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Photo: Simon Lowery
Steve Hackett: DOING THINGS PIECEMEAL
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his month sees the publication of A Genesis In My Bed – the long overdue autobiography from former member of Genesis, Steve Hackett. In lockdown the guitar great has been answering fans’ questions, chatting on camera about the music of Genesis and his own solo work. A simple concept, even though the music is at times quite complex. “Music can seem very complicated unless you’re actually playing it,” he points out. “It seems less complicated once you’ve got your fingers around it.” You rehearse privately, he says, then with your band, before hitting a live audience. A tour’s early shows “might be a little shaky” but then things slot into place – “I find towards the end of a tour, people are playing like they really mean it.” His US schedule this year was cut short by Covid – even his flight home was almost cancelled – but he’d never heard his current band play better than in its final couple of gigs. In autumn, they’ll bring Genesis Revisited – Seconds Out + More to Oxford, part of a tour during which “people will get more than they perhaps bargained for.” Before then, he chats about his fellow Genesis bandmates and today’s music charts.
Congratulations on finishing your autobiography – had publishers been asking you to write it for some time? Yes, and it’s taken about 15 years to really knuckle under and do things piecemeal. Writing a book is very different from writing a foreword for a book or the lyrics for a song. It’s the kind of major commitment I would normally put into an album – or a double album. It’s not easy. Were there any bits in particular that you struggled with? I was anxious to be fair about everybody I’ve worked with, talk about their abilities and not just their shortcomings. There’s a danger you might not have a friend left in the world if you just lambast and caricature everybody. It’s important to not be acrimonious and to celebrate the positives. In the main, I haven’t had a problem with that.
Genesis was a bit like a fiveway marriage
It’s called A Genesis In My Bed, is that in any way a reference to the fact when you’re in a band you live in each other’s pockets, as if you’re in bed together? It’s actually not – you have to read the book to realise why I’ve given it that title. JULY 2020 OX MAGAZINE
