Steve Hackett “In Genesis sometimes the music wrote itself”

Steve Hackett over the years he has often celebrated his past live Genesis proposing entire albums from his old band in his solo concerts. The now 74-year-old guitarist played in the British band from 1971 to 1977 and despite leaving the group he looks back fondly on the music he composed together with his old companions describing it as a “golden period”.

Here's what he said in an interview with Classic Rock: “There's no question about the camaraderie of a band when everyone is playing together and there's a virtual telepathy flowing.

Those moments are irreplaceable and I had them with Genesis. There were some moments where the music literally wrote itself.”

The musician who will be in concert continues in Italy next autumn for five performances: “There was an aspect of claustrophobia that invaded my time with Genesis, and I had to work outside of the band. I think if you feel creative and have an album, a book or a film inside you, you don't you want to let it rot. Evidently referring to his first solo album “Voyage of the Acolyte” which he published in 1975 when he was still in the Genesis.

Despite the great success that i Genesis they had once Hackett left the band, he doesn't regret leaving. “If you look at it in purely financial terms, you might say, 'You could afford Buckingham Palace by now if you'd stayed with the band.' But on the other hand, music is the currency you value. It's what feeds you , if you need to do it.”

He closes his speech on Genesis explaining: “Genesis was becoming a bit too much of a closed shop and it was affecting my ability to sleep. I agonized for a good two years about leaving the band, then I thought: 'No, now I have to do an act of wedding ring.' And there is no doubt that I made the right decision.”