve is best known as the frontman of Marillion, the progressive rock legends that he joined in 1989, following spells in The Europeans and How We Live. In addition to the 12 studio albums Marillion have released in this time, he has also recorded and toured as a solo artist, under the moniker H.

In recent years Richard has been a core member of Porcupine Tree, playing keyboards on all the band's recordings since 1993 as well as releasing two solo efforts, 'Things Buried' and 'Stranger Inside'. Prior to this, it was in the new-wave pioneers Japan that he originally came to prominence, helping to create the groundbreaking synthesiser sound that defined the group and influenced the likes of The Human League, Duran Duran, Gary Numan, Talk Talk, Kate Bush and a whole raft of other artists, including Mr. Hogarth.

Says Steve, "when I was in my mid-20s Japan's 'Tin Drum' album was a firm favourite and truly a groundbreaking work... Japan were one of those rare bands where each musician seemed to have reinvented his instrument overnight. Central to this sound was the unmistakable synthesiser programming / playing of my, now, chum Mr. B."

Many years later, Porcupine Tree played some shows with Marillion and Steve invited Richard to be part of The H Band on his 'Ice Cream Genius' album and subsequent tour ("I asked him 'Can you make me a sound which starts off like a gong and turns into a jet engine?' - it took him roughly two minutes...") and this association developed into what Steve describes as "an easy working relationship which rapidly became an understanding beyond music."

It wasn't surprising then that the duo decided to team up on a joint project, a venture initiated by Richard as Steve recalls; "I remember where I was when the email from Richard arrived airing the possibility of a collaboration. I was in Starbucks in Leeds on tour a few years back. From that day forward it was on my mind fairly constantly. The only problem was finding the time to collaborate in between my Marillion schedule and his Porcupine Tree schedule. This year - a week here and a week there - we have managed to do it. Richard has sent me a number of beautiful and unusual instrumentals and I have found lyric ideas to create sometimes songs, sometimes narratives against his musical landscapes. It also goes beyond what you might expect from the two of us... The album consists of music which is at times moving, complex, multilayered (both instrumentally and vocally), spooky, goofy, and of course, very personal to me. I am now as excited about this album as I was at the prospect of the collaboration in the first-place. Ain't it great when a plan comes together?!..."

'Not the Weapon But the Hand' was completed in late 2011 and features occasional appearances from Danny Thompson on double bass, Arran Ahmun (John Martyn), Chris Maitland (ex-Porcupine Tree, No-Man, Blackfield) on drums and guitar, and string arrangement contributions from Dave Gregory (XTC).