A symbiotic relationship with its fans keeps rock group The Enid thriving. Andy Coleman finds out why.
Cult rock band The Enid have their fans to thank for making their dream of performing on stage with a symphony orchestra come true.
On Saturday the group, who have been fusing classical and rock music for the past 36 years, will appear with the CBSO at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall.
“This really is the first time to hear The Enid music, right from the early days to the current album Journey’s End in all its full glory with a symphony orchestra,” says band founder and classically trained pianist Robert John Godfrey, the man behind such Enid albums as Aerie Faerie Nonsense and Something Wicked This Way Comes.
“It’s always been one of those milestone goals because The Enid’s music has always really been planned, ideally, for orchestra.’’
The show will also feature a 200-strong children’s choir and the recital of a poem by cult writer Alan Moore.
It has all been made possible by The Enid’s fan club, The Enidi.
“Our fan club, both as individuals and as a whole, have stepped into the shoes of good old fashioned patronage and sponsored this concert,’’ Robert explains. ‘‘Otherwise we couldn’t do it. There’s no promoter, there’s no big organisation putting this show on, it is the band’s fans and The Enid together.
‘‘The days are now long gone when the record industry is prepared to pay for expensive works of art.
“The fan club is set up as a non-profit making organisation to assist the band. It’s there really to sponsor us and enable us to put on these kind of shows which would otherwise be never able to happen.”
Robert, who has lived in Northampton for the past 20 years, says 1,450 tickets need to be sold to break even and is confident that the show is innovative enough to attract a large audience.
It will begin with fully orchestrated versions of the band’s two most famous tracks, Judgement and In The Region Of The Summer Stars, the title track of their 1976 debut album. A new version of Robert’s 1970s composition, The Lovers, will be included, followed by Childe Roland and Fand.
‘‘Fand really was the epitome of our music and our ambitions in the 1970s and if ever there was a piece that needed an orchestra to do it that was it,’’ says 64-year-old Robert.
The second half will open with Northampton-based writer Alan Moore, best known for his graphic novels Watchmen and V For Vendetta reciting his controversial poem The Mirror Of Love with improvised music by Robert and a couple of band members.
‘‘I want to do this as a kind of spontaneous dialogue between what Alan is going to be saying and setting the mood quietly to try and create the atmosphere,’’ Robert explains.
