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DECEMBER 1978
With or without a set consisting of instrumental bits and pieces later developed into well-known Marillion tracks, Silmarillion now with this quartet line-up played their first gig in December 1978 at the Hanborough Tavern in Southall, England. For Mick this gig will always be special: "I remember playing to a small handful of people at this gig, and amazingly the most unlikely people were enjoying it. When we were doing this, we were rehearsed but not well rehearsed. Just the first gig of any band, and we were bashing away and playing, and these people were enjoying it, just people with tattoo's drinking there beers, clapping "very good lads, very good". I'll never forget that gig." (Claus Nygaard, Private interview with Mick Pointer).

The Hanborough Tavern will never be forgotten either as it burned down during the riots in London, the riots that would inspire parts of the lyrics to the title track of Marillion's second album "Fugazi". But at present that was indeed futuristic, Silmarillion had just done their first gig as an instrumental four piece, and by the way none of the current members of the band would be in Marillion when their second album was to be released in 1984. In Mick Pointer's words, Silmarillion was incredible unfashionable, but decided to play just the style of music they liked the best: "When we first started Silmarillion, Punk was still happening, we were so incredible unfashionable (laughs), really unfashionable. I was amazed where all these people came from, actually, fans. I thought if I like this style of music, there must be more people out there. I can't be unusual here, and that was one of reasons why we started to find these few pockets of people with long hair, while everybody had their hair stuck up like this (signals punk hair spike). But there was a few hippies still around, you know, and they really loved it." (Claus Nygaard, Private interview with Mick Pointer).

In the middle of the punk wave, Silmarillion stuck to their style, and funnily they frequently used a rehearsal studio where Camel rehearsed. Mick: "Where we used to play was in Amersham, it was a rehearsal studio in Amersham. All the Silmarillion stuff was done in Amersham, and the tape of Silmarillion was just done on a tape-machine in the corner of the studio. I was a great fan of Camel at that time, and Doug was a great fan of Camel, and they were rehearsing next door to us in this rehearsal studio, and they were watching us one day playing what we thought was similar sort of music as Camel. And Andy Ward went on and took my place. Little did he know that the band he was standing there watching would be a band he would be joining within five years time. This is a very small world, it's amazing." (Claus Nygaard, Private interview with Mick Pointer).

After further months of rehearsals internal problems in the band caused them to sack their guitarist and keyboard player. This time though it had nothing to do with a woman, but more obvious things as money and a certain Mellotron, which in years time would make its famous appearance on the first Marillion-album. Mick: "We actually found this knackered Mellotron, and Doug he fixed it, and we got it working, it never worked perfectly. We had a bit of a problem. We had an argument with them about the Mellotron. There was an argument over money and the pair of them sort of came from the same area, and Doug and I were living in the same house, and there was a split. I can't remember exactly what the argument was, but I remember the Mellotron coming back one night, and with silence they handed it over to us." (Claus Nygaard, Private interview with Mick Pointer).

That night, when Martin and Neil arrived to hand back the Mellotron, was the last time Doug and Mick saw their early companions from the original Silmarillion line-up. At least for the next twenty years, after which Mick one day in the rehearsal studio, working in the context of his present band Arena, was reintroduced to Neil, who himself had been using the same rehearsal studio for quite a time, now playing in another band. What a small world. Mick tells, "Cause amazingly the rehearsal room I've been to today, when I first started to go there about two and a half years ago, then the guy that runs the place he says: "Yeah, there's a guy here with us that knows you, he used to be in a band with you". I said "No". He said: "It's Neil". I said "No". And he said his surname, Cuttle, that's his name, Neil Cuttle. I said: "Jesus Christ, yeah you're right, you know I've been trying to break my brains with what his surname was for years, and I met him a couple of years ago, and he told me Martin's surname, and I've forgotten it again." (Claus Nygaard, Private interview with Mick Pointer).

Without Martin and Neil it was time to audition new members for the band, and even though they had a Mellotron they first decided to advertise for a guitarist only, maybe thinking that it would be easier to keep together a trio than a quartet. After all Mick's favourite band Rush had proved to be successive with drums, bass and guitar only, so why not follow suit?