In 2001 ‘Anoraknophobia’ saw Marillion take the groundbreaking step of asking fans to pre-order an album 12 months before release. An amazing 12,000 people signed up, helping to finance the recording. The band once again took pre-orders for the 2004 masterpiece ‘Marbles,’ but this time the money was channelled into a campaign fund to promote its launch. 　　When singles ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’ and ‘You’re Gone‘ breached the UK top 20 – the latter making it all the way to number 7 – jaws dropped right across the music world. 　　Not bad going for a band without major label backing. 　　But it was merely the latest twist in a 23-year-long history of a group who have held on to the conviction that what they’re doing MEANS something more than entertainment or selling records. 　　In the face of ignorance and apathy, Marillion continue to defy preconceptions and labelling. The band has evolved into a vibrant musical force – to those who already love Marillion, they’re something special; to everyone else they’re a love affair waiting to happen. "Classic Rock" magazine have labelled them "A National Treasure". 　　Their 2007 album ‘Somewhere Else’ reached number 24 in the UK album chart with the single 'Thankyou Whoever You Are' hitting the UK singles chart at number 15. 　　2008 saw the release of the critically-acclaimed "Happiness Is The Road" a 2CD set of Marillion's broadest musical influences to date and Hogarth arguably, at his most philosophical. 　　2009 brought a new studio acoustic album ‘Less Is More’. 　　Released all over Europe in cooperation with Edel music and the band’s own label "Intact". What Marillion have developed during the recording of this studio album is a real pop avant-garde experiment: to deconstruct and reconstruct the songs, starting only from the melodies and redesigning chord sequences, arrangements and acoustic instrumentation to create a rich-yet-minimalist alternative form of their music. 　　2010 sees the band back in the studio writing album seventeen with no sign of stalling creatively. Marillion will leave the studio this year for a series of one-off festivals around Europe, this time selecting and performing the rock songs from their now massive and diverse catalogue.