The Wishing Tree

Infobox musical artist
Name = The Wishing Tree


Landscape =
Background =
Origin = United Kingdom
Genre = Folk rock
Label = Dorian Music, Racket Records (Intact)
Associated_acts = Marillion
Enchant
Years_active = 1995–present (intermittently)
Current_members = Hannah Craddick (née Stobart)
Steve Rothery
Past_members =
URL = [http://www.myspace.com/thewishingtreeband myspace.com/thewishingtreeband]
[http://www.thewishingtree.com thewishingtree.com] (currently not live)

The Wishing Tree is an acoustic music project by Marillion's guitarist Steve Rothery and British vocalist Hannah Stobart (now Hannah Craddick). The Wishing Tree have released one album, Carnival of Souls, in 1996.

History

Rothery had been interested in starting an acoustic project with a female vocalist since 1985. At first All About Eve's singer Julianne Regan was approached through Marillion's manager John Arnison, but was not interested in working with Rothery. Later, an attempt to team up with the female singer of a band called The Escape Club (not The Escape Club), whose voice reminded Rothery of Annie Haslam's, failed as they couldn't get on on a personal level. When Marillion were recording Brave at Miles Copeland's Chateau Marouatte in Dordogne in 1993, Copeland offered Rothery "a substantial sum" for recording an instrumental solo album on his label No Speak. Although Rothery didn't take the offer, it renewed his interest in a solo project. During the Brave tour of 1994, Rothery was approached by Hannah Stobart, a student of French and Italian, who gave him her demo tape containing "She Moved Through the Fair" and Tori Amos's "Me and a Gun". Rothery was delighted and began recording further demos with Stobart at his new home studio. After Marillion were dropped by EMI following the 1995 album Afraid of Sunlight, several band members pursued solo projects before they began work on This Strange Engine (1997). During two weeks in early 1996, Rothery recorded acoustic material with Stobart on vocals, Pete Trewavas of Marillion on bass and Paul Craddick of Enchant on drums and keyboards. All music was written by Rothery and Stobart ("additional vocal melodies"), while the lyrics were written by regular Marillion collaborator John Helmer. Most songs were written right then, however, a handful had a longer history: "Nightwater" was considered for Seasons End (1989), when Steve Hogarth rejected Helmer's lyrics as "too gothic"; the chorus of "Midnight Snow" and "Evergreen" were written during the Holidays in Eden (1991) and Clutching at Straws (1987) sessions, respectively.

The resulting album was called "Carnival of Souls", after the horror film of the same title. The project's name was inspired by Tengiz Abuladze's film "The Wishing Tree" (aka "The Tree of Desire"). There was no tour to support the album, however, the band did appear live on a concert for Marillion's Italian fan club. They also appeared on Italian television. [John Collins, "Marillion/Separated out. The Complete History of the Band and Its Fans, 1979-2002", Helter Skelter Publishing 2003.]

After the release of "Carnival of Souls", Rothery returned to his main job with Marillion, leaving The Wishing Tree on an indefinite hiatus. Stobart finished her university studies, got married to Paul Craddick and settled down in California as a journalist. In 1999, Sony Music expressed interest in another Wishing Tree album, so Rothery and Stobart/Craddick recorded some demos that Rothery described as "a cross between Portishead and Alanis Morissette" [Interview with Steve Rothery from The Wishing Tree, December 7, 2006, [http://www.britsound.com/SteveRothery.shtml] ] . However, Rothery hesitated to sign a major deal outside of Marillion and Sony finally lost interest. Still, Rothery and Stobart continued to work together. In 2002, the band played at a fan club convention ("Marillion Weekend"). More recently, a second album was announced for 2007, but has been pushed back further as Rothery gave priority to Marillion's Happiness Is the Road album (2008). As of September 2008, a new song called "The Hollow Hills" is available on the band's MySpace page.

References

External links

* [http://www.britsound.com/SteveRothery.shtml Interview with Steve Rothery on Britsound.com]
* [http://www.progfreaks.com/Marillion/Side/The%20Wishing%20Tree/The%20Wishing%20Tree.htm Some info on ProgFreaks.com]
* [http://www.progressiveworld.net/srotheryinterv.html Interview with Steve Rothery on ProgressiveWorld.net]
* [http://www.myspace.com/thewishingtreeband The Wishing Tree's MySpace profile] , features demo of new song "Hollow Hills"