Greg Prato, reporting for Ultimate-Guitar.com:

During Steve Hackett's recent interview with Ultimate Guitar, a wide variety of topics were covered - including his reaction to extreme metal and pioneering two-hand tapping. Also, he was up for discussing his work with Genesis - and, in particular, what it was like working with Peter Gabriel, especially just prior to the singer's 1975 exit from the band.

"I would say working with Peter Gabriel was somewhat easier in the earlier stages of Genesis' development. And I think we did some wonderful albums together - Foxtrot and Selling England By The Pound, I think, are phenomenal albums. I don't think there's a weak track on either of those albums. And that's the strength of the collective songwriting team bringing that together.

"By the time it was The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - Peter's final album with Genesis - the band was beginning to fragment into factions. It was obvious Peter wasn't going to stay. There seemed to be a competition between Peter and Tony [Banks] - to see how much audio space they could fill. And it means you've got very busy, crowded virtuosic keyboard work and very busy narrative-driven lyrics from Peter. And these two paths seemed to be at loggerheads to a large degree. It became more difficult to define what the other instruments can do – because there was less 'breathing space,' as a result of this."

Read more at Ultimate-Guitar.com.

Hackett will release his new studio album, The Circus And The Nightwhale, on February 16 via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, The Circus And The Nightwhales’ 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: “I love this album. It says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.”

Hackett discusses the album in Part 1 of an interview series, below:

The Circus And The Nightwhale is Steve’s first new music in over two years. It follows the beautiful acoustic LP Under A Mediterranean Sky from January 2021 - which rose to #2 in the UK Classical chart - and, in September of that year, his metallic masterpiece Surrender Of Silence, which hit the UK Top 40. His 2023 live album, Foxtrot At Fifty + Hackett Highlights: Live in Brighton, reached #2 in the Rock & Metal Chart. Steve’s new LP promises ballads, blues, blistering progressive rock… and healthy measures of theatre and fantasia.

Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK - with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan and Denmark, the lineup for The Circus And The Nightwhale includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drumstool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve’s brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.

The new album is available to pre-order on several different formats, including a Limited CD+Blu-ray mediabook (including 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit high resolution stereo mixes), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP & as Digital Album. All feature the stunning cover painting by Denise Marsh. Pre-order here.

Tracklisting:

"People Of The Smoke"
"These Passing Clouds"
"Taking You Down"
"Found And Lost"
"Enter The Ring"
"Get Me Out!"
"Ghost Moon And Living Love"
"Circo Inferno"
"Breakout"
"All At Sea"
"Into The Nightwhale"
"Wherever You Are"
"White Dove"

"People Of The Smoke" video:

Summing up The Circus And The Nightwhale, Steve says: “It’s a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?”

In 2024, Steve will tour the world extensively, including a brand new UK tour under the name Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo (that will see him return to the legendary Royal Albert Hall), as well as a return to the US for additional Foxtrot At Fifty shows from March 1 through April 13. For the full list of dates, head here.