The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has unveiled its yearly list of inductees, and the class of 2026 comprises Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross, and Wu-Tang Clan, all in the Performer category.

Other inductees include Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Gram Parsons, who will be honored with the Early Influence Award.

Producers Jimmy Miller, Rick Rubin, and Arif Mardin, alongside songwriter Linda Creed, will be presented with the Music Excellence Award. Rounding off the list is American television host and impresario Ed Sullivan, who will be posthumously bestowed with the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

“Induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is music’s highest honor,” said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “We look forward to celebrating these remarkable artists at this year’s ceremony – it’s going to be an unforgettable night.”

Nominees who were snubbed this year include Melissa Etheridge, Jeff Buckley, Pink, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, INXS, and Shakira.

While Phil Collins was inducted as a member of Genesis in 2010, he has now received the nod as a solo artist. As for Billy Idol, he was overjoyed when he heard the news, telling Rolling Stone, “We’ve been building towards this, and it’s a perfect payoff. You couldn’t have dreamed it better, really.

“It’s absolutely perfect…To be recognized by your peers is incredible. You don’t really know what people think about you, but this gives you an indication.”

After three nominations, Iron Maiden have finally made it to the Hall of Fame. “We’d like to thank the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for including us (and former members who were all part of our story) in the 2026 roll call of inductees,” commented Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood.

“Iron Maiden have always been about our relationship with our fans above anything else, including awards and industry accolades. However, having said that, it’s always nice to be recognised and honoured for any achievements within the music industry too!”

Oasis have previously expressed skepticism about the Hall of Fame, with Liam Gallagher issuing controversial statements to The Sunday Times in a 2024 interview, “As much as I love Mariah Carey and all that, I want to say: Do me a favor and fuck off.

“It’s like putting me in the rap hall of fame, and I don’t want to be part of anything that mentally disturbed. Besides, I’ve done more for rock & roll than half of them clowns on that board, so it’s all a load of bollocks.”

However, Gallagher changed his tune upon the announcement, as he tweeted, “Reverse psychology vibes in the area Oasis RnR hall of farmers I mean famers.”

“I wanna thank all the people who voted for us it’s a real honour ever since I was a little kid and singing in the shower I’d dream about 1 day being in the RnR hall of fame it’s true what they say anything is possible if you have a dream.”

Meanwhile, Joy Division co-founder and bassist Peter Hook took a more heartfelt approach and dedicated the induction to the sorely missed Ian Curtis. He also confirmed he’ll be attending the ceremony.

“Hi. I’d just like to say how wonderfully pleased I am to be finally accepted into the Cleveland Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame,” he said in a video posted to social media, while notably wearing an Oasis T-shirt.

“I’ve been looking forward to it for years, so I definitely am gonna make the most of it. I’d like to say that this is for Ian Curtis, and for all our fans of both bands. Without you, we would be nothing. So thank you so much.”

While it remains to be seen who else will attend the ceremony, it will take place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on November 14 and air on ABC and Disney+ the following month.

Last year, Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers was forced to drop out of the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, after previously confirming reunion plans.

Peter Gabriel’s time with Genesis in the ’70s – not to mention his early-’80s musings as a solo artist – had granted him a reputation as a musical maverick who merged modern prog with all sorts of weird sounds, leading to such cult favorites as Biko and Shock the Monkey.

The latter of those songs, which dropped in 1982, was the closest Gabriel had come to large-scale chart success as a solo artist. But that was about to change with 1986’s So, the record that gave us decade-defining hits in Sledgehammer, In Your Eyes and Big Time.

But Gabriel didn't do it alone. He had a versatile band that included guitarist David Rhodes, a fellow free-thinker who had been with the frontman since 1980.

“When we’re all together, I think we do a quite idiosyncratic thing, obviously, under Peter’s guidance and leadership,” Rhodes says when looking back on the elements that had given So its magic.

Gabriel’s leadership, along with the playing of Rhodes and a host of session aces and other pros (including Kate Bush, Stewart Copeland and Nile Rodgers) helped send So to the top of the charts worldwide, and many of its tracks are concert – and Spotify playlist – staples.

“It’s just a thing where the longer you’re with people, you almost do things without thinking or talking about them,” Rhodes says of So’s vibe. “You feel your way through. And I knew Peter has things he likes and things he doesn’t like.”

Where were you at as a group going into the sessions for So?

Peter had decided to move away from the more experimental side of his third and fourth self-titled albums from 1980 and ’82. It was a very conscious decision on his part to come up with material that would make a very good and accessible record. So there was a lot that went into it, which paid off, thank goodness. [Laughs]

At that point, you’d been with Peter for about six years. How had your technique evolved in that time?

I was never that interested in technique, but I think my groove playing improved. When you’re playing with great people, you’ve got to keep up.

How did Sledgehammer come about?

When we were initially recording it, Peter just sat at the piano and played a few chords. Then he went to [fellow So guitarist] Daniel Lanois and me, and we started playing along with him.

Whenever we were working on a demo or trying to build it up, we’d fill up a reel of tape of us just playing the groove and going through the changes. So it felt good – and then [bassist] Tony Levin came in and was playing a little rubber-band bass on quite a lot of things.

I’m sure he didn’t play it on the finished thing, but it was great. Whenever he played it, everybody smiled. We had Chester Thompson come in to play on Sledge at one point, but that didn’t work out.

Tony did his part, which was great, and then [drummer] Manu Katché was brought in. Sledge, I think, was a couple of passes for him because he had a plane to catch. It was all just instant, exciting and great.

How about In Your Eyes, which became one of the biggest ’80s anthems?

Peter is very keen on those high, jangly sounds; he really likes those on his tunes, so we were doing that. I think I would play a 12-string that Peter had – an old Shergold 12-string that was a dog to play, but it had a nice sound.

At the time, we didn’t have enough tracks because it was all on tape, so Dan Lanois and I would actually record to one track; we’d ask each other, “Were you good that time?” It was just playful. That was all a very good experience, but, of course, there were bits when things didn’t go so well.

For example?

There were some bad tech issues, I seem to remember. We had the rhythm tracks done, and then the slaves made from them to try and keep the tracks pristine – you know, the master reels. You want to work with the secondary reel [the slave] because it doesn’t matter how much it degrades.

You’re putting on good information, but you’re not screwing up the drums or the bass; those remain great. I think what happened was that one of the machines was running slightly slower than the other, and it led to all sorts of problems for a while.

What does the enduring success of So mean to you?

It was surprising, but it was wonderful. We did the record, it did well, we toured a lot and people loved it! With that, you go, “Yeah… this is very cool.” [Laughs] I guess it meant a lot to a lot of people, which is a lovely, wonderful thing.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Daryl Stuermer may best be known as the six-stringer behind Phil Collins' biggest hits, with his electric guitar chops on full display on iconic tracks such as Sussudio, In The Air Tonight, Easy Lover, and One More Night.

Aside from being Collins' right-hand man, Stuermer also had (as he aptly puts it) a “permanent part-time stint” as lead guitarist with Genesis, from late 1977 onward. Now, in a frank conversation with Vertex Effects, the guitarist has shared his Parkinson's diagnosis and revealed how the condition has impacted his playing.

“It has a lot of effect for me to play a steady rhythm,” he tells Vertex Effects’ Mason Marangella. “Like when we did the Genesis tour in 2020, 2022 [The Last Domino? Tour], within that period, after the pandemic, or during the pandemic, I was noticing I was having a hard time playing a simple thing, like the beginning of Turn It On Again, which is steady.”

He continues, “‘Why am I having a problem playing this?’ I didn't know yet. And the thing is, like when I was just playing Easy Lover, I could play that solo up to the fast line. For some reason, [when I] play something that fast and that accurate – where it's all picking, not hammering, or anything like that – it's all picking. This hand just doesn't work like it did. I don't have the control that I had before."

And while Stuermer says there are things he can still accurately play, he has noticed that when he gets “a little excited about something” or “get anxious about something, I shake a little more”.

“I was diagnosed about eight months ago or a year ago,” he details. “It was after the tour, which made me understand, because I was trying to play certain things. I thought, ‘Is this just me getting older? Is this why I can't play it?’ No, it was really [because] Parkinson's was coming in.”

Thankfully, Stuermer mentions how he hasn't gotten “worse than I was originally”, and even divulges that there are “some things I can play now that I couldn't play before.

“What happens is you have to kind of tell your brain to do it a different way, or think differently,” he asserts, right after showcasing the first few notoriously tricky bars of The Police's Message In A Bottle. “And your brain finally finds a different way.”

Last year, Judas Priest's Glenn Tipton spoke to Guitar World about his Parkinson's diagnosis, and how he will continue “writing and playing for as long as I can”.

“I want to have control over things. There is no tyranny of volume. At one time, you would have to crank up very loudly to achieve the same result on record. By using reverb, I’m creating an artificial space to give the sound perspective. Playing progressive music requires lots of dynamic adjustment, so the volume pedal is absolutely crucial to be able to vary my own place within the band’s mix.

“I’ve had a number of pedalboards over time. There are modern things that reproduce vintage sounds, which gives you a number of simulations. I’m often using amp simulators when recording, so I can perform a screaming guitar solo while comfortably holding a conversation with an engineer, even though the beast seems to be screaming out and shaking the walls.

“It’s important not to kid yourself that just because you’re listening to something loudly, it’s the only way to create power. We’re all looking for lightning in a bottle. When playing live, there are moments when I have my pedals on full throttle doing the delinquent thing while everyone else is doing the same. Sometimes, you just can’t help yourself. After all, live rock ’n’ roll isn’t really about holding back!”

“My smaller pedalboard starts with my Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 [tube amp emulator], which is very versatile. It provides very realistic tube distortion without having to crank up the sound. Next is my TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb. For a tiny unit, it’s extremely versatile. It can give those small, roomy sounds and also can simulate large spaces. A great little tool!

“That leads to my DigiTech Whammy WH5 [pitch shifter]. This can be used in several ways and is a versatile unit, which gives fixed harmonies and makes extra octaves available. Lastly, there’s my Dunlop Volume Pedal; progressive music needs you to constantly rebalance, and this volume pedal is essential for dynamic shifts.”

If I had to choose one pedal for an entire show…

“It would probably be the Tech 21 SansAmp because it blasts away like a heavily cranked Marshall or two. It gives me the power I need to produce a thrilling sound.”

Genesis co-founder and Mike + the Mechanics' Mike Rutherford has revealed that he owns a tape of songs he recorded with Eddie Van Halen back in the mid-1980s. Reflecting on this perhaps unlikely collaboration, Rutherford discusses his relationship with Van Halen and sheds light on how these recordings – never released publicly – came to be.

"I think Eddie heard a song from my second solo album [1982’s Acting Very Strange], which I sang – God knows how I thought of this! – and he rang me up and said, ‘Will you do some writing?’ I mean, my voice for God’s sake!” he says on My Planet Rocks.

Rutherford and his gear made their way to Los Angeles, ready to get to work. However, Van Halen had other plans. “He says, ‘Hey Mike, come over about 1:30.’ And I thought, ‘Well, that’s going to work for me, a little lunch.’ [Eddie says] ‘a.m.’ He starts at nighttime and works through the night. I just couldn’t really do that.”

As for what exactly emerged from these nocturnal studio sessions, Rutherford remains vague. “We had some sessions. We wrote some songs. Bits. I’m not quite sure… I can’t find the tape. Quirky stuff, but it was fun to do.”

And if any Van Halen fans are expecting these lost tracks to come out anytime soon – well, don't get your hopes up. As Rutherford explains, “I’ve got two boxes of cassettes. I’m not sure I’m mad enough to go through them! Lots of cassettes.”

He concludes, “But it was fun. I mean, he was a great player. We did some good time (in the studio) but it’s that starting at 1:30-2 a.m. in the morning. It’s not my mode!”

One intriguing facet of the Brit Rock phenomenon is the number of talents adept at both guitar and bass guitar, Paul McCartney and Ron Wood among them. Few, however, have retained their fretboard duality and grasped the art of each instrument as well as Mike Rutherford, of prog rock cornerstones Genesis.

As a teen, Rutherford played guitar first, but he then fell in love with bass, mainly influenced by McCartney, as well as Jack Bruce and James Jamerson.

“It took me a while to learn that a guitarist can't play bass,” he told Bass Player. “It's about more than just getting the notes right. You have to understand the concept.”

Further individualizing Rutherford's low-end approach in Genesis was the departure of guitarists Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett (not to mention vocalist Peter Gabriel), leading Rutherford to track his bass later in the recording process.

“In the late ’70s, I would write on guitar and we would track bass last. As a result, some of the note choices would define the chords too much, so I'd end up with some non-traditional basslines to retain the open sound we wanted.”

This same era found the trio (Rutherford, keyboardist Tony Banks, and singer/drummer Phil Collins) scaling down its sound, the result of the popularity of new wave, and Collins's pop leanings.

Having applied the formula with increasing commercial success via And Then There Were Three and Duke Atlantic, 1981's Abacab became the group's first platinum-selling disc.

Clearing the way up the charts was Rutherford's ‘lead’ bass and Earth, Wind & Fire's Phenix Horns, on the band-written Top 40 hit, No Reply at All.

The session took place in early 1981, at Fisher Lane Farm Studios, in Chiddingfold, Surrey, England. Rutherford plugged his Alembic Series 1 into a DI and a Trace Elliott head with a mic’d Trace 4x10 cabinet and recorded to a drum machine and Collins's guide vocals. The pair (along with engineer Hugh Padgham) then flew to L.A. to record the Phenix Horns, whose parts were arranged by R&B producer Tom Tom 84.

The song begins with an angular three-bar phrase that gives the verses an almost turned-around feel. Rutherford plays eighths on the downbeat and catches the horn hit on three of bar 1, and three and four of bar 3.

“Because we were using the Phenix Horns, I felt we were in new territory, so in a sense I was trying to be a bit different when it came to the bassline. As normal, the part arrived as I jammed with Phil’s drums, but I do remember overdubbing some additional phrases later, after the horns went down.”

Collins's vocal verse begins with two three-bar phrases, followed by a four-bar phrase on the VI chord. Next up is an abbreviated chorus section due to the double-verse this time through. For the standard four-bar chorus, Rutherford makes use of a vocal pause at 00:56 for a tasty fill. The following bars, meanwhile, find him doubled by the horns.

Arriving at 01:01, the track's energy (and technical) highpoint, Rutherford doubles the horn solo well up the fingerboard – even playing a fill while the horns take a breath.

“I always like it when the horns and bass double up, but you can't do it for long – otherwise it gets boring and doesn’t have the effect of adding a strong stamp to that part of the song.”

This sets up a second transition, at 01:09, with Rutherford using Motown-style motion to shadow and propel Collins's vocal. He then connects his doubled vocal kicks with a descending pentatonic fill, and matches the horn kick at 01:24.

With the song ready to ride out on the four-bar phrase of the chorus, Rutherford changes up his part (starting at 03:22) to an almost keyboard-like syncopated octave figure.

He also finds time to add upper-register slide-downs and catch the horns' answer to the vocals. Throw in some spontaneous fills and it's clear Rutherford is enjoying himself and letting off steam.

“On fadeouts I always feel it's a chance to say, Okay, I've established the basslines and played them enough; now I can improvise a bit more.”

Perhaps the ultimate expression of the Genesis man’s six-string spanning technique was Mike Rutherford’s double neck bass and electric guitar.

Steve Hackett has been enjoying phenomenal success worldwide with his Genesis Revisited project, but live shows are always peppered with material from a solo repertoire that extends back into the 1970s. 

Recent years have seen his albums gain traction in the charts with his signature melodic guitar tone always to the forefront. As he’s continually searching for new themes to explore, the latest album is largely semi-autobiographical, featuring the life and times of a fictional character called Travla.

Heavy riffs and lavish orchestrations are the order of the day hereabouts, and we couldn’t resist the opportunity to find out more about the album’s origins…

Your albums have always had quite a strong narrative to them, but this one in particular, to the extent that you have described it as semi-autobiographical. Could you explain a little bit about the story behind The Circus And The Nightwhale?

“Well, my wife, Jo [Lehmann], had the idea for the title. We had been kicking around the idea of something that was semi-autobiographical so I could draw on the experience of what it was like to be born in 1950, in London, as in People Of The Smoke, the opening track – ‘the smoke’ being a nickname for London. 

“Like so many of the things that I work on with her, it took a little bit of time for the penny to drop. She was the one who said to me that people like a story. I resisted that for a while, I thought, ‘Oh, concept albums…’ they were something always heavily criticised by critics at one time. It became very passé. 

“But then it became acceptable again and we’ve done various things that are stories within themselves, like Under A Mediterranean Sky [2021], my instrumental album, describing different countries around the Mediterranean.”

How did you begin to shape the story?

“Jo suggested Travla as a third person so that we could take it into realms that were perhaps more Pinocchio-esque, or more Homeric, perhaps. The hero’s quest approach. That’s how we work together, things are born out of conversations and then Roger King [keyboards, programming and arrangements], who puts all this stuff together, makes our dreams a reality. 

“I play guitar, I sing, I try to get involved in the close detail as much as possible. We do computer sketches, then we get humans to play it – that’s how it seems to work. It’s always been a mystery to me how anything gets finished at all with the amount of time we spend on the road doing shows. We even recorded some stuff at soundchecks because we were challenged for time, so some of this album is recorded live in halls that we were doing concerts in.”

What form did the main recording sessions take for this album?

“I found a unique way of working where I think you get a lot out of yourself and other people if you’re working in so-called ‘downtime’, where you’re not really expecting anything. So anything you get from a situation like that is a plus. 

“It was recorded in maybe four or five different batches at home, in this very room, co-ordinating everything and playing guitar here. But I don’t think it’s harmed it at all, you know? Having to wing it seems to have helped it. I wanted things to be pretty brief, as it’s very easy to overstay your welcome with any one particular idea, it seems to me.”

One of the acknowledged millstones of a concept album is that there’s the expectation that it has to be performed in its complete form – something you will have experienced before in Genesis with The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Are you going to get a chance to perform this album as a whole?

“That’s a huge challenge. I hadn’t expected that it was going to be so well received. One of the videos has gone viral – the one for People Of The Smoke – and I’m at this point where I’ve only got a certain amount of time on my hands. I’d like to do the whole thing, but at the moment I’m supposed to be celebrating Foxtrot in America, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway over here – not in its entirety. It’s a real conundrum. 

“I would like to think that although it works as a cohesive whole, it should be possible to do some things from it. If I was watching The Beatles and they suddenly went into Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!, I’d be on my feet. Things should be able to work in total, and they should be able to work separately. 

“I’ve headed towards doing Genesis albums in total; the two that I’ve really gone for have been Foxtrot and Selling England By The Pound from ’72 and ’73. That was when John Lennon said he thought that Genesis were true sons of The Beatles, so as far as I’m concerned that’s the golden era of Genesis to celebrate.”

How much of your own story is wrapped up in the album’s storyline – or are you going to let people draw their own conclusions?

“I have to be a little bit careful because I don’t want to point fingers at people and blame them for my extremely screwed-up state of mind at various points. There was an aspect of claustrophobia that invaded my time with Genesis, and I had to work outside the band. I think if you’re feeling creative and you’ve got that album or that book or that film inside you, you don’t want to let it fester. You’ve got to get it out there. 

“Genesis was becoming a little bit too much of a closed shop and it was affecting my ability to sleep. I agonised over leaving the band for a good two years and then I thought, ‘No, I’ve got to make a leap of faith at this point in time.’ And there’s no doubt that I made the right decision. 

“If you look at it purely in financial terms, you would have said, ‘Yeah, but you could afford Buckingham Palace by now if you’d stayed with the band.’ But on the other hand, music is its own currency. It’s what nourishes you, if you need to do it.”

One of the acknowledged millstones of a concept album is that there’s the expectation that it has to be performed in its complete form – something you will have experienced before in Genesis with The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Are you going to get a chance to perform this album as a whole?

“That’s a huge challenge. I hadn’t expected that it was going to be so well received. One of the videos has gone viral – the one for People Of The Smoke – and I’m at this point where I’ve only got a certain amount of time on my hands. I’d like to do the whole thing, but at the moment I’m supposed to be celebrating Foxtrot in America, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway over here – not in its entirety. It’s a real conundrum. 

“I would like to think that although it works as a cohesive whole, it should be possible to do some things from it. If I was watching The Beatles and they suddenly went into Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!, I’d be on my feet. Things should be able to work in total, and they should be able to work separately. 

“I’ve headed towards doing Genesis albums in total; the two that I’ve really gone for have been Foxtrot and Selling England By The Pound from ’72 and ’73. That was when John Lennon said he thought that Genesis were true sons of The Beatles, so as far as I’m concerned that’s the golden era of Genesis to celebrate.”

Let’s talk a little bit more about the recording process. Obviously, you’ve experienced being in a band, recording together in the studio, but these days it’s far more common to have contributions made remotely, thanks to the internet. Do you have a preference?

“There’s no doubt about the camaraderie of a band when everyone is swinging together and there’s virtual telepathy going on. Those moments are irreplaceable and I had that with Genesis; there were certain moments where the music was literally writing itself. That also happened with my own first touring band. 

“When we were making Spectral Mornings, we were partying into the night and there was an album at the end of it! Everyone was getting a chance to express themselves and play and sing wonderfully. 

“So I’ve seen it from both sides. But I also love the modern way of working where you do some kind of demo, some kind of computer sketch, and then you send it off to someone, and you’re not poring over their shoulder, they’ve got time to absorb it, figure that they can do this and that and nobody has to hear all their bum notes. I just get the finished product from them.”

Were the guitars on the album primarily your Fernandez and Goldtop Gibson Les Paul?

“They’re both in evidence on the album and they produce different sounds. You sacrifice a certain amount of tone control with the Fernandes Sustainer pickup aspect, but it gives you something else – those screaming kettle police car noises and sustain to die for, with no tyranny of volume, because it’s the guitar itself that’s feeding back. So once you’re managing to isolate the notes you can get something absolutely spectacular from it. 

“Then on Wherever You Are, the penultimate track, I was using one of Brian May’s guitars that he invented, a Red Special. It was overdriven, but I was using the neck pickup out of phase with the other two, providing this kind of upper harmonic honky quality that you’d normally get from cocked wah.”

There’s some classical guitar on the album, too. What type of nylon-string do you use?

“When we were working on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in 1974 I bought a Yairi; it was the loudest guitar in the shop and I could just about afford it. I’ve kept this guitar now for 50 years and I just had the action lowered on it recently, which improved its playability. I use light gauge strings on it – D’Addario Pro-Arté – which probably squeak the least of all the ones I’ve worked with over the years.”

Did you use guitar amps or amp modellers for the album?

“For this I went straight in. No amps were harmed, they’re all virtual models. I don’t think it’s obvious that I work like that. Live, I use Engl amps and my overdrive is Sansamp. Just for practice, I’ve started using two of those in series; whether that will work live, I don’t know. 

“I’m after boosting a little bit more all the time. Then there’s a volume pedal, Whammy pedal… I’ve got a little Peavey practice amp that I use at home and I sometimes record with that. But it’s not the size of the amp, it’s what you’re doing with it.”

• The Circus and the Nightwhale is out now via Inside Out Music.

Considering his status as a legend of prog rock and an extraordinary composer, it's hard to believe that Steve Hackett, in some ways, aided in inventing good-time hair metal.

Now over 50 years since he first came onto the scene, Hackett is known for a myriad of stunning techniques, but his two-hand tapping remains his calling card.

"When I first developed the two-hand technique, I didn't know that others had picked up on it," Hackett recalls. "I was blown away once it started happening all over, and it was so influential. Let's put it this way: it influenced more people than I could possibly have imagined. It's still part of what I do, but obviously, it's not the whole thing. I'm very happy to have freed up guitarists to play dazzling solos and come up with things that would only be dreamt up at one time."

Trailblazing techniques and swells of virtuosity aside, Hackett played an integral role in the rise of legendary prog outfit Genesis, a band whose songsmith was matched pound for pound by its musicianship. Though Genesis boasted a strong '70s-era lineup – Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and Hackett – it was the young guitarist's distinctive stylings which oft-defined the group's sound.

Despite its excellence, the core of Genesis began to deteriorate, finding Gabriel departing in 1975 and Hackett following suit in 1977 after the success of his solo career.

"Once I had a successful solo album, which I had with Voyage of the Acolyte, I felt less like asking permission from others to go ahead and bring songs to fruition," Hackett admits. "You have to remember, I wasn't a founding member of Genesis, although I joined very early on. I absolutely loved and adored the songs that we did together; I was starting to loathe the band's internal politics."

Hackett continues to push forward these days, creating immersive soundscapes for listeners to dive deeply into. But the duality of his career isn't lost on him. Once a stage-roaming prog-rock titan, it appears that Hackett still has it in him to harken back to the heights of his Genesis years. 

But would Hackett consider climbing on stage with his old cohorts once more?

"I think we came up with some wonderful things in Genesis, and I'm proud of that," Hackett says. "There were some great writers involved with Genesis when we had the five guys, all capable of writing stuff. Never mind the playing, which truly left us with the best of both worlds. It was incredible. That might have lasted for a while, but that's over now."

Resolute in his vision as he moves forward, Steve Hackett dialed in with Guitar World to recount his final days in Genesis, the inception of his two-hand tapping technique, and his thoughts on the potential of a '70s-era Genesis reunion.

You've recently revisited Genesis's classic live record, Seconds Out. Why now?

"It was a combination of things. I suppose it seemed logical to do this because these songs mesh so well with my solo material. It's also a case of wanting to do favorites and balancing that against my want to play the new material. These songs provide a certain flow and continuity to my show. Seconds Out was and is a colossal album in the UK, and I felt it was time to revisit it properly."

Would you say this is more for your fans than for you?

"In a way, yes. It's all the stuff that I felt they deserved. In other words, the fans who weren't comfortable with the band's direction after a certain point, which I like to think of as the disenfranchised early fans of Genesis, it was a need to try and satisfy them.

"Seconds Out was always an album that encompassed most of the classic '70s Genesis era. So, my thinking was that if I revisit that, I'll make a lot of fans happy. I wanted to deliver this sort of show for fans who have missed out on a lot of gigs due to COVID."

Seconds Out marked the end of your time in Genesis. How do you look back upon its significance?

"I think Seconds Out is the bridge between two eras. You've got my era of Genesis, which had longer, more complicated compositions with virtuosic things. And then, once I'd gone, you had simpler songs that were more akin to pop music. What I liked most about Seconds Out is that it featured a lot of the most accessible songs from my era, which made it a fun listen for those who don't favor complex music.

"By the time Seconds Out was released, even toward the end of my time, Genesis was becoming more accessible for those who wanted to sing along. But also, there was a lot in it for those who wanted to take up keyboard, drums, guitar, or whatever. I think that split-personality, if you will, was part of the album's success, which is why it sells so well and continues to do so."

What led you to walk away from Genesis?

"I sweated blood to make sure that Genesis became an international success. At the same time, I started making solo albums, which fell foul in terms of band politics. So, I was explicitly told by the others that I couldn't pursue a parallel solo career. And I thought, 'I haven't any guarantees that my songs will be done by Genesis. What am I waiting around for?'

"For me, the mindset was, 'Here's this great band. Wouldn't it have been nice if we'd managed to keep it together with Peter Gabriel? Wouldn't it be nice if it continued to be a four-piece with me?' The politics were becoming increasingly restrictive, and I felt that nobody allowed me to own the music.

"I couldn't afford to have my brain children fall by the wayside. I said to myself, 'I must be allowed to express myself fully musically.' It came down to band loyalty or my own self. I chose myself. I know I made the right decision. I couldn't have stayed in that suffocating atmosphere any longer."

It's been said that you avoided Phil Collins while mixing Seconds Out, as he was the only one who could have changed your mind. Is there any truth to that?

"Absolutely. That is 100 percent true. I avoided Phil – which I felt bad about – because I knew he'd have gotten to me and kept me in Genesis. I knew he would probably talk me into staying, and I thought, 'I can't afford to stay with Genesis when I know it's so restrictive at this point.' So, that's absolutely true. I felt so close to Phil and his spirit, but I knew I had to leave.

"And, of course, everybody started to have solo albums once I left [Laughs]. I think that that sort of splintering can't be undone once a band starts to hemorrhage members – a five-piece being whittled down to a four and then to three. It's sad, though. I look back on it, and perhaps we could have carried on if we weren't so young and a bit more mature and less cocksure."

Had you stayed with Genesis, what direction would you have taken?

"I would not have gone in the pop direction they did in the '80s. Although the music's different, I think that Pink Floyd combined lots of soloing, extended arrangements, and many accessible songs. I believe Genesis aimed itself in the direction of vocal-based accessible songs and stripped away the detail. And that meant musicians were no longer looking to Genesis for innovation.

"While that certainly pleased MTV's gods, and it was media-friendly – and I'm not knocking the fact that it's sold millions – I would never have gone along with that. So, my counter to that was forming GTR With Steve Howe. We managed to do something that pleased the gods of MTV, and at the same time, we managed to do something where, although perhaps there was less soloing and more direct songs, bridged that gap. I suppose I might have taken Genesis in that same direction had I stayed."

Describe your compositional approach as a solo artist.

"I look at writing music on guitar as if I'm writing a book. There's got to be a beginning, a middle, and an ending. But there's a lot that happens in between, too. I'll sit down with my bandmates or even my wife and put together a framework for a potential song. And then I load that into my computer, and I play around with it until I understand what it will be."

How has that changed from your days in Genesis?

"I'm freer now, I think. If you were asking Tchaikovsky or Bach to go into the rehearsal room with a bunch of young guys, I don't think that would improve things [Laughs]. If you've got a clear-thinking, conceptual brain, then you can bypass that process. Musicians come into their own once they are let loose on material that's been thoroughly composed through their own filter, and I am much more able to do that now than when I was in Genesis.

"When I was in Genesis, we fleshed things out in a rehearsal room and then kicked it around like a football. We weren't mature musicians back then – we were kids. It's different now when I do get people involved. Once I have the full portrait, so to speak, I've learned to be flexible in terms of how it progresses from there. I leave room for others to be involved. For a composer and a writer, the camaraderie between the people in the rehearsal room reigns supreme."

As both a guitarist and composer, how do you reconcile the two?

"Well, let's put it this way: I listened exclusively to solo instrumentals when I was very young. And over time, I came to appreciate what each instrument can do within that context. You might think of something simple like the humble triangle and say, 'What's the point of that?' But then you realize that the triangle plays a vital role within an orchestral picture, but it might come in and out.

"So, that thinking altered my perception of how I view myself as a guitarist. You realize just how wrong you can be and that it's all about the context. Like many instruments, the guitar can impersonate other things, like the human voice or even sounds in nature like rain, birds, etc. Once you open yourself up to the idea of imitation in music, the possibilities are excellent. So, as a guitarist, I'm often thinking outside the box and trying to find ways to push the instrument's boundaries.

"Guitars are fantastic lead instruments; they're very adaptable. They're a bit like a synthesizer but without all the weird electronic aspects. You have to have a vision with it. You can make a guitar sound like so many things if you've got the patience. Blazing heroics will take you so far, and they don't mean you're capable of writing a good tune."

You're known for your Les Paul Goldtop. What first attracted you to Gibson's classic single-cut?

"When I was a young guy in my mid-teens, I was aware that in the mid-1960s, all the sonic developments happening within the world of the guitar were usually through the hands of blues players. And it seemed like the go-to combination at that time was a Gibson Les Paul and a Marshall amp.

"Even at a young age, I realized that other individuals invented all these things, but that incredible combination worked very well for so many of the heroic blues players that the British guys were copying. Most importantly, at the time, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Peter Green were using that combination. It was so heavy and sounded so incredible to my young ears. I knew I had to have one for myself."

You branched out to Fernandes guitars, though. What led to that?

"That's true; I have. Fernandes is a wonderful company that also makes its own version of the Les Paul. Meaning it's the same shape and aims to be, essentially, the same guitar. The great thing about the Fernandes Les Paul is that it utilizes the same shape as the Gibson, but it's got a Sustainer pickup.

"I believe other larger companies are using Sustainiac pickups now, too, but Fernandes was one of the first to do it on a Les Paul-shaped guitar. Perhaps Gibson will fight back and do it, too, bringing things full circle for me, but I haven't had a Gibson model with a Sustainiac pickup yet. It would be very interesting to see if Gibson achieved tonal quality."

What other guitars are in your arsenal?

"I've mainly got three electric guitars. I've got a bunch of nylon-stringed stuff, but as far as electric guitars go, it's my '57 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, the Fernandes Les Paul that I got in Japan, and I have one of the guitars that my friend Brian May invented way back in the day.

"The guitar that Brian made has got a very interesting sound to it. With the pickups it has, it allows me the ability to be able to switch them in and out of phase. With that guitar, I get a big tonal range that can handle everything from country to screaming rock. So, those three guitars are significant to me."

When you developed your two-hand tapping technique, could you have imagined that it would be imitated en masse?

"I was so young when I discovered that, and I just thought it sounded brilliant at the time. No, I never could have imagined it. I was just messing around, and one day, I realized then when you're hammering on and off with your right hand – which became an important technique because it enables you to play incredibly fast – I remember thinking about it and coming to the idea that I could do something on one string without necessarily having to move to another. And then, when I applied that to the whole of the fretboard, I found that I could do some incredible things.

"It's an extraordinary technique, becoming the mainstay of many heavy metal players. I suppose I'm thrilled to have been the granddaddy of that."

Do you recall the moment that you discovered the technique?

"I can't recall the exact moment, but I remember how it made me feel. It's probably the guitar-playing equivalent of splitting the atom. Just to feel that it's possible to be able to do something that, at one time, only keyboard players could do, was exhilarating. And now, for over 50 years, it's been a part of the rock 'n' roll vocabulary.

"Thinking about it, I first recall doing it in '71 on Nursery Cryme. I recall that I struggled to play it in time, but I practiced it live during some solos with Genesis, and that's when other people picked up on it. I didn't realize its significance in the universal sense back then. At the time, I thought it was personal to me and that I was the only person doing that."

Genesis wrapped things up in the spring of 2022. You were invited but couldn't take the stage. Do you regret that you couldn't perform with Genesis one last time?

"The truth is, I had already booked my tour throughout the world, and they booked their tour after I'd done that. I wasn't in a position to offer anything to them at that point because I had all my professional commitments lined up. And look, there's plenty of it on YouTube; you can see what they were doing live and what my band was doing at exactly the same time. All I can say is that I'm very proud of the reviews that we got and the attendance that we had.

"So, I don't think it's a case of separate camps; it's just that I know they've said officially that they won't do any more shows. And we know it's for all sorts of reasons, don't we? It's well known about Phil and that this was to be a sort of last hurrah, as it were. But at the end of the day, there's nothing to stop anyone from deciding to go out again and reform and what have you."

If that were to happen, would you be open to participating?

"Considering Phil can't do it anymore, I know many people love the idea of a reformed Genesis that involves myself and Peter Gabriel going out on tour. First, I'd say that it's been a long time coming. Second, I'd say that I think it's highly unlikely. But as I say, I choose to celebrate the music we created rather than contest it.

"Who knows if the Genesis flag will ever fly again? I choose to fly my own flag in my own way. The ship is still afloat, and I aim to keep it that way. There will be more touring this year; we'll be back in the States in 2023 and then back in the UK in 2024."

• Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More is out now.

English rock legends Genesis played their final gig at London's O2 Arena on Saturday night (March 26), concluding a career that spanned over five decades.

The band's lineup for the show included singer Phil Collins, guitarist Mike Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks, who were joined by touring musicians Daryl Stuermer, Nic Collins, Daniel Pearce and Patrick Smyth.

Playing a total of 23 tracks from their expansive back catalog, the band performed hits including I Can't Dance, Turn It On Again, Mama, Invisible Touch and No Son of Mine, wrapping up with The Carpet Crawlers from their 1974 album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

Prior to playing the set's fourth song, Land of Confusion – from 1986's Invisible Touch – Collins took a moment to address the crowd. “Tonight is a very special night,” he said. “Of course, we're playing in London and it's the last stop of our tour, [but it's also] the last show for Genesis.”

As the crowd offered a lengthy applause, Collins joked: “Yes it's difficult to believe that you still came out to see [us]! Yes, after tonight, we've all got to get real jobs.”

Former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel was reportedly in attendance, with Collins acknowledging his presence prior to performing Domino, joking: “Maybe he's the one shouting for Supper's Ready – I don't know!” Gabriel left Genesis in 1975, and last played with the band in 1982, at a one-off reunion gig.

During certain songs in the set – including No Son of Mine and Mama – Rutherford can be seen playing an ultra-cheap Squier Stratocaster, which last year he revealed he picked up in Cape Town, South Africa when he was stuck there in lockdown.

“It cost £200 at the most, and I play it on stage on Mama and No Son of Mine,” he told Guitarist. “I just love it. It's got a life to it. It's a little bit lighter than some and it's got a slightly smaller neck which helps my aging fingers."

Formed in 1967, Genesis are one of the most commercially successful music acts in history, releasing 15 studio records and selling over 100 million albums worldwide.

Genesis have had an extraordinary career, even by stadium-rock standards. They’ve been making music for more than half a century, sold 150 million albums, recorded 15 albums – and even the band members’ solo careers, from Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins to Rutherford’s own Mike And The Mechanics, have ranked among rock’s great chart successes.

When we caught up with founding member Mike Rutherford, Genesis was about to embark on The Last Domino? tour – the band’s first in 14 years – with Phil Collins fronting, despite well documented health problems – and Rutherford sharing guitar and bass duties interchangeably with Daryl Stuermer, who has been part of the band’s live line-up for more than 40 years. 

Since recording this interview, the band sadly had to halt the tour – which was just getting off the ground – due to a band member (undisclosed) testing positive for COVID-19. 

This spanner in the works, while carefully guarded against, is all the more galling for band and fans alike, as the initial shows had garnered impressive reviews. Happily, the shows that were postponed have since been rescheduled for 2022 along with some additional dates in Europe, and so it seems that the band is looking forward to putting this setback behind them. 

When we spoke to Mike, however, this was all yet to befall the band so our conversation ranged from first night nerves to Strats, formative influences and Mike’s unique perspective on the skillset you have to acquire to shine on both bass and guitar. 

His 54-year journey with Genesis has clearly been nothing if not eventful – but he remains refreshingly pragmatic about gear and music making, even to the point of using a £120 guitar on a huge tour if it suits his needs, as we found out…

As we speak, you’re just about to embark on The Last Domino? tour – what’s the feeling like in the band? 

“Yeah, it’s good. I mean, we did the main production rehearsals last November, December in lockdown. So we were sort of prepared then, which was a strange choice actually at the time, considering it was a tour that may never have happened. And then we reconvened about two weeks ago. 

“We’ve just had a little break as Phil’s daughter Lily got married in America [in September]. So we had a week off there and then we start again tomorrow. So we’re ready to go – we’re in good shape.” 

Genesis first formed when you were at school – did you have any inkling that you’d still be doing this so much later in your life?

“None of us did! [Laughs] What was that lovely line Ringo said? He wanted to make enough money to buy his own hairdressing salon in Liverpool and that was his goal. 

“No, I mean, Christ, it’s been 54 years now. I mean, not at all. But in a sense I think we managed quite well by never really looking too far ahead. And I also do think that what helped our career – and our pleasure in doing it – was that 20-year period when we did solo stuff and then Genesis side by side. That, I think, made the band fresher every time we reconvened.”

A lot of late-'60s British bands looked to the blues for their main inspiration. What musical traditions was early Genesis fueled by? 

“I would say a mixture of bands. It was a very exciting time in the UK – The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks were just ahead of us by five or six years, although that seemed a big gap when you were 12 years old rather than 18… And also folk music, Joni Mitchell, that sort of stuff. But then again, Peter was more R&B so it was a complete cross-section of stuff, really.” 

When you played the spit-and-sawdust British gig venues in the early part of the '70s, did you encounter any hostility to the theatrical look you adopted? 

“I think there was more surprise in the audience – it was a bit different. But here’s the weird thing: I think the music carried Peter’s onstage look. Sometimes, you know, we’d start soft and acoustic with 12-string guitar and the audience would all be at the bar, but then the drums came in and they left the bar [to come forward to the stage]. 

“I think new fans were bemused more than anything, really. But the set got quite strong and powerful at the end, with songs like The Knife, and I think it surprised them.”

You supported Rory Gallagher around that time – quite a contrast musically, though both incredible bands. Do you happen to remember how that gig went down? 

“Yeah, I mean, we supported everybody. Any band who was around then of any size, we supported them. I just remember he had a little amp backstage, actually, which he was blues-ing on. It was so fucking loud! It sounded fantastic.” 

The band has covered so much musical terrain over the years. Do you feel like Genesis is really several separate bands that have simply worked under a common flag? 

“Yeah, I mean, if you’re in it, it’s always the same band to you, if you know what I mean. I think the perception [of what Genesis was about musically] was quite bizarre in the '80s and '90s because of MTV. 

“The singles got such a high profile that they overshadowed the long tracks that we did – every album we made always had a long 12-, 15- or 30-minute track on it. But obviously on the radio no-one heard those because they were only played live, so I think people sort of forgot that we still did that. I feel it was more perception [that there had been a shift in the band’s core focus] because, you know, MTV did change the way people perceived our songs.” 

What does Daryl Stuermer bring to the table, on both guitar and bass, on tour with Genesis? 

“Well, it’s been 40-years-plus now [that we’ve worked together] and on stage he’s a big part of Genesis, really. There’s a lovely email that came a couple of years ago and he said, ‘I heard you guys might be possibly thinking about doing something with Genesis… Please consider me.’ 

“And I went back saying, ‘Well, the thought of doing without you is out of the question. You know, you are the holder of knowledge of the chords, how all the songs go and where the changes are.’ 

“So I couldn’t imagine doing it without Daryl, actually. He’s fantastic. He came from the jazz-rock world: he was playing guitar with Jean-Luc Ponty but then became a bass player with Genesis. But for five years or so you don’t [fully] become a bass player, first of all. First tour, you play the right bass notes – but it takes a while to really understand it, and it’s great now.”

How do you divvy up guitar parts? 

“Genesis songs like Firth Of Fifth with these huge guitar solos that Steve Hackett used to play… It’s not my forte that sort of thing – fast, fluid solos – so obviously Daryl took that one, plus other stuff that Steve did like that. Then on some of the more recent songs I feel closer to the guitar – but it’s not set in stone. 

“This time around we’ve been rehearsing Jesus He Knows Me and last tour I played guitar [on that song], but this time I’m playing bass because I just felt like it.” 

A lot of guitarists assume that six-string fretboard skills are directly transferable to bass – only to discover when they pick one up that it’s a very different mindset… 

“So much is a feel thing. You sort of learn to understand what bass needs to do to give a song a lift. For example, I don’t play bass apart [from the pragmatic necessities of] recording and live work, but in the last 10 years of doing Mike And The Mechanics, I’ve realized that when I get on the bass to put an album down, you can change the song hugely and give it a real lift. It’s so important what it can do. 

“Bass and drums kind of get forgotten now: they’re mainly in the box, you know, on the computer. But they can give a track a real lift if you play it manually.” 

Back to guitars, you seem to gravitate towards Strats. How did you settle on them for your Genesis sound? 

“I didn’t really get excited about Strats until I bought the EC model – Eric [Clapton]'s one – with that boost thing, which really made a difference to me, actually. And I tend to use the Lace Sensor Gold pickups, which really do help. But the thing is, the Strat can be anybody, they can cover all kinds of moods. Whereas other guitars like Gibsons have a sort of one-sound thing, I think.”

What Strats are you taking along for The Last Domino? tour? 

“I have my main Strat, but here’s a funny thing. Last year, I went to Cape Town for two weeks and got stuck there in lockdown for two months because there were no flights. And just prior to lockdown, I thought, ‘Christ, I haven’t got an electric guitar…’ 

“So I went to a music shop there and I bought two Squier Bullet Strats. You know, Indonesian-made, standard spec… and one of them I just love. It cost £200 at the most. And I play it on stage on Mama and No Son Of Mine. I just love it. It’s got a life to it. It’s a little bit lighter than some and it’s got a slightly smaller neck, which helps my aging fingers.”

Pretty impressive that it made the cut for a Genesis world tour. The standard Squier Bullet Strat is around £120… 

“Yes, well, my guitar tech Steve Prior, who’s the best guitar tech in the world, did change the machineheads. But it’s about what works for you, really.” 

You played a Steinberger in the MTV video for Anything She Does from Invisible Touch. Was that just for the camera or did you genuinely favor them at that point? 

“Oh no – the whole of the Invisible Touch album is all Steinberger. I loved them, I really did. It was such a crude thing, you know, just a bit of graphite, six strings, like an old sort of blues guitar – you know what I mean? It was really crude. I loved it. 

“And then I played it on stage and people said to me, ‘Well, can’t you get a bigger-size guitar? Why have you got a small one? Because you’re a tall bloke, you know?’ And so I went to Steinberger and said, ‘Can you make me a bigger one?’ But they said no. So I built one with Roger Giffin, with a proper body shape. And then they copied it – but the sound wasn’t quite the same, it wasn’t quite as good as the original one… After that I went to the Strats.”

Are you taking anything new out on tour this time, guitar-wise? 

“On this tour we’re doing a short acoustic bit, which is the first for us, in the middle of the stage. And I’ve got one of those Fender Acoustasonic Strats, the little ones, which is really nice. I mean, it’s not as good as a real acoustic guitar to be honest, but for stage it’s very easy and friendly.” 

You’re also well known for using doubleneck guitars, combining bass and 12-string…

“Yes, my favorite was the very first one. I’ve a funny feeling it might be in a Hall Of Fame exhibit now. I had a lovely Rickenbacker 12-string, black one, and I had this Micro-Frets bass, which had a weird sound. So I went to a guy who cut them up and joined them together. 

“And that’s my favorite. But at the moment I have a 12-string and a bass doubleneck… it’s got a Gibson 12-string neck combined with a Yamaha TRB 4P active bass below, which is really nice.”

In terms of backline, do you stick with classic valve amps or have you gone down the whole modeling route as so many pro users of Fractal, Kemper and so on have on tour? 

“Well, basically the last tour Genesis did was in 2007. We rehearsed in New York and I had one of those Line 6 amps, which I’d rehearsed with at home, and I’d created all the echoes and the EQ and stuff on it in advance. [I] went into New York and I couldn’t hear it above the band! 

“So then I went back to the old Fender 410 DeVille. And that’s still what I use. It’s got a sort of frequency, you can hear it anywhere. It’s got its own sound really.”

What’s on your pedalboard for the tour?

“It’s quite simple really. There’s a new one, a Strymon, that I like, which Daryl turned me on to, the Riverside Overdrive – and the Strymon Sunset dual distortion is also great. But the main one I use is still my T-Rex Dr Swamp.

“Another thing I’ve got is the [Boss] DD-2 Digital Delay and I just stick it in the amp’s send and return. There’s something about those old ones: I hear them better. 

“With the modern ones I just don’t like the sound of the delay, really. But in general, I’m very comfortable with the sounds that I’ve got. It’s nice having chorus pedals that don’t go wrong, too… I’ve got about seven pairs of the old Moog pedals and they’re just not reliable.”

How about on the bass side of the backline? 

“Since the last tour with the Mechanics I went onto Ampeg SVT bass amps with two 410s because, once again, you can hear them. I used to use Trace Elliott, which was very nice, but the Ampeg, when you fiddle with the EQ on the bass, it’s still the same sound – you can’t change it much, which I like. It’s got its quality of sound and you can add stuff but you can’t go off the radar.” 

How do you see the future panning out for Genesis as a touring band from here? 

“Well, I would imagine we’ll do the leg in America and then just take stock and see how we’re doing, see if we’re having a good time – that’s the way to do it. 

“I’m sure our manager’s got dates held for next year, which you have to do, but I think we should just get going. People say to me at the moment, ‘Are you excited about it?’ And I’m just like, ‘That’s the wrong word – I just want to get it going.’ It’s been a long time coming, you know? I just want to get a couple of shows under my belt and make a start… 

“I mean, it’s a bit weird– there’s a ‘Covid officer’ and we carry a doctor, you know? All the procedures. It’s probably one of the first big arena shows since lockdown, I think. So let’s just hope it all goes okay.”

• A new collection of Genesis’s best-loved songs, including their biggest hits and legendary album cuts, entitled The Last Domino?, is out now.

The fact that our guitar heroes don't always use expensive custom gear is no state secret. It's also been shown time and again that if you put a cheap electric guitar in the hands of a master, they'll still sound exactly like themselves. 

With all that in mind though, it's still quite surprising when an incredibly accomplished guitarist for one of rock's most reliably arena-filling bands reveals he's using a guitar most associated with beginners.

Such is the case though, with Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford, who – while on the road with the reunited rock giants for their recently postponed The Last Domino? tour – has taken to using ultra-low-budget Squier Bullet Stratocasters onstage.

When asked by Guitarist what guitars he's been using onstage for Genesis's 2021 tour, Rutherford said, “I've got my main Strat but here's a funny thing: last year, I went to Cape Town for two weeks and got stuck there in lockdown for two months because there were no flights. And just prior to lockdown, I thought: ‘Christ, I haven't got an electric guitar…’ So I went to a music shop there and I bought two Squier Bullet Strats. You know, Indonesian-made, standard spec... and one of them I just love. 

"It cost £200 at the most, and I play it on stage on Mama and No Son of Mine," he continued. "I just love it. It's got a life to it. It's a little bit lighter than some and it's got a slightly smaller neck which helps my aging fingers." 

When asked by Guitarist if there had been any mods made to the Squiers for onstage use, Rutherford said, "My guitar tech Steve Prior, who’s the best guitar tech in the world, did change the machine heads. But it's about what works for you, really." 

Further investigation by Guitar Player revealed that Prior had done a bit more tweaking of Rutherford's Squiers than the guitarist let on, but still left them – to a greater extent than one would expect – largely factory standard.

“The Squier Bullet Stratocaster is his [Rutherford's] favorite at the moment, it really is,” Prior told Guitar Player in an interview. “And I’ve just bought him a couple of others which I’ve found rather cheaply in the clearance section at Guitar Guitar in Newcastle [England]. They were only about 100 quid each! I mean they’re unbelievably good guitars for the money." 

“His favorite one is an unusual color; it’s a limited-edition finish called Sonic Grey,” Prior continued. “Squier Bullet Strats in this finish were imported into South Africa from Indonesia. Mike bought the guitar in a shop in Cape Town because he forgot to take his black Clapton Strat with him on a visit. He actually bought two.

“Sitting at home in Cape Town plugged into his Blackstar 3-watt amp, Mike just fell in love with it playing along to his laptop and relearning all the Genesis songs. That was him for almost all of the first lockdown because he wasn’t allowed out of Cape Town. He was stuck there. But he came back saying how much he loved this guitar.”

“It’s super lightweight; it feels like balsawood,” Prior elaborated. “But I have changed the bridge/saddles and put Gotoh tuners on just to make it more reliable for the tour. Mike loves the sound of the pickups, although on a couple of these guitars I have put Fender Noiseless bridge pickups in, just in case we get any interaction with the stage's enormous 70 feet LCD screen.

“If you want to put Gotoh tuners on you’ve got to enlarge the peghead holes. I also recut the nut and dressed the frets. I would maybe recommend upgrading the electronics to Switchcraft and CTS too. It’s about fine-tuning the guitar really.

“Mike has got so many other wonderful Strats, but he also loves using these Indonesian-made Squier Bullet Stratocasters. He can’t put the Sonic Grey one down. It’s the first guitar he wants to play every day and he uses it for some big songs in the Genesis set including No Son of Mine and Mama.

“I asked him if he’d like me to take the Squier decal off the headstock but he said he wanted it stay. Fender are probably over the moon about that!”

To read the full conversation with Rutherford, be sure to keep an eye out for the next print issue of Guitarist. 

A pioneer of progressive guitar, Steve Hackett has been pushing the boundaries of the instrument since the early ‘70s as a member of Genesis. Back then, his always inventive rhythm and lead playing combined elements of rock, classical, folk, blues, art rock, orchestral music, avant-garde and more into a stunning stew that influenced everyone from Brian May to Eddie Van Halen (in the latter’s case, Hackett was finger tapping in Genesis as early as 1971, six years before EVH popularized the technique via his own Eruption).

After making his mark with Genesis on prog-rock touchstone albums like Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Hackett went on to form supergroups like GTR, with Yes guitarist Steve Howe, and Squackett, with Yes bassist Chris Squire, and launch a successful solo career that has seen him release more than two dozen albums in a diverse range of styles, including the 2021 acoustic effort Under a Mediterranean Sky, an all-instrumental, classical-minded effort that puts his nimble and accomplished nylon-string playing front and center. 

At the same time, he’s never forgotten his Genesis past. Even as he has just released his newest solo effort, Surrender of Silence – which he calls a “no holds barred” album encompassing everything from “metal macabre to romance – Hackett and his band are on tour playing Genesis’ 1977 Seconds Out live album in its entirety. 

To commemorate the release of Surrender of Silence as well as his current Genesis-celebrating tour, Guitar World looks at some of the great musical moments from Hackett’s wide-ranging career.

The Musical Box (1971)

Nursery Cryme was Hackett’s first record with Genesis, and he made his presence known right off the bat with this epic opening track. After a hushed first few minutes, Hackett bursts into a lead solo so wild it borders on acid rock. Things let up again for a spell, only for Hackett to come slashing back in for an even more untethered salvo punctuated by dissonant, skronky tones. 

And that’s to say nothing of the regal harmonized-guitar climax, a part so thrilling that Hackett has said Brian May, the king (or perhaps Queen) of stacked harmony guitar lines, has acknowledged it as an influence on his own playing.

The Return of the Giant Hogweed (1971)

If you’re wondering just where Hackett first unveiled his use of two-hand tapping on record, listen to the first 30 second of Hogweed and wonder no more. As for how he came up with it? 

"I was trying to play a tiny phrase from Toccata and Fugue by Bach, and I was wondering how to do it, because you couldn't really do it across the strings,” he explained to MusicRadar. “I figured that if I could do it on one string, then I'd be using the fretboard like a keyboard. There's a couple of techniques I took from Bach, like sweep-picking, which is akin to a violinist rocking the bow across the strings.”

Dancing with the Moonlit Knight (1973)

The epic opening cut on Selling England By the Pound spends the first few of its eight-minute run time as a stately piano ballad accented by Hackett’s clean-toned filigrees, before revving into overdrive with heavier power chords and Hackett’s scrambling, occasionally tapped lead lines. 

“The second half of the song was supposed to take off like a rocket,” Hackett told Guitar World, “so that was a very satisfying moment from Genesis days.” Indeed it was – and still is.

Firth of Fifth (1973)

Hackett’s extended solo in this Selling England by the Pound masterpiece has long been pointed to by fans as not only a high point of his own catalog, but of progressive rock guitar as a whole. Much of that has to do with his siren-like legato phrases, incredibly creamy guitar tone and exquisite sustain. 

As for how he achieved his sound? “In 1973 I’d just got an Echoplex, Hiwatt amp, a Tonebender and a Schaller volume pedal and I noticed when I hit a high F# it would just distort and feedback perfectly,” Hackett told Guitar World. “Although it was a fuzz box, it had a real thick tube sound and the combination sounded great for that melody, so I stretched it out. The guys thought it was a great sound and they really encouraged me to extend the solo.” Which turned out to be a good thing, indeed, as Hackett has referred to Firth as one of “most iconic electric guitar moments from Genesis.”

Fly on a Windshield (1974)

Fly on a Windshield shows Genesis at their most orchestral, with the swelling arrangement highlighted by Hackett’s moaning, soaring lines that add an almost vocal-like quality to the middle instrumental section. He’s called Fly “largely an atmospheric piece, but pretty powerful.” We’d agree.

Ace of Wands (1975)

Hackett recorded his first solo album, 1975’s Voyage of the Acolyte, while he was still a full-fledged member of Genesis, even bringing along Genesis band mates Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford for the ride. And yet, the album is without question a spotlight for Hackett’s adventurous playing, best evidenced on the album’s stirring leadoff track, Ace of Wands.

Spectral Mornings (1979)

The title track to Hackett’s third solo album was originally intended to feature vocals, but as the story goes, after Hackett played the vocal melody to his band on guitar, singer Pete Hicks convinced him to keep it instrumental, effectively talking himself out of a job. Perhaps not the wisest move, but can you blame him? The tone, touch and phrasing here are absolutely sublime. Little wonder why the track has become something of Hackett’s solo career calling-card in the years and decades since.

El Niño (2017)

Hackett took a globe-trotting approach on 2017’s The Night Siren, and to be sure, El Niño comes off like a symphonic showpiece from a far-off land. And it’s all elevated – and, in a way, grounded – by Hackett’s instantly recognizable lead guitar work. For a particularly stirring version, check out the 2017 live performance from Birmingham above. 

Adriatic Blue (2021)

Much of Hackett’s work over the years, in particular with Genesis, is characterized by not just stunning playing, but an impressive ability to seamlessly weave together disparate styles and approaches within a single song or solo. 

Every so often, however, Hackett sticks firmly to one sound, as is the case with much of the music on the gorgeous Under a Mediterranean Sky. Among the many highlights on the record is Adriatic Blue, which presents Hackett’s nylon-string playing in a fully unaccompanied classical guitar forum, allowing his stunning technique, characterized by precision-picked lines, elegant counterpoint melodies and dazzling fretwork to come to the fore. Fans of early Hackett solo acoustic instrumental pieces like Genesis’ Horizons will find plenty to love here.

Fox’s Tango (2021)

Hackett has said this Surrender of Silence cut presents his playing at its angriest. “I really let rip here.” And indeed he does. Hackett’s guitar tears through the bordering-on-symphonic-metal landscape, building to blistering, occasionally harmonized crescendos that match the lyrics – “a protest song about life’s inequalities” – in emotional angst and despair every step of the way.

My guitar hero...

"Hank Marvin influenced me to pick up the guitar. I was influenced entirely by listening to the guitar tunes The Shadows were playing. That was very important to me."

I got my first real six-string… 

"My dad was able to play guitar, and would play these country tunes and whistle the melodies. He had brought me back a guitar from Canada in 1958. It was such a big guitar that I couldn't get my hands around it.

"It had such a brutal action with really heavy strings, so I started wrestling with that from the age of 12 onwards. When I turned 15, he bought me an electric guitar and an amp."

Learning curve...

"I probably stumbled through everything at first, trying my hand at tunes like Wipe Out by The Safaris and Pipeline by The Chantays – songs you could play on the guitar’s two bass strings. 

"I’d play these tunes for people and they’d say, 'Oh, you can play guitar?' And I’d reply, 'No I can’t play guitar, all I can do is play these two strings on these three frets.' The first tune I was able to play properly was Guitar Tango by The Shadows, but I think I tried to also play it all on one string."

My first time onstage...

"The first few times I played live was as a semi-pro amateur, and I generally found that whatever you played would go down like a led balloon until the audience was completely [drunk]. Then they loved everything you’d play all night!" 

Embarrassing moments…

"It was with my first professional gig with Genesis. It was a complete disaster. I basically had a new fuzz box that did nothing but feed back all night and made me forget every single note I was supposed to remember to play. 

"Phil [Collins] was drunk and missed a lot of the drum parts, so the show was a shambles. There was a big row after the gig and I thought they were going to sack me. But they didn’t. It was a baptism by fire for sure."

Still got the blues...

"As an early fan of sonic developments within guitar, I loved blues then and I love the blues now. Of course, blues is the grandfather of rock. I used to go and watch Peter Green play live on many occasions, long before he formed Fleetwood Mac. I was absolutely smitten with his playing, so I fell in love with the blues." 

My favorite piece of gear... 

"I’ve got a 1957 Gibson Les Paul, which is a gorgeous-sounding guitar that I’ve been recording with a lot in recent times. I also have a Fernandes that used to belong to Gary Moore and I tend to use that a lot live. 

"Les Pauls – I've had too many of those guitars stolen over the years, so I never take one out with me on the road, and haven’t since the 1970s. I made the switch from Marshall to Engl, so I have a couple of 100-watt Engls I’m using live, but only one at a time, as the other is a spare. 

"I'm finding they are a very responsive guitar amp, and I use a SansAmp with them as well to get the overdrive. It’s got that authentic tube overdriven sound." 

Advice from the master...

"I don’t think you can give any advice to young guitar players. All you can do is advise parents to tell them that, if they are absolutely mad about it, they will do it. 

"Whether that is with a guitar teacher or down the route I went, which was to make mistakes, make your own progress and teach yourself, then every guitarist you watch that you like the sound of becomes your teacher. I think the single biggest lesson, which I don’t think can be taught, is to learn to love it, too." 

Looking to the future...

"I’ve just released Under a Mediterranean Sky, which is my first acoustic solo album since Tribute [2008]. I thought it might be nice to do something that was an image journey – the kind of album where people could absorb it with a glass of wine or two and drift off with it. 

"In a way, it’s a lockdown album, inspired by many of the places I've actually visited. I’m also working on a rock album to follow up this one, which will probably come out in late 2021. 

"It’s no secret I tend to work on a number of projects at any one time, whether they be like this recent book [A Genesis in My Bed] or recordings in different genres. It doesn’t mean I am not satisfied by each of these things – far from it."

Not long before a virus took over the planet, the big buzz in music for fans of progressive rock was the announcement that the legendary bassist Mike Rutherford would be rejoining Tony Banks (keyboards) and Phil Collins (vocals) in a reformation of their old band, Genesis. 

For those of us of a certain vintage, it came as no surprise that the tour, now postponed for obvious reasons, sold out in double-quick time, forcing the trio to add further dates. 

For those too young to recall, Genesis were one of the world’s premier live touring shows through the '70s, '80s, and early '90s. Back then, they could sell out a US stadium tour in less time than it takes to make a cup of tea, such was their pulling power. 

Since 1985, Rutherford has also been the captain at the helm of Mike & The Mechanics, a constantly evolving band that has produced a significant back catalog of its own. We caught up with Mike a while back to discuss his early influences... 

“I always tried to be melodic,” he explains, “but if you hear those early tracks now, you can tell I’m doing too much, with too many notes. We were all trying to find our niche at that time, but the older you get, the more you learn to play what is right for the song. It’s a process of learning when it’s applicable and when it’s not. 

“I was looking to the greats at the time such as Jack Bruce, who had a unique sound and was a very melodic player. The McCartneys of this world are still great, because they’re musical bass players, and you have players like Pino Palladino, who has to be one of the most amazing players of all time – a lovely guy, and the fastest learner I’ve ever known. 

“Play him a song twice and it’s there. I’m working my way around a part, and he already has it down.” The prog-rock scene of the early '70s was a fertile ground for ideas and sounds.

Did Rutherford keep an eye on what his competitors were doing? “I never really knew much about Rush, for example,” he says. “I really don’t know much of their material, and I should investigate some of it sometime. I was very aware of Yes, though: I always thought Chris Squire was an amazing bass player. 

“I went to see them years ago and I came away thinking how different they were to us, in a nice way. They were all virtuoso players, whereas we were more songwriters, and that was okay.” 

He adds: “Pedals are a huge part of how I write. I can be sitting in my studio at home writing with the bass pedals in front of me and playing guitar with a MIDI pickup to create a string sound to accompany myself. The bass pedals make you play unusual notes, once the chords are down. 

“You play some weird notes which you might not do otherwise, so they’re a huge part of what I do and how I write.” Such were the scale of Genesis’s global jaunts that Rutherford was often sent prototypes for use on the road and in the studio.

As a result, the band were early adopters of new technology such as Trace Elliot amplification, Status instruments and Steinberger guitars and basses.

“At the time,” he recalls, “I thought of Trace Elliot as ‘the 4x10 sound’. It was a great way of focusing the sound and pumping a bit more, and for a long time, I loved using their gear. It tailed off in the '90s as the company and the gear changed, but when it first appeared, it was great – a real step up. In the days when I used a double neck, the treble pickup would run through a column of speakers, and the bass pickup would go through its own cabinets.” 

Rumour has it that Rutherford was also responsible for creating the larger-bodied Steinberger bass body – any truth to that?

“Basically, I did [Genesis’s 1986 album] Invisible Touch and the corresponding tour with Steinberger guitars. I kept saying ‘It’s so small, can I have a bigger one?’ I asked them to build a bass with more of a body on it, but nothing happened, so I got some cardboard and drew out a shape and I got [luthier] Roger Giffen to build me one, which sounded pretty good. 

“Steinberger then fiddled around with it and asked if they could copy it. They called it the M1, and that was how it happened, although of course, I didn’t get any design royalties! It was never quite as good, as it had a solid wooden body, whereas the basic original guitar was just a well-designed piece of graphite.

“The original bass was the same, and I loved that; the sound was so small and precise, but on the albums, it sounded huge and had a real character to it. You can hear it on [1983 album] Genesis and Invisible Touch, but it sounded good because it is what it is, a graphite body and neck – there’s nothing to it.

“Later, someone built me a shaped-body version with a gap in the middle for me to insert the original Steinberger, but I needed  to find a way to attach it, so that all the resonance came from the graphite body part. Both the original guitar and bass sounded so good because they were, to a certain extent, quite crude.”

Needless to say, the Rutherford vaults house a fair few gems, amassed over the decades. 

“I don’t tend to look at new instruments these days: for years, all my instruments were in cases in a barn, so they never came out, really. I now have a long wall at home where they all hang up so I can go and pick one when the whim takes me. 

“We did a session a while back and we were flying straight out afterwards, so we rented gear in instead of taking our equipment. They provided a relic'd Mexican Fender Jazz, and I played it through a guitar amp: It sounded great, very light, too. I loved it. I often record bass through a guitar amplifier, because bass amps can sometimes pump too much into the sound.” 

He continues: “For the last eight years, I’ve used Ampeg on stage, and no matter where we are, those amps tend to sound the same, so I’ve got some consistency. I used to have an Alembic Series II, which I used for one tour, but I don’t know where it’s gone... it just disappeared. This tends to happen over the years. I had a white Gibson SG and that disappeared as well.”

The Mechanics require a similar setup to Genesis when it comes to the bass-playing department – a multi-faceted bassist/guitarist who can perform both roles. 

“I still play bass on several songs, but we share it,” he explains. “I’m looking for a guitarist who can play rhythm, lead, and bass. It’s a bit like years ago when we got Daryl Stuermer in for the Genesis tours. The guy before Daryl joined was Alphonso Johnson, albeit briefly, and it took Daryl seven or eight years to really ‘get’ the bass. I think he always understood how to play the right part for the song. 

“I’ve always been half and half in terms of being a guitarist and a bassist. Even when Steve Hackett was the lead guitarist in Genesis, sometimes I was playing guitar and covering the bass part on pedals, certainly the rhythmic parts. 

“The thing about bass is that it’s quite difficult to play on its own as a solo instrument, but it comes to life when you play live and on record as part of a band. I always put the drum machine part down first, followed by some guitar parts – but when the bass part comes in, if you get it right, it can give the song a huge lift.”

Many of those Genesis basslines are revered to this day. Was he aware that his band were creating future classics? 

“No, you never are – when you’re doing it, you don’t think about how  it will be thought of in years to come. In a sense, I covered a lot of ground with the double-neck instrument and the bass pedals – they gave the band an extra sound. Mind you, we were at soundcheck the other day, and totally out of the blue, I played the bassline to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. It has a bit of character to it, and I thought to myself, ‘That’s actually quite good’...”

It’s a time of reflection for Steve Hackett. With his autobiography, A Genesis In My Bed, on the bookshelves and a new live album retelling his old band Genesis’s most powerful prog statement with a version of Selling England By The Pound, the time seems right to look back and trace his musical journey to its starting point…

In The Beginning

“The mouth organ was a big deal for me, so from the age of about two my parents started buying me harmonicas because it was my favourite toy. My mum says I was playing tunes at two, but that can’t be possible. She said, ‘You used to play the same little tune over and over again…’ I do remember what was going on and it was trying to learn to isolate the notes so that I could move them around. 

“So I think I spent forever just playing the lowest two notes – suck, blow and move around – and then for some reason one day I realised I could play a bunch of tunes. I don’t know if I was three or four, but certainly no older than that. I could play Scotland The Brave, Oh! Susanna and God Save The Queen. Suddenly I could play three tunes. ‘Look, mum!’” 

 Into The Shadows

“Guitar started to become important around the late 1950s. Maybe I’ve got the chronology wrong here, but I seem to remember the first single I bought was The Shadows’ Man Of Mystery and I thought it had an intriguing sound. I still think the melody is good – that descending sequence. I started buying just about every Shadows record I could, and many years later I met Hank Marvin and told him that was the first record I ever bought. 

“He was very modest about it and very gentlemanly. It was refreshing to meet him. He was self-effacing and it was really quite extraordinary to meet my hero. The guitar sounded like that at that stage; guitars hadn’t learned to scream and sustain and rip and do all those slash and burn things until a little bit later.”   

Wild Blues Yonder

“Bluesmen were doing this thing: Muddy Waters and Little Walter playing harmonica. Sonically, they’d already developed what rock was to do a decade later. They were way ahead of the white guys. I can’t stress the importance of that. Yet it was a marginalised music. I guess it’s not a case of being right, it’s a case of being right at the right time. 

“But luckily, of course, due to The Beatles and The Stones mainly and the bluesmen and the blues bands that were to follow, a light was shone on those great luminaries themselves and many of them were able to forge second string careers. The very things that they were disqualified for having done at one point, suddenly they’re being applauded for. But isn’t that life?”  

The Green Party

“I went to see John Mayall at Eel Pie Island. It was John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Peter Green on lead guitar and he was totally thrilling for me as a kid. It was like being admitted into the inner sanctum of the magic temple where you could go, drink and smoke underage, and see these guys who were our older brothers doing exactly what I wanted to be able to do. Peter Green was in the forefront of that. 

“My young life wouldn’t have been the same without hearing Peter Green. I loved him then and I love him now. I didn’t catch The Stones when they were developing – I started going to gigs from 1966 onwards so I’d missed out on that. I hadn’t seen Eric Clapton with John Mayall, but something that’s not far from my turntable is Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton.”

High Action Adventures

“My first guitar was my dad’s. He’d brought it back from Canada in the late 1950s and it was too big for me to get my arms around and it had a brutal action and heavy gauge strings. I started messing around with it when I was about 12 and I could play on the two bass strings and people were saying, ‘You can play guitar.’ I said, ‘Well, not really’, you know? 

“I could play the first three frets on the two low strings. And then when I was 14 I was finally big enough to get my arms around it properly and my dad said, ‘Let me show you some chords.’ He showed me C, F and G7 and then we were away. That’s it. My first guitar lesson! That guitar gave way to many others, of course, over the years.”

Classical GAS 

“Nylon guitar was something I was introduced to by a friend. ‘Wow, this is too easy,’ I thought, compared with the brutal action on the other thing. The wounds never healed from my dad’s guitar. He said, ‘You’ll get calluses…’ but it never happened, I just had fingers that were bleeding. After six months I thought, ‘Something’s wrong here.’ 

“Finally, it dawned when a friend bought a nylon-strung guitar for five quid at the Army & Navy store in Victoria. It felt like silk compared with barbed wire. Of course, he ended up putting steel strings on it. That lasted for a while and then it ripped the bridge up. Totally embarrassing.

“I used to go round to his house to see him. Really it was to play his guitar. ‘Is Ian in?’ I used to say. ‘No, he’s not back. Come on in anyway.’ ‘Do you mind if I play his guitar?’ Oh my God. You know. Embarrassing now, isn’t it? But hey, it had to be done…” 

Boys In The Band 

“I was trying to form my own band. We did cover versions and there might have been the odd original thing. Did a handful of gigs semi-pro. You start out and nobody claps, but by the time they’re all pissed, they’re all loving it and falling all over the place and it’s the same song you’re playing. You’re just recycling the same set because you’ve got a dearth of material.

“So the semi-pro scene was at the odd cricket ground, the odd sports thing, the odd pleasure boat up the Thames – and I guess after a few drinks the band would be in the same condition as the punters. You’d start to play better, or so you thought. Blues stuff, The Byrds, the odd Moody Blues song and quite a bit of harmonica, of course. I used to go between harmonica and guitar and singing.”

The Book Of Genesis

“There was a lot more practice than professionalism going on until I joined Quiet World. A year before Genesis I made an album with Quiet World and then Genesis was in 1970, after putting an advert in Melody Maker. The ad seemed to have secured me the gig really because I sounded like rock ’n’ roll’s answer to Churchill. ‘We shall fight on the beaches…’ I think you could tell it was written by someone who was serious to do something. 

“Pete [Gabriel] and Tony [Banks] came to the flat I was living in with my parents and my brother John. John and I played some things to them. Various duets. And we swapped instruments and what have you and there was a sufficiently good response. 

“Pete was more forthright; Tony was more reserved. Pete said: ‘We’ll have to see whether you get on with our other guitarist, Mike.’ And that was how Mike Rutherford was sold to me – as the other guitarist rather than a bass player.”

A Life Of Cryme

“It was made apparent to me that Charisma Records were prepared to bankroll the band to keep them in equipment. So within a short space of time I was able to upgrade my equipment, get a Les Paul Custom and a Hiwatt stack, the odd fuzz box and a volume pedal. I think that was it – and I was very soon glorying in it. 

“In the first year we got ourselves a Mellotron, which I thought was the most important move we could possibly do. The first gig was sometime in February and by the summer we were taking several months off in order to get to know each other and write together as a team. They were generous enough to take me onboard as a full-time writer and we made Nursery Cryme as a result of it.” 

Going Solo

“I made an album in 1975 [Voyage Of The Acolyte], which did sufficiently well to tell me there was an audience out there for what I was doing, either with the Genesis guys or on my own, and in ’77 basically it was at the point where it was difficult for me to stay with the band. 

“With the loss of Peter Gabriel, the band’s future was not assured and I felt there was a very good chance the band would not continue. And it wasn’t always easy to write with the band. Although I was engaged as a writer I wasn’t a founder member so it wasn’t easy to… get hold of the keys of the songwriting cabinet. 

“I’m trying to put this diplomatically. I had written things. I’d written tunes as much as anybody, but whether they were going to be used or not was another matter.” 

Revisiting The Past

“It has to be said from the early days that I wasn’t coming up with as much material as Pete, Mike and Tony. That was to change over time, but the percentage of my ideas that were being done didn’t vary with my output. So the choice was to have [unused songs] or bide my time in the group, but I wanted my ideas to be recorded. 

“I had the encouragement of the success of the first album, but I think as the band was kind of closing down around me I felt that it was time to step out. Genesis was great for me and I still love the music, but I’m no longer hidebound by the internal politics. 

“If I want to go and play the whole of Supper’s Ready I can. Or I can go and do the whole of Selling England By The Pound, because, for me, that seems the strongest contender out of all the Genesis albums and it can be done to what I think is a higher standard than I could have performed it at one time.” 

Into The Present

“The equipment’s better now and there’s experience versus being a new face on the block. In terms of a young performer, it’s great to be young. You’ve got no baggage whatsoever. The press can admire you and adore you. On the other hand, later on, you’ve got to fight against the idea you’re past your sell-by date and you should have given up earlier.

“But I think experience counts for something, so it’s songs of innocence and songs of experience – I do think I’m a better player and a better songwriter and various other things. 

“I was having a similar conversation with Gary Brooker of Procol Harum a while back. He said to me: ‘I think I’ll be a better singer tomorrow than I was today.’  I realised that burning ambition was still there. Unlike those of us who think you don’t have to get any better and if you just keep doing it that’ll be great…

“I’d love to be able to go on record and say publicly at this point that [Gary is] a hugely gifted guy, both as a performer and also as a writer and arranger. People often overlook this when they mention the great prog bands of the late '60s.”

• Steve Hackett's new album, Under A Mediterranean Sky, is out on 22 January via Century Media.

Reverb has partnered with guitarist Daryl Stuermer to sell guitars, basses, amps and more used by the guitarist on tours with Genesis and Phil Collins as well as his own solo albums throughout his career.

The Official Daryl Stuermer of Genesis Reverb Shop launches on September 9, with a portion of proceeds benefiting cancer care and research. 

Said Stuermer, “These instruments were used on tours from Miami to Melbourne and are infused with so many memories of playing for people around the world. It’s time I parted with some of them so they can live on and inspire the next generation of musicians ready to make the same magic.” 

The items going up for sale include a 1997 Fender American Stratocaster used during Phil Collins’ 1997 The Trip into the Light World Tour. “I have a vivid memory of playing In the Air Tonight on this guitar in Paris, using it to create that slow build before the drums kick in,” Stuermer said. 

A 1986 Steinberger GL-2T/GR played on the 1986-1987 Genesis Invisible Touch Tour, and on Stuermer's first solo album, 1987’s Steppin' Out.

A 1981 Roland G-808 with a Roland GR-300 guitar synth. "Before I played this on the 1983-1984 Genesis Mama tour, I had it customized," Stuermer said. The guitar was also used to play the guitar solo on the 1984 Phil Collins and Philip Bailey hit, Easy Lover."

A Gibson ES-346 played on the 2004-2005 Phil Collins First Final Farewell Tour and on Stuermer's GO and Rewired: The Electric Collection albums.

Other items include a Shergold Modulator played on Genesis' 1980 Duke tour, a 1992 Yamaha TRB-4P bass played on the 1992 Genesis We Can't Dance Tour and Stuermer’s albums Another Side of Genesis and Waiting in the Wings, and dozens of effects pedals used on tour and in the studio, including a Boss CE–1 Chorus Ensemble S2 Rivera Modified.

"This CE-1 is one of very few pedals that Paul Rivera of Fender and Rivera modified himself for a very brief period in LA," Stuermer said. "The modifications added even more capabilities to an already amazing effects pedal."

You can check out a preview of the Official Daryl Stuermer of Genesis Reverb Shop at Reverb.com.

Genesis have announced they are reuniting 13 years after they last played onstage together.

The Last Domino? Tour 2020 will see singer Phil Collins, electric guitar player Mike Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks revive the trio format of the band, which rose to become one of the biggest-selling rock acts of the Eighties, for a series of arena shows throughout Ireland and the UK.

The dates will be their first live gigs together since 2007’s Turn It On Again: The Tour. Joining the trio on the run will be longtime associate Daryl Stuermer on guitar and bass and Collins' 18-year-old son Nic on drums.

The announcement comes following Collins’ reveal several years ago that he was no longer able to play drums due to nerve damage. “My hands don’t really do what I want them to do,” he told Rolling Stone.

In 2011 he publicly retired from music to focus on family life, but came back a few years later for the massively successful Not Dead Yet tour, which saw him perform seated in front of audiences.

The reunion with Rutherford and Banks will kick off November 16 in Dublin and wrap December 11 in Glasgow. As of now, no North American shows have been announced.

The full list of dates is below, with a general on-sale beginning March 6 at Live Nation.

The Last Domino? Tour 2020

• 11/16 – Dublin, 3 Arena
• 11/19 – Belfast, SSE Arena
• 11/23 – Liverpool, M&S Bank Arena    
• 11/26 – Newcastle, Utilita Arena
• 11/29 – London, The O2
• 11/30 – London, The O2    
• 12/2 – Leeds, First Direct Arena
• 12/5 – Birmingham, Birmingham Arena
• 12/8 – Manchester, Manchester Arena
• 12/11 – Glasgow, SSE Arena

Mike + The Mechanics’ ninth studio album, Out of the Blue, captures the spirit and power of some of the band’s most beloved hits. Featuring music from throughout their 35-plus-year-career, the new album also gives fans a glimpse of the band’s future with three brand new cuts, “One Way,” “What Would You Do” and the album’s title track.

A special deluxe CD version of the album features six newly recorded “as-live” acoustic versions of “Don’t Know What Came Over Me,” “The Best is Yet to Come,” “The Living Years,” “Beggar On a Beach Of Gold,” “Another Cup Of Coffee” and “Over My Shoulder.”

In June, the band will meet up with an old friend, Phil Collins, joining him for the first six shows of his European tour. 

Guitar World recently spoke with guitarist Mike Rutherford about the new Mike + The Mechanics album, touring, gear and more.

What prompted the new Mike + The Mechanics album?

We've been touring the last eight years with two singers, Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar, and I observed the way the old hits have become something else. The two singers have made them their own with different interpretations. The sound was something quite special and I thought it would be nice to capture that in the studio.

What’s your writing process like these days?

It always starts with some chords, drum machine programming and bass pedals and guitar synths. Just making a big racket to get some starting ideas. Normally a title comes first but the best ones are when you get the words with the chords.

Let’s discuss a few of the new songs from the album, beginning with the title track, “Out of the Blue.”

I really like the title. In this day and age it has a positive statement on life. It’s fast and, in a sense, it’s also written a bit like a love song. Sometimes you're looking for someone special in your life and you try and try. Then suddenly, out of the blue, something comes along. At the same time it applies to life and the aspirations and hopes you’re trying to achieve. 

How about “One Way”?

I went back to the old Akai to get that crunchy sound again. The intro is my drum machine programming and the strings are me plugging away on the Akai. It’s a nice sound.

What about “What Would You Do”?

It’s the same idea from a version we did on the last album. When the world stops loving you, what do you do? It’s meant to mean, “When things are tough how do you deal with it?” My wife said it sounds like a fading rock star who’s unpopular and being pissed off about no one liking you.

What was the recording process like for the new album?

The main part was done in the old Genesis studio. It was just like the old days, down the stairs in the basement. The acoustic songs were an additional idea. The reason we did them was because, in the past, we’d sometimes go into a radio station and do a few songs unplugged. I liked the way the songs worked with just piano, guitar and voice.

What can you tell us about the band’s tour schedule?

We’re in the middle of a run right now and then, in June, we’ll be opening for Phil [Collins]. We’ve done it before and it’s a fun thing for us to do.

Has your guitar setup changed much over the years?

I still have my EC model Strat. The grey color has turned to a green with age. I also use Roland Digital Echoes along with a T-Rex blue box and a wah-wah pedal.

What was the typical writing process like with Genesis?

We went through a process but never arrived for an album with a suitcase full of bits. Sometimes we’d go into the studio with no ideas at all. Phil would play a loop and off we’d go. It was very organic. I used to think that for each new album it wouldn’t work, but it always did.

With Phil back on tour and Mike + The Mechanics opening, the obvious final question is, will we be seeing another Genesis reunion in the future?

First and foremost there are no plans in place. Having said that, Phil’s back out touring and I’ll see him in June. His son is also drumming really great. I’ve always said never say never. Who knows? It’s different now than it was three years ago. Let’s just see.

This universally respected U.K. prog-rock guitarist was two-hand tapping long before it became “the thing to do” in the late Seventies. He spent the bulk of that decade as a member of Genesis, went on to form GTR with Steve Howe in the Eighties and has been releasing top-notch solo albums for the past 44 years — including his brand-new disc, At the Edge of Light. But what Guitar World readers really want to know is...

How did you develop your incredible vibrato, which is especially awesome on songs like Genesis’ “Firth Of Fifth,” and what tips do you have for developing similar expressive, musical vibrato? —Blayne Beeler

Funnily enough, I practiced vibrato more than any other thing. The best thing I would say is to bend upwards with the third finger and keep the first and second fingers behind it for support and concentrate on a slow and wide vibrato. That way you can avoid the pitfall where some guitarists sound more like a twitch than a vibrato. Wide and slow is the way to go.

What is your favorite song from your solo career? —Troy Tennard

One of my favorites is “The Virgin and the Gypsy” from Spectral Mornings. There’s every chance I’ll be doing that live in 2019 when I’m doing Spectral Mornings and [Genesis’] Selling England by the Pound back to back.

Is there a chance we’ll finally get to hear “Tigermoth” performed live, and would you ever do a tour just concentrating on your solo material? —Kilian Lee

There’s every chance that we will be playing “Tigermoth” live. We’ll have to rehearse it a bit — make sure it flies! I used to do the solo stuff exclusively on some of my previous tours. What I’ve found now, though, is that mixing Genesis and solo material has rekindled interest in the old catalog and has opened up the opportunity for longer tours and bigger venues. I think it’s perfectly valid to perform the Genesis songs I was closely associated with and wrote parts for, and it’s great for the fans to be able to hear those songs that they’ve loved for so many years.

How was the experience of working with Richie Havens in the Seventies, and what’s the inspiration for “How Can I?” —Unai Zarraolandia

It was great to work with Richie. It was a kind of unrequited love song. “The car’s running out of gas” and lines like that were metaphors. It was one of the songs that Richie chose from the pile I had, and it was an absolute joy to work with him. To hear that voice, it was just extraordinary.

In films of Genesis in concert, it seems you were always sitting down. Were you just lazy or what? —Larry Stoltenberg

I was asked to sit down when I first joined the band; it was practically written into the contract. We were all supposed to sit down except Peter [Gabriel]. In later shows from 1976 onwards I would stand up unless maybe I was playing acoustic guitar.

I’m looking forward to getting my hands on At the Edge of Light. In the meantime, what can you tell me about it, and what’s your favorite track from it? —Chazz Bennett

I really love the new album. There’s a wide range of material, even including elements of psychedelia on one track. I think the second track, “Beasts in Our Time,” which is a play on the phrase “peace in our time,” is my favorite. It’s got a great tune and a great guitar workout as well.

What’s the story behind “Underground Railroad” on the new album? Was it inspired by Colson Whitehead’s book of the same name? —Mark Ellmore

It was, yes. I’d heard about the book and that Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey had really recommended it. That song features me playing Dobro on record for the first time. It’s a real bluesy track, definitely a track guitarists would gravitate toward. It keeps morphing as it progresses; it’s got great female vocals and slide guitar, fingerpicking — it takes you on a journey.

Are there any young, up-and coming guitarists you’ve been listening to lately? —Forrest Cunning

Many guitarists are very young compared to me! I actually like Joe Bonamassa a lot. I think he’s done some great things for the blues. He’s also been known to play some Genesis, Yes and Jethro Tull songs live, which is a great tip of the hat to that genre. It’s interesting how that type of material can translate into a more blues-orientated idiom.

Having been a fan for more than 45 years, I’ve always wondered if you’ve ever had a dream or meditation that inspired you to create a song. —Shireen Nickel

Yes. I remember learning how to do transcendental meditation, and it was when I was keen on the idea of working with Richie Havens. I had a song I thought might suit him and as I was meditating I was thinking about the song and I could actually hear him singing certain words and lines.

What’s your favorite Genesis moment? —Kyle Von Craig

I really loved playing the intro to “Watcher of the Skies” the first time we did it live in Italy. The crowd went nuts for it. It’s hard to reduce a career to a best moment, really. It could be the best gig, favorite album, you know? That “Watcher” moment is what immediately springs to mind.

Are there more unfinished songs in the Genesis and solo Hackett vaults like “Deja Vu,” and do you want to revisit or finish them? —Antonio Oaxaca

There was a track called “Twilight Alehouse.” It was basically an unfinished song. It was released as a free giveaway back in the day, and I think it’s turned up as a demo on an odds-and-ends compilation album. I wouldn’t stick to it as it was written, though. I’d probably take it to the mountains with guitars and sax and make it explode.

Why don’t you change the singer, Nad, in your live band? —Giampaolo Palazzo

I’ll answer that without rising to the bait! I think the assessment of whether someone sings or plays wonderfully is entirely subjective and it’s easy to apply prejudice. Personally, I think he’s a really good singer and he does the Genesis stuff really well. You could have a hundred different singers, and someone would have something to say. It’s pretty big shoes to fill. It was hard for Phil Collins singing Peter Gabriel material, and there was criticism there at first. I understand fans would like to turn the clock back and put the original team together. I’ve always said I’m up for a reunion if the other guys were.

Seconds Out is my favorite live album of all time. I remember watching the Genesis In Concert concert film at the cinema a few years after Seconds Out was released. The guitar was a lot higher up in the mix and a revelation. You left the band while Seconds Out was getting mixed and I believe you had little input in the last remixes. Do you feel that the track was “dumbed down” after you left? —Pete Shields

I think on certain tracks they might have shot themselves in the foot a bit. Why would they do that? But then on a track like “The Carpet Call,” the guitar is quite prominent in the mix when it was only supposed to be a floating, violin-like voice. I suppose it doesn’t really pay to overthink things from way back.

Have you ever considered reaching out to the old gang from Genesis about doing another project or just jamming on just one song? Not necessarily the whole group but, like, maybe one of them? —Matt Lovell

Most of the time, whenever we try to put together any combination of Genesis, it gets really complicated and never comes to fruition. It would be great, but so far it remains as a somewhat dysfunctional unit! I understand why fans always want to see the original members playing or recording together again. I try to honor the music of Genesis in my own shows and I hope the fans appreciate that. John Lennon once said, in an interview in 1973, that Genesis was one of his favorite bands, and that’s the era of the band that I tend to specialize in. I was greatly inspired when he said he was interested in the band in any shape or form. I think the “long form” Genesis was a more adventurous band — unconstrained by video or radio, etc.

Do you think you will ever write an epic symphonic prog rock song that lasts more than 20 minutes like “Supper’s Ready”? —Peter Kistemaker

It’s a good idea. I think “long form” gives you a chance to establish a story, have several instrumental workouts, take you on a journey. Classical musicians have plenty of music that is lengthy, taking a theme and reshaping it, etc. It really lets you stretch out. It probably wouldn’t get played on the radio at all but that’s not the purpose of music.

What advice would you give a young guitarist to stand out and get noticed in the modern music scene? —Phil Capanelli

It would be the same thing that would drive me now that drove me back when I started: getting beyond the frustrations and never giving up. The break might be just around the corner. The thing about destiny, it might be around the corner, but if you don’t stay on the path you won’t find it! Keep being persistent and don’t give up. The only way you can create ultimate bad luck is by walking away from the poker table!

“Firth Of Fifth” is one of my favorite guitar solos ever. what’s the secret to the sound and sustain? If I can be cheeky and ask a second question, What was the inspiration for the tapping section in “Dance With The Moonlit Knight”? —Michael Hargreaves

In 1973 I’d just got an Echoplex, Hiwatt amp, a Tonebender and a Schaller volume pedal and I noticed when I hit a high F# it would just distort and feed back perfectly. Although it was a fuzz box, it had a real thick tube sound and the combination sounded great for that melody, so I stretched it out. The guys thought it was a great sound and they really encouraged me to extend the solo. 

I started tapping in 1971, two years before “Dance.” The inspiration was to be able to play very fast on one string. I then realized you could move it from string to string. I think at the time I was recording it I thought it was the kind of thing that Phil [Collins] would like; it was fast, but it was very rhythmic. The second half of the song was supposed to take off like a rocket, so that was a very satisfying moment from Genesis days. I always think “Dance,” “Firth” and the end of “Supper’s Ready” are probably the most iconic electric guitar moments from Genesis.

Got a question for your favorite guitarist? Let us be your go-between. The concept is easy — you submit your queries and we pass them on to some of the world's greatest guitarists. Only the sharpest and funniest questions will be used.

This month, we're giving you the chance to ask Steve Hackett anything you want! Talk about Genesis, GTR, Canterbury Glass or his just-announced upcoming studio album, At the Edge of Light!

Just email your questions to GWSoundingBoard@futurenet.com and write "Steve Hackett" in the subject line. Remember to include your name in the body of the email, so you can get credited in the magazine and impress your amigos!

BackStory Events and Guitar World invite you to join us for the live stream of our exclusive interview with legendary Genesis guitarist and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Steve Hackett. The interview will take place at 6:30 p.m. EST on January 30, live from the Cutting Room in New York City.

We’ll talk about his latest live album and new DVD set, Wuthering Nights, including classic songs from Genesis, GTR and more, plus his new tour. The stream will include a long-form interview, a short acoustic performance and an opportunity for questions from the audience.

Hackett will be interviewed by author and journalist Brad Tolinski. The event is part of the BackStory Events online series and will be live streamed by Guitar World.

To find out more, visit hackettsongs.com or backstoryevents.com.

The video will appear below once we go live.

Guitarist/composer Steve Hackett has unveiled a new live release, The Total Experience Live in Liverpool. The project was filmed during Hackett‘s Acolyte to Wolflight with Genesis Revisited Tour last year.

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of his first solo album Voyage of the Acolyte and following his latest album Wolflight, the Acolyte to Wolflight with Genesis Revisited Tour was Hackett’s effort to represent the many chapters of his career. Featuring two sets—one highlighting his solo work, the second paying tribute to Genesis—the two-hour performance was greeted with enthusiasm by fans and critics.

The Total Experience Live in Liverpool is available as double CD plus double DVD digipak, separate Blu-Ray edition as well as digital album including the two audio CDs. It can be purchased here.

The lineup for the performance is as follows: Steve Hackett (guitar, vocals), Roger King (keyboards), Nad Sylvan (vocals, tambourine), Gary O’Toole (drums, percussion, vocals), Rob Townsend (saxophone, woodwind, percussion, vocals, keyboards, bass pedals), Roine Stolt (bass, variax, twelve string, vocals, guitar) with special guests John Hackett and Amanda Lehmann.

Hackett’s latest solo album, Wolflight, explores a new chapter in his career. The tracks take the listener through a journey in space and time looking at the different faces of the endless fight for freedom. Wandering between parallel universes, Hackett explores contemporary and ancient cultures, from Greece (“Corycian Fire”) to the Far East (“Wolflight”), the United States and Martin Luther King (“Black Thunder”), and also his very own childhood memories (“The Wheel’s Turning”) and the unresolved drama of domestic violence (“Love Song To A Vampire”).

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 lineup: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford. For more than three decades, 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 successful career as a solo artist, and also as part of Eighties supergroup GTR with Steve Howe.

Purchase The Total Experience Live in Liverpoolhere. For more information, visit hackettsongs.com.

Fans of progressive rock around the globe can check out the premiere of world-renowned guitarist/composer Steve Hackett's new video "Wolflight."

The stunning and epic video is for the title track of his forthcoming album of the same name, Wolflight.

Hackett commented, "This video for my new album title track 'Wolflight' captures the atmosphere of the song beautifully. The story it presents is poignant, wild and powerful. It has a strong epic feel...I flew to Serbia to take part in the film and it was great to be involved. Enter the world of 'Wolflight' and enjoy!"

On April 7, world-renowned guitarist/composer Steve Hackett will release his brand new solo album, Wolflight, in North America via InsideOut Music.

WolflightBeyond the Shrouded Horizon in 2011. The album will be available in North America in two physical configurations, as well as digitally. Fans will have the option of purchasing Wolflight physically as a standard CD or as a deluxe version with a CD plus BluRay digipak, which will feature two bonus tracks.

To preorder the album, please click here and here.

Watch the video for "Wolflight" now:

The concept behind Wolflight is a new, unexplored chapter in Hackett's career. The tracks take the listener through a journey in space and time looking at the different faces of the endless fight for freedom. Wandering between parallel universes, Hackett explores contemporary and ancient cultures, from Greece ("Corycian Fire") to the Far East ("Wolflight"), the United States and Martin Luther King ("Black Thunder"), and also his very own childhood memories ("The Wheel's Turning") and the unresolved drama of domestic violence ("Love Song To A Vampire").

Steve Hackett's electric guitar plays a powerful role, although we also hear him on acoustic guitar, Arabian lute and twelve string, along with his strong lead vocals.

Guest musicians include long time collaborators Roger King (keyboards & programming), Gary O'Toole (drums), Rob Townsend (sax, duduk), Nick Beggs (bass & stick) and Amanda Lehmann (harmony vocals). Malik Mansurov on tar and Sara Kovaks on didgeridoo add an extra exotic element, plus YES bassist Chris Squire plays on "Love Song To A Vampire" and Hugo Dagenhardt plays drums on "Dust and Dreams." The innovative songwriting team includes Steve Hackett, his wife Jo Hackett and Roger King.

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.

Find out more at http://www.hackettsongs.com

You could call Steve Hackett’s new album, Wolflight, a rock record, but it’s so much more than that.

Besides its healthy doses of rock, R&B and jazz, the album, which will be released April 7, reveals the Influence of 19th-century composers and features some unusual instrumentation, not to mention a healthy dose of Hackett’s inspired guitar work.

“Love Story to a Vampire” uses tension to describe an unresolved domestic drama, while “The Wheel’s Turning” finds Hackett recalling nostalgic childhood memories.

Musicians on Wolflight include Hackett’s longtime collaborators Roger King (keyboards), Gary O’Toole (drums) and Nick Beggs (bass), along with Yes bassist (and Squackett bandmate) Chris Squire on “Love Song to a Vampire” and drummer Hugo Dagenhardt on “Dust and Dreams.”

I recently spoke with Hackett about Wolflight and Genesis, as well as his plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his first solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte.

GUITAR WORLD: It’s been nearly four years since your last solo album, Beyond the Shrouded Horizon. Why such a long wait?

For the past few years, I've been actively involved in bringing back to the viewing public the Genesis dream that was. It's taken up so much of my time that I had to put new stuff on hold for quite a while. The effect of that allowed me to concentrate my mind on what it was I’d like to do outside the confines of Genesis. I think that helped create a more broad based album than before.

What can you tell me about Wolflight?

Although the influence of world music is very strong, it’s essentially a rock album. Having said that, there are many guest appearances of things that go well beyond just the guitar, bass and drums. There's a fair amount of orchestra; instruments such as the tar [from Azerbaijan], in this case played by Malik Mansurov, who kicks off the title track.

We've also got some duduk played by Rob Townsend, who normally plays sax with me as well as whistles and flutes. Along with Malik, we've twinned the tar with a digeridoo, which is played by Sara Kovacs. All of this is in addition to electric and acoustic guitars. I really wanted to mix things up and felt the genres that normally don't get mentioned would be rich seas to plunder. There are even moments where there are hints of flamenco and French chanson as well as rock, pop, blues and jazz.

Why the title, "Wolflight"?

It's really an idea from Homer. In The Odyssey, he talks about Odysseus waking up in the Wolflight, the hour before the dawn when it's still dark but the light is just starting to change. It's a time when wolves like to hunt. I had spent some time with wolves and their friendship and kinship with earlier man became a totem for this album.

I'd like to ask you a little about your writing process. What inspires you?

A lot of this album was done on paper, much of it written in the early morning hours. It’s a time when I've still got one foot in the land of dreams. I find that to be a very creative time. That's part of the process. I'm also a fan of other genres of music. So that means I'll be listening to things like Tchaikovsky and Grieg. You can hear those influences on this album as well.

Let’s discuss a few selections from Wolflight, starting with “Love Story to a Vampire."

I had the idea for the lyric but no music. It was originally going to be a blues song, but I knew I had to think of it in another way. At the time, I was listening to a lot of music. Everything from the Bellamy Brothers to Grieg to the Carpenters. At the end of the day, it's a song that tells a story, almost like a ballet with ghostly voices fading in the distance at the end. I was also thinking of vampires as being a great metaphor for abusive relationships.

“The Wheel’s Turning”

I'm proud of that one. The whole thing was a hugely nostalgic trip down memory lane. I thought about the time when I worked at Fun Fair in a place called Battersea in London. I used to live opposite the Battersea Power Station, which was made famous internationally by Pink Floyd with the flying pig on the front of their album, Animals. That was the view from my bedroom window when I was a child. I wanted to get across the idea of how great it was. How frightening it was to go to the Fun Fair and then how great it became when I eventually got to work there as a kid.

What are you current tour plans?

We've got some European shows coming in September as well as some American dates in November. In addition to Wolflilght, we're going to be celebrating the 40th anniversary of my first solo record, Voyage of the Acolyte. We’ve also had a lot of people asking about adding some Genesis songs into the sets as well. It will be a mixture of everything and billed as the total experience!

Speaking of “Voyage of the Acolyte, what made you decide to separate from Genesis and make a solo album?

When I first did Acolyte, the band's future was looking extremely iffy. You have to remember Peter Gabriel was leaving and no one really knew if the band was going to survive the loss of its lead singer. A number of us had already been working on our own projects at the time. For me, it was the beginning of starting to fend for myself. Of course, I did have the help of Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford on that album. But I enjoyed the process very much and liked working without relying on the "composition by committee" aspect. I found it much easier to get my ideas through without having to do any political tap dance.

Do you think that experience played a role in your desire to eventually leave the band a few years later?

Oh yes. At the time, I felt like my role in the band was becoming marginalized and if I really wanted to maintain my self-respect, the only way forward was to stretch out on my own.

Form more about Hackett, visit hackettsongs.com.

Photo: Tina KorhonenJames Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.

As a guitarist and music lover, I take great pride in having been around to experience some of music’s finest moments. From the '80s success of Van Halen, Alex Lifeson and Randy Rhoads to the rise of Joe Satriani, Kirk Hammett and Joe Bonamassa.

Although I loved being able to bear witness to the great players from my high school years, I lament not being “around” (or in diapers) during the heyday of some of the influential artists from the '60s and early '70s, particularly The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Fortunately, I have the opportunity to experience what it was like for one such great, as guitarist Steve Hackett revisits songs from the era that made the band Genesis kings of the progressive rock movement.

Steve’s new album, Genesis Revisited II, is two-disc compilation containing nearly two and a half hours of monumental music from his tenure with Genesis in the 1970s. Newly recorded versions of songs like “Horizons," “Supper’s Ready” and “The Musical Box” sound as fresh and exciting today as they did 40 years ago. No small undertaking, Genesis Revisited II includes no fewer than 35 guest musicians and took nearly six months to complete.

I spoke with Steve and discussed Genesis Revisited II as well as his plans to take the “new” music out on the road.

GUITAR WORLD: What do you remember most about your tenure with Genesis?

It was an interesting period in time, and I think the band with Peter [Gabriel] was particularly interesting. That’s the period I’m going back to on this album. I’ve done quite a lot of other types of music since Genesis. Most of it has been rock, but there have also been occasional albums of nylon guitar work and everything from Bach to blues and beyond. I’m going back to an early love of mine, which is this Genesis music. I’m very proud of it. It was great music. Complicated and complex, but still very soulful at heart.

Was there a reason you decided to revisit these songs?

It was the desire to tour this work again. I wanted to take it out on the road and show people what great songs they were and present them in a certain way. But rather than get into a rehearsal straight away, I figured the best way to get the band to remember this music was by recording it. Once they’ve done the definitive versions of these songs from their own point of view, it makes it that much easier to go back and relearn what you’ve already done. I tried to lay it out like a journey. It’s two CD’s, both of which are roughly 73 minutes long. It took six months to put together; the longest project I’ve ever been involved with.

You have a lot of guests that contribute to the album as well.

It is a rather huge cast I have to say. Of course, I won’t have all 35 of them on the stage at the same time though [laughs]. The plan is to take a core band which will feature certain people who’ve worked with me over the years plus the addition of Nad Sylvan (Agents of Mercy) on vocals, who sounds very much like a Genesis singer. At times, he sounds like Peter Gabriel and other times he sounds like Phil (Collins). It was great to come across him and I’m looking forward to working with him live.

What was it like when you first joined Genesis?

When I first joined the band, I barely owned a Gibson. It was the beginning of my life as a professional musician. It gave me the ability to work with any guitar and amp that I wanted. I also had a burning desire to work with Mellotron; to work with a band that sounded like an orchestra at a push of the button. I achieved many of my aims and way beyond.

I didn’t think at the time that it was going to become a world force when I joined the band. They were doing free concerts and playing in clubs, theaters and universities. We were signed to a very creative, committed record company headed by Tony Stratton-Smith, who had the brilliant idea of putting together three bands that he had signed to the Charisma label off on tour at a rock bottom ticket price playing the town halls of England and Scotland. That worked out well because for the price of fish and chips, you could buy a theater ticket. These shows were well sold immediately and were an instant success.

We took the summer off that year and wrote and recorded Nursery Cryme, the first album featuring myself and Phil Collins. We got a Mellotron at that point; a second-hand one from King Crimson. The same brand and model that The Beatles had used. It was a good creative time for all of us. There was everything to be done and many bridges to cross. I was thrilled at the progress.

Are you still in contact with members of the band?

Yes. I saw several of the guys recently at an awards ceremony held in London. A few years back we were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That was a great moment for us all. Fascinating, in that we got to connect with the people who had been our heroes. The Hall of Fame also celebrates the writers who delighted us in our youth. It was a very emotional evening.

Do you ever foresee the possibility of a classic Genesis reunion?

I’ve always been up for it, but I think it’s improbable. Some of the guys have started to retire, and Phil says officially that he will not be playing in the future. Whether he’ll manage to do that I don’t know, but that seems to be the case. There also seems to be unwillingness in the band to honor the early years. Whereas I think of it as a nadir, the epitome of the form of what we now come to call in retrospect, progressive rock.

We did not know at that time that’s what we were doing. We were covering everything from the past five hundred years or so: classical, folk, blues, rock. All of that, including social comment and humor. No one told us that we couldn’t. We thought that if The Beatles could do it, we could do it. No one told The Beatles they couldn’t work with an orchestra in the 1960s.

James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.

If you’ve ever wondered how the influences of classical guitarist Andres Segovia and The Shadows’ instro-rocking legend Hank Marvin might blend, no doubt your imagination could take you to many places.

It’s not that surprising, then, to learn that you might find Steve Hackett — a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 2010 for his work with Genesis — at the end of your journey. An influential guitarist in his own right, with a list of disciples that includes Eddie Van Halen, Hackett’s enviable career covers a lot of ground.

There’s his groundbreaking progressive-rock work with early Genesis, the harder, louder pop sound of the supergroup GTR and his diverse and prolific body of solo work, which dabbles in jazz, worldbeat and a great deal of classical acoustic guitar, both with and without full orchestra.

And now there is his latest project, Squackett, which mashes in a wide range of styles and influences, not to mention his last name with that of his newest collaborator, Yes bassist Chris Squire. Their album, A Life Within a Day, drops on May 29. An advance single was released on vinyl April 21 for International Record Day.

Hackett, whose schedule includes some U.K. dates with his Electric Band, hopes to take Squackett on the road at some point, but Squire’s schedule won’t permit that just yet. Meanwhile, he took the time to speak with Guitar World about projects past, present and future, including the latest on the Genesis reunion so many people are yearning for.

GUITAR WORLD: How long have you known Chris Squire and when did you first work together?

Chris and I first met in Los Angeles when I was doing GTR with Steve Howe and he came to our show, liked the two guitar thing very much and I was able compliment him on many of the things he’d done with Yes. He was telling me how much he enjoyed Trick of the Tail with Genesis, which he thought was our best album, which was post-Peter Gabriel as it happens. …

Then it was around 2007, Chris wanted to make a Christmas album and I played some guitar on it for him. I asked him to return the favor and so, you know, that was spread over three different projects, a couple of solo things of mine.

Who wrote the Squackett material?

Most of it we really wrote face-to face but were things we brought in separately. To give you some idea, when the record kicks off [with the title and lead track], the orchestral stuff on the front, I had that stuff all ready. But the idea of turning that into a song came up. Chris and I and Roger King, we all sat down and batted the ball backwards and forwards, and the idea for a melody, a vocal melody, and lyrics, we were literally all pitching in, it was written on the spot. I had a rough idea of the middle section with Roger King. We were working on an idea that we thought sounded quite Yessy.

So you’ve got something on the first track that had more than a nod to Led Zeppelin and also had a nod to Yes. Chris said to me, “This has got a slight sort of Muse feel.” I had not heard Muse at the time; I heard them subsequently and I could see what he’s on about, you know, the slightly hysterical vocal quality to it.

The second track, “Tall Ships,” was really an idea that came from something I heard Chris play on bass. He was trying out a new bass in my studio … So we turned that into a song. We worked on it instrumentally and then I had an idea for a lyric for it. Then Chris said, “Why don’t we do a bluesy melody for it?” So it was being batted backwards and forwards. Other ones were more fully formed in other ways. For instance, he brought in “Aliens,” which was more fully formed, and “Can’t Stop the Rain” and “Perfect Love Song,” Although the lyrics, I came up with the verse lyrics and he had the chorus for that. Songs like “Divided Self” I had, and “Stormchaser.”

Roger King is from your Electric Band?

Roger King is the keyboard player, engineer and producer of this record. He and I have done a number of projects together. He was originally trained as a cathedral organist. And he did some soundtracks for some major [movie] blockbusters. … a very thorough, very talented guy.

Who else is on A Life Within a Day?

On drums is Jeremy Stacey, and on vocals on the last two tracks, harmony vocals, is Amanda Lehmann [also from Hackett’s Electric Band].

Speaking of vocals and vocal harmonies, you and Chris do a lot of singing, but I rarely hear you speak about vocals. Do you enjoy singing?

I do like to singing, I think when I first started out singing many, many years ago people said you should be working with Peter Gabriel, Richie Havens or Phil Collins. But later I think people started to understand why I do things the way I do, the harmony approach and the fact that I think that I’ve gotten to know the sound of my own voice, the strengths and weaknesses. So I think I know where to place it, how to do it much better than I used to. I’ve gotten better.

You just mentioned three fine singers who don’t really much on harmonies. But the new Squackett project, like a lot of your solo work, contains a lot of vocal harmony, a lot of layers, a very lush atmosphere.

Yes, it’s something common to both my tastes and Chris’. We both love the use of vocal harmonies. We both adore the same bands that made that their calling card. The Everleys, The Beatles, Beach Boys, The Mamas and The Papas, The Who — let’s not forget The Who — Crosby-Stills, The Hollies, I’m sure there are more if I can think of them. I love the use of vocal harmonies, I particularly like three-part. That wasn’t something I got to explore very much with Genesis. I know Yes did that and they are all stronger for using that.

Will there be a Squackett tour?

I’m hoping there’s going to be some shows of this. I’m hoping that Chris will find time to do that. I’m hoping we can both fit it into our increasingly burgeoning schedules.

Your schedule, though, does include some upcoming shows with your Electric Band.

Yes. I’m also recording some Genesis songs with a bunch of friends of mine, some of them are very well-known, in order to produce a Genesis Revisited No. 2 [Hackett’s Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited was released in 1997]. Which I will take on the road next year.

And who are these people you are teasing us about?

Ah, well, I am teasing you. One of them is John Wetton. On record, he’s recorded one of the tracks, “Afterglow,” which sounds wonderful. Again, a great lover of vocal harmonies.

Are you still doing acoustic recordings and shows?

Very often, yeah. I have done acoustic shows and exclusively acoustic albums in order to pay back some of what the guitar has given me. I don’t do these albums to outsell the Beatles. It’s something I do for the love of the instrument. If I do an album with six pieces of Bach, it’s in order to show people what a beautiful instrument the guitar is on its own. I also love working with orchestras with acoustic guitars as well. The sound of a gentle orchestra, with a gentle nylon guitar, is a winning combination. The stuff of many film soundtracks. It’s a great, really warm combination. Absolutely magic.

You are well-known as an influential guitar player. Who influenced you when you were starting out?

I think in the early days I was trying to sound like Hank Marvin of The Shadows, who were Cliff Richard’s backing band in England, covering much of the same material as The Ventures. In those days, the sounds that the guitar made were the kind of “Bonanza”-sounding soundtracks, that cowboy sound, cowboy themes.

And the surf sound.

Yeah, the lines are blurred between country and surf, of course. But as time moved forward, when the Stones hit the scene, the most exciting thing on the planet was Brian Jones playing “I Want to Be Your Man.” A year or so later, I got to hear [Andres] Segovia play Bach, and suddenly it was another revolution for me. It struck me that the guitar could take off into a whole different direction. I was smitten with that the first I heard it, and that started to influence the kind of music that I was trying to play. And I didn’t think that rock and roll, or pop music as we knew, was going to accommodate those two very separate styles of music. It wasn’t until really know that we look back on it, what we laterally call progressive, that those two very separate energies manage to fuse into something mighty.

What was your first guitar?

My first guitar was a Canadian F-cello hole guitar called Kay. It was my father’s guitar. He brought it back from Canada, circa 1958-59. It was built for country music; you need a Stetson to go with that, really.

What did you play mostly while with Genesis?

I was using a Gibson Les Paul for most of the lead work. I used a Fender Strat. I used a Yairi nylon. Also, during that time with Genesis, I used a Hokada 12-string and a Danelectro Sitar guitar.

I wonder, with his affinity for sitar, whether George Harrison ever used one of those.

I think he probably used the real thing. I don’t know if he ever used a sitar guitar, but you never know. I don’t know whether they would have approved, somehow.

You are known for your use of tapping. Eddie Van Halen has cited you as a primary influence. Have you ever had a chance to talk with him about that?

He and I have never had that conversation, but he’s a fabulous guitarist and I was happy to be an influence.

When did you start tapping?

I was doing that in 1971 on the first Genesis album and doing it live before that.

Did you pick that up from someone else?

No, no, I was trying to play a line from Bach, a line out of Toccata and Fugue, and I realized the only way to do that was to play on one string … gradually I realized that by using a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs, you could do that with both hands on the same string, on the fretboard, using it a little bit like a keyboard.

I read recently that Stanley Jordan is back from 10 years of music therapy study and doing more live shows.

I’m very well aware that he’s probably the most proficient tapper out there.

Have you had a chance to compare notes with him?

No, again, I’ve never met these guys, but I’m aware of their work.

What guitar players excite you these days?

Oh, goodness me. I can answer that in a roundabout kind of way. There’s a guy from Azerbaijan called Malik Mansurov who plays a thing called the tar. It’s from the guitar family and I think he’s one of the hottest string players out there at the moment. I think he’s really extraordinary.

Do you have a primary go-to guitar these days?

At home, I play nylon most of the time. Even when I write things for rock guitar. I usually sing it to myself on the nylon, the Yairi.

How about in the studio and onstage?

Well, it’s normally a Fernandez these days. Fernandez was taken over by the Japanese but they have the sustainer pickups and that makes a wonderful sound, rather like an onboard ebow. You are not dependent on volume for feedback. You can whisper with it.

The label of “progressive rock” was the kiss of death for a long time, but now it seems to be hot again. What is your take on the progressive rock label?

It’s funny, isn’t it? Yeah, I remember people were saying at one point it’s a terminally unhip genre. The other way of looking at it is if you take the pan-genre approach, it doesn’t mean to say you necessarily have to produce an opus every time out. It’s just flexible length, flexible form.

By the way, congratulations on your induction into the Rock Hall. Of course, Chris Squire is a founder of Yes, which is not in, and you can certainly make the argument that if Genesis is in, then Yes should be as well.

Funny enough, that was something I mentioned when I was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, one of the many interviews we did in and around it. I was on record as saying I think Yes should be inducted as well. Yes should certainly be in there because they were a huge influence on us. It’s only right that they should be.

Who else from that era do you think is being overlooked?

I think there are many British bands that deserve that. It’s entirely possible, the more people that lobby, the more that’s mentioned, then I think it should redress the balance in favor of what we, again, laterally call progressive rock. At the time when bands like [Jethro] Tull and Genesis were doing our thing, we weren’t aware that we were supposed to be progressive at all.

Just pushing boundaries, perhaps?

I think we were doing what came naturally to us and trying to operate in areas that were being neglected by others.

OK, when you are not playing guitar, what do you do to kick back and relax?

Well you know, if I get the time, I go for a walk. But these days, I have to book an appointment with myself to find the time to do it. I’m involved with so many different projects, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I like to read as well. That’s a quick way to have an out-of-body experience.

Finally, just because it always comes up, what’s the latest on the possibility of a Genesis reunion?

I think a Genesis reunion is probably unlikely. Phil has said he is retiring. The last time we tried to put together a Genesis reunion that included Peter Gabriel and myself, it ended up being the other three. All I can say is that I am recording Genesis material myself and I will take a show of that out on the road. There is a Revisited No. 2 coming up from me and I’m looking forward to. In the next few weeks, I might have a whole bunch of other people I can say for certain will be on this record. But they have to try it out first and see if it flies for them.

William Westhoven is a freelance writer. His novel, One-Hit Willie, takes place over more than 50 years of rock and roll history. For information, visit onehitwillie.com.

Steve Hackett's latest solo album, the double-disc Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, is out today on Inside Out, and you can get your copy of the album here.

In case you need more incentive than a prog-rock legend releasing a double album to pick this one up, you can now stream the first disc of Beyond the Shrouded Horizon below!

"My new album Beyond the Shrouded Horizon breaks free from its moorings in early autumn and sets sail through choppy riffs and sudden electric storms to the odd romantic isle," said Hackett of his new album.

He continues: “From Sinbad seas to Startrek oceans of deep sky, it’s an odyssey. Invisible chords link pop to pomp, blues to baroque, embracing all genres discovered along the way. Let chthonic guitar forces and power of song take you to where waves crash through de-tuned orchestras over the edge of charted territories.”

For more on the album, check out our recent interview with Steve at this location, and check out his official website here.

Steve Hackett stamped his impression on the guitar community when he joined Genesis in 1970.

Reserved as he was during those first few performances, Hackett quickly assumed the role as one of the country’s most innovative guitarists, pioneering the tapping and sweeping techniques — techniques that are now part of every ax chopper’s lexicon.

Last year Hackett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with Genesis during what the rock community likes to refer to as its Golden Age.

Post-Genesis, Hackett put out one album with the short-lived supergroup GTR, 24 solo studio albums and a handful of live albums. Throughout his career, he’s continued to stretch his craft. Although Hackett is widely recognized as a major player of progressive rock, Bay of Kings (1983) and Momentum (1988) both showcased Steve’s mastery at the classical guitar. Blues with a Feeling (1995) stretched him even further when he explored blues.

Beyond the Shrouded Horizon is set to release September 27, and, although Hackett says he didn’t set out to assemble an all-star cast, that’s exactly what happened, and he’s lucky. Chris Squire of Yes, Nick Beggs of Kajagoogoo and solo artist Amanda Lehmann are among the names that appear on the album. Hackett says they’re all virtuoso performers, and he’s excited that they could all come together on this project. GuitarWorld.com is streaming a song from the new album, "A Place Called Freedom," right here.

GUITAR WORLD: In another interview, you refer to Jimi Hendrix as “riding the storm.” What’d you mean by that?

I was referring to his ability to play through feedback. It’s no easy thing — when you’re a guitarist — to play through feedback, to “ride that storm” in a sense. I remember him doing that live. I saw his last big show at the Isle of Wight Festival, and indeed when he was playing — specifically when he was playing “All Along the Watchtower” — and it’s raining, you know, it’s a very wet night — I remember there was this sense of sport at that time, that — and what he was doing as a musician — they seemed to be one. It was dangerous. He was trying to make himself play through it.

I’ve seen that gig that he did on video, and you can tell he’s having a hard time. But then there we are in the midst of not wanting him to turn it down. The whole idea of Hendrix’s approach was astounding, which was one where he didn’t let professionalism get in the way of taking risk. No matter how big the audience, he wasn’t afraid to improvise. Walking that tightrope. He never separated the idea that you should be up there enjoying yourself or discovering things, even if you’re playing a professional show. It didn’t seem to be an issue for him.

Are you ever afraid of letting professionalism get in the way?

All the time. Then I did quite a bit of shows where I realized that a lot of performance is improvisation. Even if you adhere to form quite strictly, I think the spirit is the most important thing at the end of the day.

On your website, you mentioned that the new album is a sequel to Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth. How so? Did you know that going into it?

I did, because all of the material was recorded at the same time, in parallel. I wasn’t able to finish those pieces at the time. So it’s a bit like working on separate canvases at the same time. Also, I had other things going on in my life — litigations, contesting the rights of some of those tracks. I’d put some of them to the side. I didn’t like the idea of the band not being attached to it.

Of the album, you also said, “It’s not just about the romantic places, but the people that inhabit those places.” Tell me about some of those places. Are they real? Based on reality? I remember reading you mentioning a song inspired by Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.”

Yeah, that would be the "On the Road" song, “Prairie Angel." That was inspired by a farmer’s daughter. A young man and his buddies agree to chasing this most beautiful woman they’ve ever seen in their lives. And yet nothing happens. Everything is unspoken because it’s amidst this vast landscape of the plains. It’s one of those things we only dream of over here — the stuff of John Wayne movies. In a sense it’s imaginary pioneering, taking this pioneer encounter in the midst of all of that and in the way she symbolizes the land and some of those elements. The song is very much influenced by Americana.

After 24 albums, does it still feel fresh?

It does. I still get a thrill out of making music. I also get a thrill out of making it right. I don’t have too much time, because the clock is ticking, I suspect. I don’t mess around with the things I don’t love. I jump in with two feet these days. I’m thinking of the guitar work on “The Phoenix Flown." Recently I saw — at a Joe Bonamassa show — and then when I was talking to him — during playing — he played one of my tunes, “Los Endos” from way back. He was very much Joe, who plays blues guitar, but he played with this sort of commitment, and he brought a freshness to it, even though we’ve all heard changes in blues guitar at the time. It’s what the solo does within that landscape, within that fixed perimeter.

So when I was playing this part on “The Phoenix Flown,” I was thinking of a tone that he had at one point where he played a bit fast but within that played slowly and a bit sweeter with an upper harmonic on it and a bit of reverb and I thought, I recognize myself in these sounds, where the guitar starts to walk and get a little more fiery, where it’s a little more voice-like. Lots of guitarists are always trying to chase “the woman’s voice.” It’s where you go, “That note — that could be a voice.” I sometimes hear it from a distance, and I realize that could be an opera, where someone’s in the next room calling you. I look for the soprano.

So you hear the woman’s voice too?

I hear the voice in the guitar. And I definitely hear the guitar in the voice these days, yes.

You’re said to have pioneered the tapping and sweeping technique. How does that feel?

In 1971, on my first Genesis album, Nursery Cryme, I used tapping extensively. You can hear it all over the album. And Eddie Van Halen graciously credited that album with being an influence. By my third album with Genesis — their fifth — the first track has both tapping and sweep picking on it, which I’m also credited with inventing. That’s 1973. I can’t help it if I invented those things; I did. Those things which are part of the vocabulary of every shredder out there. And I credit both of those happenings to Bach, because I tried to play things on one string. I started tapping when I was trying to play a Bach line on one string. And sweep picking was really a bowing technique on the violin where you’re going backwards and forwards very quickly. So it borrows from far back.

So you were hunting for a sound you weren’t sure you could get.

I didn’t think I could get that. I didn’t know if it would work, or if I was capable of playing entire lines like that. At shows, I was always afraid of playing slightly ahead of the beat. I was always speeding up. And that can become a problem, of course. But I found that you could play phenomenally fast, so for a short time I would play that way. But I would say that diversity was more of my calling card more than speed. And I’m anxious to play many things, going for that operatic guitar sound. And so I like when you can play really fast — you can make it sound like a piccolo line. It’s another way of looking at speed. Is that a keyboard? Is that a wind instrument? I’m also interested when instruments start to impersonate each other.

Do you have a favorite technique?

I try not to make a distinction between playing guitar and singing. How can I put it? I don’t want the guitar to be a poor second cousin to the keyboard. There are times when you think you might be listening to the keyboard. It was common with the guys in Genesis. We had guitarists who were trying to sound like keyboard players and keyboard players who were trying to sound like guitarists. Sometimes a third instrument, a third sound gets born from it.

Would you say that you’ve decided to write music around the guitar?

Oh, certainly. I think that’s a good way of looking at it. I would say I don’t want to be limited to what the guitar can do. I think the guitar is unlimited as an instrument. It has a certain sound. And that’s why we love the guitar. The electric can impersonate brass and the voice and at time the violin. Then there’s the twelve string where it can sound like a cross between the harpsichord and the bells. And then the classical guitar, with the nylon strings, you can definitely hear the harpsichord. And with the electric — it’s phenomenal — hearing anything from a scream to a whisper.

The guitar is an incredible instrument. With the keyboard, I guess you can access more harmonies in one go, but I think the secret is to make people feel that limitless stretch. One of the reasons why I favor the guitar so much is that with the different tuning you can make so much. You can give the harp a run for its money.

You’ve been all over the world. What city or experience has influenced your guitar playing the most?

I’m influenced by everything, everywhere. My bags are permanently packed, so I’m always gathering influence. I’m influenced by everything from Americana to Victoriana. From Indian music to the music in Hungary and Germany and Gypsy music. And I also am heavily influenced when guitar gets bright blow. I’m thinking of Muddy Waters now.

Do you have memory of seeing one guitarist that truly inspired you?

Yeah, I remember seeing Andres Segovia on TV. And I’m watching his fingers, and there are all these notes coming out, but his hand hardly seems to be moving at all. And I found that absolutely thrilling. He was playing a Bach piece. I discovered many years later that the piece was written for the violin. So whether you’re caressing the guitar as Segovia did or shredding it, it’s the most adaptable instrument you’ll ever be able to get your hands on.

Steve Hackett's new album, Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, will come out via Inside Out Music on September 27. Pre-orders signed by Hackett are available now from HACKETTSONGS WEBSTORE.

It's a great day for prog here on GuitarWorld.com, as we've got another exclusive premiere for you: a new song from legendary prog-rock guitarist Steve Hackett titled "A Place Called Freedom." You can listen to the track below.

And be sure to check out our new interview with Hackett, right here.

"A Place Called Freedom" comes from Hackett's upcoming new solo album, Beyond The Shrouded Horizon, which is set for release on September 27. You can pre-order the album here.

Hackett, ever the busy guitarist, also recently found time to contribute to Porcupine Tree guitarist Steven Wilson's upcoming solo album, Grace For Drowning. You can hear his work in the video for "Remainder the Black Dog" here.

On his new album, Hackett has this to say: “My new album Beyond the Shrouded Horizon breaks free from its moorings in early autumn and sets sail through choppy riffs and sudden electric storms to the odd romantic isle...”

He continues: “From Sinbad seas to Startrek oceans of deep sky, it’s an odyssey. Invisible chords link pop to pomp, blues to baroque, embracing all genres discovered along the way. Let chthonic guitar forces and power of song take you to where waves crash through de-tuned orchestras over the edge of charted territories.”

For more information, you can check out Steve's official website.