Alex Hutchings may have recently made the news for being one of the guitar players whose work was stolen by Giacomo Turra, but the versatile electric guitar virtuoso has been carving out an illustrious career over the past two decades or so. He has ample teaching and performance experience around the globe, has written for the BBC in the UK, and even toured with a certain prog maestro.
“[The Steven Wilson] gig, obviously, Guthrie [Govan, from The Aristocrats] did it for a bunch of years... Even with that one, it was a consideration [to take the gig],” Hutchings tells Andertons Music.
“Well, because obviously Guthrie did it – there's that lovely kudos about his playing... so I'd have to keep the shop.”
And Hutchings doesn't shy away from peeling the layers back on such a high-profile gig.
“If I'm honest, by the end of it, which was 14 months, I struggled a bit,” he admits. “Because I wasn't able to be 100% myself playing, because I had to honor the gig, and it was my duty and role to do that, which I did.”
He continues, “I think Steve was happy at the time, but it was a different thing for me. And when I think about why I picked this thing up and to try to express myself, it was to do the very thing that I love to do.
“But the irony is, I might have to do something where I barely get to do that at all, but I'm doing it for a life experience, not so much the musical experience.”
Back in 2017, Wilson had spoken about how he found Hutchings – and the considerations that go into securing someone who properly fits the bill.
“I did a lot of auditions this time around. It's not just a case of finding the best guitar player on the planet. It's gotta be someone that's got the right chemistry to fit the band, that's gonna be convenient, reasonably local.
“I asked around and I've settled on a guy who is a fantastic guitar player, a guy called Alex Hutchings.
“Alex is relatively unknown outside of guitar circles. In that respect, he is much like Craig [Blundell, Wilson's drummer], he is someone who is very well known as a clinician, and somebody who demonstrated gear but has never really been part of a regular band before he joined my band.”
“Everyone that joins my band, I warn them, ‘Look, there are some people out there that are gonna be very critical and say, Not as good as Guthrie Govan, not as good as Dave Kilminster, not as good as Marco Minnemann, not as good as Gavin Harrison.’
“And I understand that some people genuinely feel that way, which is fine, but it's very hard to be that person in that situation. Being an exceptional musician as these guys are, and they're still having to endure that.”
Hutchings has recently joined forces with Jack Gardiner, Charles Berthoud, and a host of other players whose work was plagiarized by Turra to deliver their own instrumental diss track – and take back control of the narrative surrounding their stolen work.
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