A Weekend with Steve Hackett

Weekend with Mr. Steve Hackett and John Hackett too

In October 2005, Steve Hackett Trio scheduled a visit to Mexico City. A group of 6 friends, fans of Progressive music immediately started to plan and organize the trip to Mexico City from our home city, Guadalajara (8 hours away by car).

We booked two triple rooms at a reasonable hotel located relatively close to the event location (in Mexico City this is very important as distances can really be huge!) and organized the trip by van to the city a day before the event so it wouldn’t all be too hasty.

We arrived in Mexico City on Friday October 28th around 4PM, we were to go out to dinner around 7 or 8PM, but it got postponed it once and again and we were finally leaving the hotel to eat at around 10PM. On the way out of the hotel to the van, suddenly Benjamin, after glancing sideways into the hotel restaurant, turns around violently , startling us, saying something like “Wake me up! I can't believe it!” (surprised looks and reactions from everyone, is the van wrecked, stolen, did he lose his wallet?!) “You won’t believe who’s in the hotel restaurant!” (Questioning looks from us all), “Steve Hackett!!” Ha ha, yeah sure! we all think… A surreptitious glance proves he’s completely and utterly correct! Steve Hackett and all his team are there starting off their dinner!! Incredulous, muffled chuckles, we try to understand what’s going on and get a grip on the incredible luck we’ve had… More nervous laughs and muted comments are exchanged. We of course completely forgot our empty stomachs and returned to "stalk" Mr. Hackett. I, as the one that has an acceptable grasp of English was chosen to start off the conversation, cold sweat, rubbery knees, nervously I try to imagine (without any success) what I’d say to Mr. Hackett, an idol since I was 13 years old… Mr. Hackett suddenly came out of the restaurant out to the hotel lobby sofa, talking on his cellphone… Wow!... We awaited expectantly (me nervous as hell) the end of his call, when he finally hung up, he came over to us! That was quite unexpected, to say the least, later on we’d notice this is just how he is, very down-to-earth and a humble, kind person. We had a short chat, we explained we were from Guadalajara and would be going to his concert the next day, I told him I had listened to his music since the early eighties and had seen all the Genesis members in concert, except him (later on I figured that had been a stupid thing to say, which I regretted, like if I were collecting “them” in some sick way). We took a photo with him, which he was kind enough to oblige to and he signed all our concert tickets (minus one, which he later all too kindly signed too, even though we interrupted his dinner). We left the hotel happy, with wide grins to eat our midnight supper, hardly believing our luck and the chance to talk to Mr. Hackett! We were all pumped up and enjoyed a good dinner at the ad hoc Mexico City Hard Rock Café.

During the night, I restlessly dreamt of record collections and related musical subjects, waking up at 7AM (5 hours after falling asleep) feeling quite annoyed at my comments the night before to Mr. Hackett… I hadn’t told him how important his music was, and still is, in my life and how much I value it and that I hope he will continue making such great music a long time more… I roll around in my bed not able to fall asleep again. I figure, maybe I can meet him down in the restaurant and have a chance to tell him that in person! Not thinking I wouldn’t actually have the courage to do so… So I shower, dress and rush down to the hotel restaurant. No luck though, no Mr. Hackett, I can only see a person that looks like a foreigner, but can’t actually recognize (he turned out to be the tour manager). While I was half way through my breakfast Mr. Hackett walked into the restaurant and sat with the manager, that was the moment I found out he was related to the Steve Hackett tour. At a certain point while I was getting some bread, the manager walked over to get some bread of his own too, I noticed he picked up two pieces of “pan de muertos”, bread of the “day of the dead”, which is a traditional sweet bread made in the month prior to the Day of the Dead, a celebration held in the first days of November to celebrate and remember the deceased. I grabbed the opportunity of telling him so, without enough time to dispell a certain discomfort in him… day of the dead, bread of the dead… hmmm… scary, gloomy, gross… Here in Mexico, this acceptance and almost lack of respect for death is actually quite interesting, makes me think of Monty Python and many of their sketches which would at times have a good hearty laugh on this subject, not really taking it seriously either. Well, not having the courage to go up to their table I took off to the supermarket to fetch a razorblade and some shaving cream which I had forgotten in Guadalajara. When I entered the supermarket round the corner from the hotel I noticed lots of items related to the Day of the Dead, I immediately figured it’d be great to give them a few items as a gift and that would also give me an excuse to barge in on their breakfast. So I bought a small chocolate and a sugar skull as a gift for them.

Upon returning to the restaurant I gathered some courage and stepped over to their table, while I was gone a new member had appeared at the table, Mr. John Hackett, whom I could not recognize without a flute in his hand… Stuttering, shaky knees and short of breath I offered them the skulls… can you imagine the first impression in their mind… “voodoo” a “hex”… who’s this wacko! But they politely listened to my breathless explanation and even more politely asked me a few questions to help me along (I guess). I chatted a bit asking about their stay and if they had any sidetrips planned. It turned out to be a very tight schedule and no sightseeing at all. I invited them to visit Guadalajara, citing a considerable audience for Prog music, a recent sold out concert for Jethro Tull and one by Alan Parsons, they were particularly interested in Jethro’s sold-out concert. I took the advantage and finally had the chance to tell him how much his music had meant for me in my life and got that off my chest. A few other comments were shared and I thanked them for their time and kindness, wished them a great concert and left feeling just as nervous as when I approached them, but elated as I had finally been able to tell him what I really wanted to tell him and even had the chance to talk a bit with his brother, what incredible luck! Little did I know we’d have more chances to talk and in an even more relaxed settings.

I hurried up to tell the guys, who by now were almost all awake, about my lucky encounter. They, of course, were pissed off at me going down to talk with them without having woken them up (I'm sure they wouldn't have appreciated me waking them at 7AM...), but they were glad that I had had that opportunity. They all said, maybe we’ll meet them down there again.

We all went down for breakfast (me too again), but as I expected Mr. Hackett, his brother John and the manager were nowhere to be seen. A bit disappointed they all started off their breakfast. While we were eating, Benjamin, one of the two members of a progressive group in Guadalajara, Fuga, who had travelled to see Steve Hackett Trio, said, isn’t that Steve’s brother John in the lobby? And it was, he was chatting with a guy that we later found out was in charge of transport and general well-being of the entourage. Later on Steve came down too and sat together with them. So on the way out we greeted them, and while the other 5 greeted them, I mentioned to Steve that Luigi and Benjamin had a progressive rock group. He asked them what they played, both musically and instruments. He was rather surprised to hear Luigi played the Stick, like Tony Levin he said. A small conversation ensued and Steve Hackett kindly invited us to sit down in the lobby chairs and talk a bit. The following is a loose transcript of what we talked about, it was at times a bit like an interview, at other times more of a chat. We had both John and Steve Hackett present during the chat.

Steve Hackett mentioned that he thought the Chapman Stick was a difficult instrument to play, with a good sound and great bass sound, he mentioned also that Kajagoogoo has a stick player and upon my surprise to hear they still existed, he mentioned they had recently reformed. – I missed an opportunity to talk a bit more about the tapping technique actually having inspired the creation of a whole new instrument, and if he’d ever tried one out… next time maybe. When Luigi mentioned Trey Gunn as another stick player, he said he was very good too and that he had had a chance to play with Pat Mastelotto in Japan.

When asked of musical inspirations he mentioned Piaf and some older artists (can't remember now). When asked if he listened to modern progressive groups he didn’t offer any names, but when we mentioned The Flower Kings he recognized them and asks if Roine Stolte still plays guitar in the group. He jokingly mentions Eminem, but clarifies that as a poet (only). He told us he is currently listening Jazz, specifically Hungarian Jazz.

When asked for his ideal of music, he said he’d like a mix of rock, jazz and batucada (laughing) and that he’s still trying to perfect the combination.

He mentioned as of late trying to alternate rock and classically inspired records in his discography. When I mentioned Toto’s Dune record as one of the better combinations of rock and classical I had heard, he said he’d never heard of it.

I asked if it was a problem working with classical orchestras, as I had read different accounts of rock musicians having trouble, snobbish attitudes, lack of enthusiasm, etc. when trying to get pieces done with classical musicians (I recall one specifically with Jeff Lynne when he was leader of ELO). He said that nowadays most members of classical orchestras have grown up with rock around them and no longer have a prejudices. He's never had any issues either.

When we asked if the brother John mentioned in “The Lamb lies…” is his brother, they say it’s just a coincidence. I mention that I recently read online that Peter Gabriel composed both lyrics and music for the “Lamb” album, whereas I remember having read elsewhere, that Peter had just done all the lyrics and storyline and that the rest of the group had composed all the music. Steve corroborated that it was the latter scenario, Peter lyrics and story and Phil, Mike, Peter and he most of the music.

When asked for his favorite Genesis record, he said “Selling England by the Pound” as he felt that he finally had more freedom and influence on that album in terms of playing and getting ideas through. He added that creating music within Genesis was quite complicated, mostly due to the strong personalities and the large amount of good ideas everyone came with during the composition and recording process. In part this was a reason for the separation with the group in 1977.

I mentioned having seen some live concert footage from the Trick of the Tail era where he looked either bored or distant, he said that was surely just him making a Charlie Watts impersonation (laughter).

We talked about the current strings of remasters of his work. He mentioned they had excellent sound, many details have risen out of the mix, they were made from recovered master tapes. He mentioned they had actually been lost (the master tapes). John Hackett mentioned the new remasters sound as it sounded originally in the studio.

We asked John Hackett regarding his flute, he told us of this new design by an Englishman that helped him once again play flute after a car accident that left him with a seemingly permanent neck injury.

They were both introduced to the world of music when their father brought them a guitar after (or was it during) a work stay in Canada.

Steve mentioned that at a time he considered becoming a full-time harmonica player… lucky for us he decided against it, but that explains his ability on the instrument, that you can spot live in some DVDs.

John participated on the first solo Steve record, Voyage of the Acolyte, while still studying Literature. They both agreed that it was Steve who brought John into the music world, John laughingly stated Steve was a bad influence. But they were always good brothers and had a positive relationship. Since "Voyage", John has been in the music business, has recorded two solo records, "the newest is very good" said Steve (I bought it there at the concert and must say it is very good, calming music).

When asked how a group of 23-year olds could compose a masterpiece like "Selling England by the Pound", he agreed it was unusual and that at the time he was inspired by Bach and trying to play a piece like Tocatta & Fugue on a guitar. He’d do his best to play it and developed his tapping technique to make it more feasible. John insisted that they were all very talented.

When mentioning the technical aspects of guitar playing, Steve mentioned Stanley Jordan. But we agreed that it can easily become a circus act, both technique and feeling must go together to make music.

We then went on to talk about a Genesis reunion and his thoughts on the subject. I could see had done quite a few efforts in that direction, I also noticed some bitterness, I have a feeling all the rejections he seems to have received from the members may be a reason, but the exact causes will need some more specific questions. He mentioned having contacted them all but has not received a response. He mentioned thinking that Tony Banks, even though he has recently released an orchestral “rock” album, his ideal has always been to play in a successful group.

When asked why he thought he had maintained such a clear and strong progressive vein in his music. He believes that he’s more classically inspired and has always been making music he likes and not just pop. He clearly stated that could never make or play music he hated. He's actually very lucky in being able to decide, looking at how things normally are managed in the music business.

After our conversation in the lobby we thanked Steve and John for their time and kindness and hoped they’d have a great stay in Mexico and a great concert too.

We could all barely believe the opportunity we’d had, to talk almost one-on-one with such an important musician… Tornillo, said “A legend of rock music, but even more so, a gentleman.” And that is the impression we all had of him. A kind, open, humble, gentle man that just enjoys music and having the liberty to make the music he likes and share it with the world.

We found out that Steve wasn’t leaving the hotel to the concert venue until around 4pm and he would be in the lobby before that. So we rushed off to the closest mall and bought him a nice book with great photos of Mexico plus we raided the local Music store and bought up most of the Hackett dvds and cds.

We met up with Steve at the hotel and gave him the present which he very much appreciated, he kindly took the time to sign and comment on the cds and dvds we gave him. He especially scowled over the one I had bought,  as the cover actually looked like a Yes rip-off, he wasn’t too thrilled with that (called Horizons)… I felt sort of guilty having bought the “pirate” DVD (I’ve since then found out it is a very good recording and concert, can read more on it at allmusic.com). I felt it was a bit over the top all the signing he was asked to do, so I felt it was enough with the ticket signature (from the night before) and the signed DVD cover. We thanked him profusely, said goodbye and wished him good luck with the concert.

We stayed around the hotel and prepared for the concert, we took off an hour and a half before the concert to the hall, arrived there to a suprisingly empty venue (little did we know…). We should have figured something was wrong… instead we walked around nonchalantly, I went up to the merchandise table and started buying a few cds (the new one by John and a Nearfest 2 cd set) a poster and the tour booklet… I was then ushered in, when I suddenly noticed that Steve was already playing!! WHAT!! I rush in and yes, there he is playing on stage… damn it, I grumble to myself, and stumble up to my seat with Luigi close behind, all the rest were in the bathroom and buying cds too or something like that… The location was great, right behind the sound engineers and the sound was therefore excellent. The rest arrived breathless to the rest of the seats.

We were treated to a fabulous concert, took some photos, some videos and enjoyed the excellent renditions of all the great songs. Some sounded even more beautiful than the original recordings, breathtaking! We left the concert very happy and pondered over how all those fans there in the concert hall wouldn’t have believed us if we had told them that we’d spent so much time with Steve and John. By the way, after the concert I was a bit sad that we’d not had the time to speak a bit with Roger King, excellent musician, excellent!

We rode back home with the car full of merchandise, posters, t-shirts and an excellent concert experience despite missing the first 5 or 10 minutes of the concert… I’ve still not figured completely what went wrong, my guess is that the concert started one hour early... strange…

Next morning we expected not to meet any of them, specially being the last date of their tour, we’d expect them to have a party and wake up late. We were to take off more or less early as the trip back to Guadalajara would take up most of the day and it’s not good to drive at night if you can avoid it.

So there we were in the hotel restaurant eating our breakfast, four in one table and Tornillo and I at a second table when Mr. Steve Hackett walked through the door! He looked a bit disoriented looking around the lobby restaurant not spotting any members of the entourage… We greeted him and Tornillo asked him if he would be so kind as to join us at our table, something I had not even thought about, what an uneducated brute I am… He looked a bit hesitant and after a few seconds thought he accepted, went off to get some tea and toasts and returned to our table. By now, I was a bit unconfortable, as I did not know if Steve would feel we were a bit of a nuisance or something like that, but I tried to talk much less than earlier and let him eat breakfast as quietly as possible. Details of the conversation elude me now, but it was much less tense, he asked about the concert, what we thought of it, we mentioned we enjoyed it a lot. He mentioned they had had last minute trouble with the setup and other issues that they either barely resolved or did not solve (later viewing the DVD of the same concert in Hungary I noticed the scenery was quite different and that’s the trouble they had had in the Mexico City concert, setting it all up, which they didn’t :-)) I remember asking him a bit about his family, he mentioned his son, that studies in Europe, I think it was Germany. We chatted of many things and nothing at all. I do remember asking him if he felt his life had gone as he wanted it and he agreed, he felt as a realized person, something I was very happy to hear as we all in a sense want that from life and to hear that your heroe is happy with what he’s done in life as a musician and as a human being is fabulous. He told us the team had all gone out to party the night after the concert, but he had not, which explained why he found no entourage faces when he arrived at the lobby restaurant (luckily for us).

After some 20 minutes or so, John appeared too. He joined us at the table and we talked a bit more about the concert and their lives. Tornillo rushed up to his room to fetch some more items for Steve to sign… (I didn’t want to impose, so I did no such thing). Steve and John all too kindly obliged to sign more cds, more posters and even two t-shirts Tornillo had bought the night before.

I don’t remember for sure now, but I think they left the table before we did, we thanked them profusely and wished them a nice trip back home and hoped they’d come back to Mexico soon and that they had their home in Guadalajara should they ever arrive there. I wasn’t able to tell them directly (so I take the opportunity here, just in case) to thank them for just how kind and open they had been to all our “abuse” and wish to enjoy another new record and many more from them in the future.

When we drove back to Guadalajara, I felt a bit depressed. I don’t know how to express it correctly, it was of course not in any way Steve or John’s fault, not at all, but I now saw them as normal human beings, sure, with exceptional abilities as musicians, but as mere mortals. They looked quite tired, pale, I actually felt sorry for them, having to travel to strange places, stay in hotels, have to play even though in pain (Steve mentioned John’s hand was having issues too, related, it seems, to his neck injury), etc. All these issues that you never think of when you are a fan from a distance. It’s a tough job, it really is and now I could see it, they are mere humans, now I know it, it’s obvious now and any reasonable person would have figured it out beforehand, but it was necessary to meet them in person for me to really “grok” that. But on the other hand, they are doing what they like, playing music, the music they like, no compromises, they are truly blessed in that sense, plus I took comfort in the fact Steve had said he felt realized as a musician and I understand that for him that makes it all worthwhile.

After all this you must understand that the concert and the music took a backseat to actually meeting and sharing so much with Steve and John, that is unavoidable and I am very grateful it was that way, a once in a lifetime experience. I pondered over that later on too, it was a mix of good luck and meeting the right famous person, not all musicians are so accesible, kind, humble and tolerant, so I have the feeling nothing like this will ever happen again in my life, anyway I am glad I had the chance to have such an experience with my heroe Steve and John.

I can’t thank you Steve and John enough. Thank you all for making this concert and encounter such a memorable and enlightening experience.

A lifelong fan

original approach for an interview, contains lots of info as well, great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!