STEVE HACKETT Talks GENESIS - "We Were Making Up Our Own Rules; In Those Days We Didn’t Know How To Write The Difference Between A Verse And A Chorus"

November 29, 2012, 11 years ago

hot flashes news genesis steve hackett

World-renowned ex-GENESIS guitarist/composer STEVE HACKETT is featured in a new interview with Classic Rock Revisited founder Jeb Wright. An excerpt is available below:

Photo by Lee Millward

Jeb: Early Genesis has a huge worldwide appeal.

Steve: "Many years ago, I had a dream that one in ten Chinamen would own a Genesis album—that is a strange one, isn’t it? You would not believe the amount of fan photo requests we get from Japan. There are many places I have yet to visit where we have a huge fan base."

Jeb: Most music that has mass appeal is simpler. Your music is very complex. Why does it have such a worldwide and lasting appeal?

Steve: "I think this is music that doesn’t dumb down. At the time when we did it, it was very complex and I suspect we were doing it for ourselves. We thought we might have an audience but we were not sure.

I suspect that the reason people love it is because it mixes several genres and several generation gaps, dating back five hundred years. I think even Bach would be able to get his teeth into this music. I like to think there will be something in it for musicians now, and for years to come.

We were making up our own rules. In those days we didn’t know how to write the difference between a verse and a chorus. The songs were impassioned and maybe they were better because we didn’t say, 'here is the verse, here is the chorus.' We really hadn’t learned how to write hits and I think, in a way, it is part of those songs’ strengths. I try to do that even now."

Jeb: Do you ever listen to this music and wonder how you came up with this at such a young age?

Steve: "I know how we came up with it, but I marvel at the ideas that the other guys brought in. We all pitched in with ideas. Some of the guys were better writing spontaneously in front of each other. Other guys tended to bring things in that they had balked at home. We bolted on one thing to another and songs got longer as we played these bridge passages and atmospheric links. The more epic length pieces were done by everyone coming up with their own windows in the same house. I would paint my wall one color and they would paint theirs another color. We didn’t get too intense about it. We passed the ball to each other."

Click here for the complete interview.

Hackett released his new album, Genesis Revisited II, on October 22nd via InsideOut Music.

Genesis Revisited II features some of the best-loved songs from Hackett's GENESIS years with a stellar array of guest performers including John Wetton (KING CRIMSON, ASIA), Mikael Akerfeldt (OPETH), Steven Wilson (PORCUPINE TREE), Conrad Keely (...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD) and many more.

Genesis Revisited II will be available as a 2-disc digipak. An extensive world tour in support of the new album will be announced shortly.

The tracklisting:

Disc 1:

'Chamber Of 32 Doors'

'Horizons'

'Supper's Ready'

'The Lamia'

'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight'

'Fly On A Windshield'

'Broadway Melody Of 1974'

'The Musical Box'

'Can-Utility And The Coastliners'

'Please Don't Touch'

Disc 2:

'Blood On The Rooftops'

'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed'

'Entangled'

'Eleventh Earl Of Mar'

'Ripples'

'Unquiet Slumbers For TheSleepers...'

'In That Quiet Earth'

'Afterglow'

'A Tower Struck Down'

'Camino Royale'

'Shadow Of The Hierophant'

In 2010, Steve Hackett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame at The 25th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony alongside his Genesis bandmates from the classic line-up: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford. For more than three decades, Steve Hackett has been known for his innovative tone and extraordinary versatility as a guitarist and composer. He helped define Genesis' sound as lead guitarist in the classic line-up and went on to have a highly-successful career as a solo artist, and also as part of 80s supergroup GTR with Steve Howe.

For more details about the album, click below for a special video message from Steve Hackett himself:



Featured Video

KELEVRA - "The Distance"

KELEVRA - "The Distance"

Latest Reviews