Parade is the band formed by Chris Johnson, guitarist for the former Marillion frontman Fish. They have recorded their first album, The Fabric.

At the end of 2008, after 18 months of touring Fish’s 13th Star album and two years prior to that as a songwriting member of Mostly Autumn, Chris found himself back at home with a backlog of songs that would form the basis of The Fabric.

“Some of the songs were originally intended for Mostly Autumn, others started life on tour - at the back of the bus or in various hotel rooms and dressing rooms. I’ve always got a guitar or a laptop or a scrap of paper to catch ideas on,” says Chris.

Faced with the task of recording the album Chris, says, “I wanted these songs to be performed by the best band I could put together. People whose playing excites me and whose energies and ideas could come together to form something new and inventive.”

The Fabric emerges as an innovative and concise take on modern progressive rock music, emotionally charged and skewered with sonic-gadgeteering.

“We were always experimenting. Always. Trying to identify the emotional core of a song and pull it into focus.It could be with a delicate vocal, a demented guitar solo, or a backwards glockenspiel smashed to bits in a modulating filter and fed out through some old TV speakers.”

From such experimentation, The Fabric has emerged with a filmic quality; like the soundtrack to a movie that hasn’t been made. Elemental noise and distorted sounds emerge from the songs, linking them and shifting the mood of the album at each turn.

Chiming guitar lines and the compelling voice of Anne-Marie Helder (Panic Room, Mostly Autumn) are as much part of the band’s sound as the commanding drumming of Gavin Griffiths (Chris’ fellow Fish bandmate and drummer with Panic Room and Mostly Autumn).

Completing the line-up are Chris’ long-time hometown collaborators Simon Snaize (guitar) and Patrick Berry (bass). They’ve worked with Chris for more than ten years, and the level of communication between all three is apparent on the record.

The album also features guest appearances by Mostly Autumn’s Bryan Josh, Heather Findlay and Olivia Sparnenn (Breathing Space).