Steve Hackett, former Genesis guitarist who pioneered finger-tapping, talks about his upcoming Seconds Out Tour

Steve Hackett is indubitably one of the most influential guitar players of our time. Drawing inspiration from jazz, rock, blues and classical music, Hackett’s unique approach to playing guitar helped the legendary rock band Genesis stand apart from their peers in the 1970’s. 

Hackett is often credited with pioneering a guitar playing technique known as finger tapping, which involves using both hands to tap strings on the guitar to create an at the time unheard sound. He began using the technique during performances as early as 1971 before first appearing on record in 1973 on Genesis’ seminal prog masterpiece, “Selling England by the Pound.”

Hackett’s work would go on to influence artists like Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, and most notably, the late Eddie Van Halen, who adopted the finger tapping technique and has since become synonymous with it. 

Hackett released his first solo record, “Voyage of the Acolyte” in 1975. He left Genesis two years later, citing creative differences. Over the last four decades, Hackett has released over two dozen solo albums that explore a myriad of musical styles, including 2021’s “Under a Mediterranean Sky,” and “Surrender of Silence,” which draws on stylistic elements from rock, classical and world music.

This spring, Hackett is hitting the road with his Genesis Revisited show, which is scheduled to land in New York City at the Beacon Theatre on April 3. Hackett and his band will perform Genesis’ 1977 album “Seconds Out” in full. “Seconds Out” is a live record featuring a set list that encompasses the whole of Hackett’s career with Genesis, it is also his last release with the group. We got on call with Mr. Hackett to discuss the upcoming tour, his latest records, improvisation during “Supper’s Ready,” and more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

Johnny: Hey Steve! You were on tour right before the pandemic hit. You performed a large trek at the end of 2021 and are set to be out on the road for a good portion of this year. What challenges or changes have arisen for you with regards to touring in the wake of the pandemic? Are things different and if so, how?

Steve: Well, let’s put it this way, we were halfway through an American tour and we had to cancel because everything closed around us. So, my wife and I caught the last flight out of Philadelphia [to London] otherwise we would have been stuck for months. Once we were back in England, we got very busy! We did a series of lockdown videos to try and stay in touch with all the recently disenfranchised people who bought tickets to shows. I was doing “track chats,” which my wife filmed, talking about things I had done in the past dating back 51 years and also talking about new stuff that was about to be released. We did two studio albums, an acoustic one called “Under a Mediterranean Sky,” and a rock album called “Surrender of Silence.” There was an autobiography I had more time to work on and that came out. So, it was a very productive time at home.

There were no shows until recently. We did a UK tour followed by some Scandinavian and French dates. So, we did about 41 dates once all the restrictions were off and we’re looking at a very busy rest of the year. There haven’t been too many live gigs, but we managed to do 31 of them in the U.K. without any passes. Of course, we existed in a tour bubble. We weren’t allowed to meet anybody backstage or in the hotel. We went in with masks, checked in, checked out… we had minimal contact with humans. We couldn’t do the thing we normally do, which is to meet friends, say hi and sign albums. If we’re allowed to play everywhere with full capacities, we’ll be traveling the globe for at least 6 months of the year.

Having said that, there’s other stuff. There’s a live album being mixed from a show we did in Manchester a few months back and there are also three tracks for a future studio album. Productivity was high and it’s been wonderful to do live shows again, so that gives you some idea of what we’ve been up to.

Johnny: The restrictions seem to be a necessary precaution to sustain a tour of that magnitude. Everyone I’ve spoken to on the road seems to be implementing similar measures. It looks like you’ve been keeping really busy.

Steve: Well, we’ve been as busy as we’ve been allowed to be. Other friends in other bands who have successfully managed to tour right now have told their own stories of lockdown on the road That was the case for one or two friends in King Crimson who were touring [in Japan]  and staying in hotels but unable to leave their hotel room, traveling downstairs via service elevators and being unable to meet anybody backstage. In that way, you can protect the team, but you do have to be scrupulous. What audiences perhaps lose in terms of personal contact, they gain in terms of a public performance. 

Our intention is to fill all our retrospective commitments. We have gigs all over the world coming up. Provided we’re allowed 100% capacities in many of these venues, then we’ll do it. If they restrict capacities, then we can’t do it with the size of the production that we’re carrying. It’s not economically feasible. The realities are the gods of business have to be appeased. Laughs

Johnny: Right on! I see you’ll be performing selections from your latest record, “Surrender of Silence,” on the upcoming tour. Can you give readers some insight into the writing and recording of the record? Was your creative process affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Steve: It absolutely was affected by the pandemic. I was sitting at home for a vast amount of time with Roger King who is an excellent engineer and arranger. He’s done classical, film and rock ‘n’ roll music and he’s our keyboard player with the band. Roger and I spent vast amounts of time doing two albums. “Surrender of Silence” is the rock album, which I think is angrier and harder edged than things I’ve done recently. There’s definitely an aspect of, if there’s such a thing, progressive or orchestral metal. classical music.

Johnny: I definitely noticed elements of African rhythms and world music. 

Steve: Absolutely there’s all that. My wife and I had a visit to Ethiopia, and we were hugely taken by it. We saw so many wonderful things. We were blown away and it was reflective in some of the music. We did an African influenced song which was very rhythmic indeed, lots of mass singing. I think the album is a colorful, virtual journey with music, as was its predecessor “Under a Mediterranean Sky.” We had players on from Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, some Vietnamese instrumentation, and drummers from all over the world. It is an extraordinary band and an extended one, so you get “orchestra plus,” and “rock plus.” The overall effect is, I’d like to think, cinematic at times. 

When I was growing up of course I was listening to blues and all the developments. I absolutely loved the basic raw power with all those blues heroes we had in the 1960’s. But then music started to shift, and rock’s shoulders were becoming broader. I was hearing Segovia and I was hearing Bach, and all the amazing things that the Beatles were doing with Indian instruments. So, in a way that legacy has continued for me. There are no labels for what I do, it’s all just a big adventure in sound.

Johnny: What has it been like revisiting an album that really encompasses your career with Genesis?

Steve: Well, we revisited on stage in front of lots of live audiences in the U.K. It was the most extensive tour of the United Kingdom I’ve ever done, we covered as much ground as ever. We recorded the show in Manchester, and Roger and I are mixing that at home. It sounds very powerful and has some other bits from elsewhere. There’s some well-known solo stuff such as “Everyday” and a couple of things from “Surrender of Silence” like “The Devils Cathedral” which works wonderfully live and “Held in the Shadows.” They both came out very, very strongly, so I’m very happy. The solo set, even though it’s fairly short compared to the double album that is “Seconds Out,” it doesn’t sound like a “poor second cousin,” it sounds like it’s part of the whole. It is both of then and of now. There are certain things that are classic trademarks I think, like mellotron strings. There are so many times we had the choice to use a real orchestra or a handful of players and samples that we mix up, but time and time again we come back to the “cold warmth” of the mellotron. It’s a signature sound, and when I first heard it being played live in the late 1960’s I realized what an extraordinary pandora’s box it was. It makes for a very exciting mix.

Johnny: The nature of your instrumental work is super technical and physically demanding. What song or songs in your current set do you find the most challenging to play? The most enjoyable?

Steve: Well currently, we’re playing the whole of “Supper’s Ready” from “Foxtrot.” That was voted “Top Track” by Prog Magazine out of many tracks that I absolutely love myself. Tracks by Yes and ELP and King Crimson and other progressive bands, or bands that we view retrospectively as progressive. At the time, when these bands were starting out, nobody used that term, we were just trying to have audio adventures that were as original as possible. I’m very proud that “Supper’s Ready” was at the top of the list. So, we’re doing that, and it’s always a challenge to perform it because it goes through so many changes. It goes through the fixed stuff and the improvised stuff. At the end I always let rip with a solo, allowing it to go wherever it wants to go itself. Sometimes we take it to the mountains, and I just keep going until my fingers fall off!

Songs such as “Cinema Show” off “Selling England by the Pound,” for instance, go through a number of changes. I think with all this tightly arranged music, even though you can get moments of improv in the middle of it, you still have to be very aware of where the cue is coming, the “invisible count,” and these things that make the music seem like a product of telepathy. It isn’t, it’s the product of training yourself as much as you can. You bludgeon it into memory, and then you’ve got the joy of being able to do it live. You’ve got to be on top of your game to do that sort of stuff. It’s very different from my years where you’d “go and have a few beers and play a few blues songs.” This stuff requires you to be really on it. 

Johnny: Who’s your favorite member of Monty Python?

Steve: They were signed to Charisma Records at the same time we were, we had a press launch together in New York which was lovely. I think that in his young day Michael Palin was very funny. 

Johnny: What are you listening to nowadays to keep you inspired?

Steve: Some guys from the band Mostly Autumn turned me on to stuff by Dare. They’ve got a lovely album called “Beneath the Shining Water,” which is from 2004. In terms of guitarists, reinvigorating the blues, Joe Bonamassa sounds quite wonderful. There are various other people that I’m a fan of, many of whom I’m working with currently. Christine Towsend plays wonderful violin and viola. I try to listen to everything if I can, preferably stuff that’s played rather than programmed!

Johnny: Thanks so much for chatting with us Steve, we’re looking forward to the show.

Steve: Yes, we’re going to be at the Beacon Theatre on April 3 which I’m looking forward to because the acoustics are so great there. London has got its Hammersmith Odeon, and New York’s Beacon Theatre has that thing where the building acts as a natural amplifier. There’s just something about the sound there, it thunders. I love doing that, as well as so many other places. I don’t want to make other places jealous!

Get tickets for Steve Hackett’s upcoming shows here!