Mediterranean Masterclass
Muirsical Conversation with Steve Hackett
Muirsical Conversation with Steve Hackett
Progressive luminary Steve Hackett’s Under A Mediterranean Sky is cause for acoustic celebration, especially given it has been thirteen years since Hackett’s last acoustic album, Tribute.
While Tribute paid homage to the noted guitarist’s classical and Spanish guitar influences (including Bach and Segovia, respectively), Under A Mediterranean Sky is a collection of compositions that take their influence and inspiration from Steve Hackett and his wife Jo’s many trips to that beautiful, scenic and historic part of the world (Jo Hackett contributed to five of the eleven compositions and the thematic style of the album).
Adding widescreen and soundtrack appeal are the orchestrated arrangements of long-time Steve Hackett keyboardist and co-writing colleague, Roger King.
His contributions, along with others including Christine Townsend (violin, viola), Rob Townsend (saxophone, flute) and Steve Hackett's brother John (flute) mean Under A Mediterranean Sky is much more than a collection of travels, scenes and memories set to music – it’s an orchestrated, nylon and steel-stringed acoustic guitar masterclass.
In an extended, insightful and detailed interview Steve Hackett spoke to FabricationsHQ about the album and some of the more expansive and technical tracks, his classical and compositional influences and his gifted acoustic guitar playing techniques.
Ross Muir: I have to start by saying I’m delighted to see and hear another acoustic release – or rather acoustic featured release, because there’s a lot more here than just acoustic guitar – from you, given it’s been 13 years since Tribute and the fact that your Spanish, flamenco and Italian classical sensibilities are to the fore.
Steve Hackett: Thank you. It’s just such a labour of love for me; I had a great time doing this album but it’s very exacting and I really have to try hard – it’s like doing the grown-up stuff to me! [laughs]
RM: Labour of love sums up both Under A Mediterranean Sky and Tribute perfectly.
You are obviously very fond of those albums and can be proud of both, especially in terms of the tribute paid to classical composers on that very album and, as one example, the flamenco styled compositions on Under A Mediterranean Sky.
SH: Well I think that classical and flamenco, when it comes to what the right hand is doing – that’s the one with the nails on [laughs] – do tend to cross over a lot.
You need all those techniques, and more, to get the most out of the guitar. I don’t think anybody is ever as technically gifted as they want to be with this sort of stuff – you mythologise it all you want but the truth is the primary instrument is the brain; If the brain can imagine it, then the fingers will do it, eventually, because muscle memory tends to be slower than the brain doing things instinctively.
But you can’t forget melody; melodies are the punctuation points, the places to arrive at.
It’s almost like walking to a glorious town… you might get sore feet on the way but it’s worth it when you get there!
That’s what it tends to be like for me; not just with the progressive stuff but the forerunners of that, like concertos. Before there was jazz there were concertos, where players stretched out.
To some degree they would fall back on technique but you sometimes got that glorious mixture of what was challenging technically, but rewarding melodically.
That’s what we are all looking for, really, those sublime moments where the instrument comes completely alive – but, you can’t do it entirely with just your instrument, you’ve got the support of all those angels otherwise known as the orchestra!
And no matter how that orchestra is constructed, whether real or virtual – and I’ve worked with both quite a lot over the years – I can’t get enough of it!
RM: Your point about technically challenging brings me on perfectly to the one non-original piece on Under A Mediterranean Sky, Scarlatti Sonata.
Now, to a non-player like myself but with a deep appreciation of the instrument and the form, that sounds like a beautiful baroque tune beautifully delivered yet, also, quite the technical challenge to master.
While Tribute paid homage to the noted guitarist’s classical and Spanish guitar influences (including Bach and Segovia, respectively), Under A Mediterranean Sky is a collection of compositions that take their influence and inspiration from Steve Hackett and his wife Jo’s many trips to that beautiful, scenic and historic part of the world (Jo Hackett contributed to five of the eleven compositions and the thematic style of the album).
Adding widescreen and soundtrack appeal are the orchestrated arrangements of long-time Steve Hackett keyboardist and co-writing colleague, Roger King.
His contributions, along with others including Christine Townsend (violin, viola), Rob Townsend (saxophone, flute) and Steve Hackett's brother John (flute) mean Under A Mediterranean Sky is much more than a collection of travels, scenes and memories set to music – it’s an orchestrated, nylon and steel-stringed acoustic guitar masterclass.
In an extended, insightful and detailed interview Steve Hackett spoke to FabricationsHQ about the album and some of the more expansive and technical tracks, his classical and compositional influences and his gifted acoustic guitar playing techniques.
Ross Muir: I have to start by saying I’m delighted to see and hear another acoustic release – or rather acoustic featured release, because there’s a lot more here than just acoustic guitar – from you, given it’s been 13 years since Tribute and the fact that your Spanish, flamenco and Italian classical sensibilities are to the fore.
Steve Hackett: Thank you. It’s just such a labour of love for me; I had a great time doing this album but it’s very exacting and I really have to try hard – it’s like doing the grown-up stuff to me! [laughs]
RM: Labour of love sums up both Under A Mediterranean Sky and Tribute perfectly.
You are obviously very fond of those albums and can be proud of both, especially in terms of the tribute paid to classical composers on that very album and, as one example, the flamenco styled compositions on Under A Mediterranean Sky.
SH: Well I think that classical and flamenco, when it comes to what the right hand is doing – that’s the one with the nails on [laughs] – do tend to cross over a lot.
You need all those techniques, and more, to get the most out of the guitar. I don’t think anybody is ever as technically gifted as they want to be with this sort of stuff – you mythologise it all you want but the truth is the primary instrument is the brain; If the brain can imagine it, then the fingers will do it, eventually, because muscle memory tends to be slower than the brain doing things instinctively.
But you can’t forget melody; melodies are the punctuation points, the places to arrive at.
It’s almost like walking to a glorious town… you might get sore feet on the way but it’s worth it when you get there!
That’s what it tends to be like for me; not just with the progressive stuff but the forerunners of that, like concertos. Before there was jazz there were concertos, where players stretched out.
To some degree they would fall back on technique but you sometimes got that glorious mixture of what was challenging technically, but rewarding melodically.
That’s what we are all looking for, really, those sublime moments where the instrument comes completely alive – but, you can’t do it entirely with just your instrument, you’ve got the support of all those angels otherwise known as the orchestra!
And no matter how that orchestra is constructed, whether real or virtual – and I’ve worked with both quite a lot over the years – I can’t get enough of it!
RM: Your point about technically challenging brings me on perfectly to the one non-original piece on Under A Mediterranean Sky, Scarlatti Sonata.
Now, to a non-player like myself but with a deep appreciation of the instrument and the form, that sounds like a beautiful baroque tune beautifully delivered yet, also, quite the technical challenge to master.
SH: Yeah, I had to work quite hard on that one.
It took a while for us to get the sound that favoured it, because of course this stuff was written on keyboards, originally, and ones that wouldn’t have been very dynamic. When you’re playing harpsichord all the notes are equal volume, so when you translate that to the guitar that’s a whole other story!
That’s where the cross-string trilling technique comes in which, as far as I’m aware, was invented by a friend of mine called Theodore Cheng, a fabulous player who sadly passed fairly recently.
Theo showed me this technique of using four fingers to do a trill across two strings. You used to get those moments where you heard classical guitarists play the sort of thing where you got a bit of a drop out, then they did a hammer-on for thrill [laughs], but you don’t have to have that anymore.
I’ve used that trill technique quite a lot on this album, not just on that one piece, but it does bring alive the baroque stuff. It’s a lovely technique where just two notes can be quite magical.
Theo could do that trill technique ad infinitum but I struggled with it; I couldn’t get it at all!
RM: Really?
SH: Yeah, I was going at it for months and said to Theo "I just can’t get this" to which he replied "you’re doing it wrong, you’re using the wrong combination of fingers".
So I went away for a few more years [laughs], practiced it, then it finally it dawned on me there’s a certain rhythm to these things; if you get the rhythm right you’ll get the technique right.
It’s all the right notes and, this time, in the right order, to paraphrase a famous comedy duo.
RM: Love it [laughs]. That practice clearly paid off because you’ve mastered a fair few techniques over the years, and on this album, which combine beautifully with your own abilities.
There’s an element of Standing on the Shoulders of Giants at acoustic play here.
SH: Yes there is, but I’ve also got a few techniques of my own that others, as far as I know, haven’t explored.
Because I'm not sitting down and playing other peoples compositions for a living, I can explore those harmonic possibilities with a tuning of my own – there’s a G Minor tuning of my own that I haven’t heard anyone else use; it's featured extensively on this album.
RM: Would you mind going in to detail for all the guitarists out there?
SH: It’s a G Minor Sixth tuning. For people that want to know what that is, the two bass strings go down one tone and the B string goes down a semi-tone. Now, what that means is everything you play is a complete surprise but it usually comes out as an acceptable chord.
And it’s a surprise because you’ve got all these flattened notes but that enables you to play in a D Minor, a D Major, the G Minor and a G Major as well.
If you choose to keep it a little more simple than that, you don’t need to move the B string; you can just leave that as it is, which is the tuning I heard on the famous piece by (Spanish pianist) Enrique Granados called La Maja De Goya, played by Segovia. His tuning and playing really brought the colours alive on the guitar.
That’s the sort of things I look to, with Segovia; he had this style of rubato, this slowing down at the end of a phrase, that was just a very romantic way of playing.
It’s very nineteenth century but I bring it up to the twenty-first century, and use it, because it’s a very good technique.
RM: Your songwriting colleague and long-time member of your band, Roger King, has a major part to play on Under A Mediterranean Sky with some wonderful orchestrated arrangements, such as on long-form opener Mdina, The Walled City.
That’s a true widescreen piece with soundtrack sweep – to the degree that you are almost musically speaking on behalf of those famous walls and all they have witnessed and suffered through the centuries…
SH: The important thing to realise is, as far as I am aware of its history, Malta was formed under siege from the word go because of its strategic position; it was always running from the forces of the Pope.
It’s similar to Venice in that way; places that were founded under siege, like the fortifications of Valletta.
Those fortifications were huge, even though they were ancient, so you know they were serious about repelling the invader, as was Mdina and its walls.
When I was putting this piece together I actually had in mind the siege of Malta during the second world war.
That’s why it comes blasting in at the start, for the siege, but ends up becoming very personal, romantic and resolving.
I loved putting that piece together; it’s the album at its most extreme – an attempt to express the extremely aggressive, the dramatic and the romantic...
It took a while for us to get the sound that favoured it, because of course this stuff was written on keyboards, originally, and ones that wouldn’t have been very dynamic. When you’re playing harpsichord all the notes are equal volume, so when you translate that to the guitar that’s a whole other story!
That’s where the cross-string trilling technique comes in which, as far as I’m aware, was invented by a friend of mine called Theodore Cheng, a fabulous player who sadly passed fairly recently.
Theo showed me this technique of using four fingers to do a trill across two strings. You used to get those moments where you heard classical guitarists play the sort of thing where you got a bit of a drop out, then they did a hammer-on for thrill [laughs], but you don’t have to have that anymore.
I’ve used that trill technique quite a lot on this album, not just on that one piece, but it does bring alive the baroque stuff. It’s a lovely technique where just two notes can be quite magical.
Theo could do that trill technique ad infinitum but I struggled with it; I couldn’t get it at all!
RM: Really?
SH: Yeah, I was going at it for months and said to Theo "I just can’t get this" to which he replied "you’re doing it wrong, you’re using the wrong combination of fingers".
So I went away for a few more years [laughs], practiced it, then it finally it dawned on me there’s a certain rhythm to these things; if you get the rhythm right you’ll get the technique right.
It’s all the right notes and, this time, in the right order, to paraphrase a famous comedy duo.
RM: Love it [laughs]. That practice clearly paid off because you’ve mastered a fair few techniques over the years, and on this album, which combine beautifully with your own abilities.
There’s an element of Standing on the Shoulders of Giants at acoustic play here.
SH: Yes there is, but I’ve also got a few techniques of my own that others, as far as I know, haven’t explored.
Because I'm not sitting down and playing other peoples compositions for a living, I can explore those harmonic possibilities with a tuning of my own – there’s a G Minor tuning of my own that I haven’t heard anyone else use; it's featured extensively on this album.
RM: Would you mind going in to detail for all the guitarists out there?
SH: It’s a G Minor Sixth tuning. For people that want to know what that is, the two bass strings go down one tone and the B string goes down a semi-tone. Now, what that means is everything you play is a complete surprise but it usually comes out as an acceptable chord.
And it’s a surprise because you’ve got all these flattened notes but that enables you to play in a D Minor, a D Major, the G Minor and a G Major as well.
If you choose to keep it a little more simple than that, you don’t need to move the B string; you can just leave that as it is, which is the tuning I heard on the famous piece by (Spanish pianist) Enrique Granados called La Maja De Goya, played by Segovia. His tuning and playing really brought the colours alive on the guitar.
That’s the sort of things I look to, with Segovia; he had this style of rubato, this slowing down at the end of a phrase, that was just a very romantic way of playing.
It’s very nineteenth century but I bring it up to the twenty-first century, and use it, because it’s a very good technique.
RM: Your songwriting colleague and long-time member of your band, Roger King, has a major part to play on Under A Mediterranean Sky with some wonderful orchestrated arrangements, such as on long-form opener Mdina, The Walled City.
That’s a true widescreen piece with soundtrack sweep – to the degree that you are almost musically speaking on behalf of those famous walls and all they have witnessed and suffered through the centuries…
SH: The important thing to realise is, as far as I am aware of its history, Malta was formed under siege from the word go because of its strategic position; it was always running from the forces of the Pope.
It’s similar to Venice in that way; places that were founded under siege, like the fortifications of Valletta.
Those fortifications were huge, even though they were ancient, so you know they were serious about repelling the invader, as was Mdina and its walls.
When I was putting this piece together I actually had in mind the siege of Malta during the second world war.
That’s why it comes blasting in at the start, for the siege, but ends up becoming very personal, romantic and resolving.
I loved putting that piece together; it’s the album at its most extreme – an attempt to express the extremely aggressive, the dramatic and the romantic...
RM: Close behind Mdina, in terms of musical extremes and the exotic, is the Dervish and the Djin.
That fittingly whirling piece conjures images of both conflict and the celebratory, which is no mean musical feat.
SH: Yeah, there is an aspect of that and, quite by chance, two of the players on that track – after their performances had been collected from them, separately – found their respective countries, Azerbaijan and Armenia, at war with each other over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
So it became another case of music doing something politicians seem unable or unwilling to do; whatever goes on in music, nobody dies, which is not the case in politics.
It's a bit of a hobby horse of mine, as you know. When I was doing The Night Siren album, we had two players on that, one from Palestine and one from Israel, who also happened to be friends.
It was lovely to have them on a track on that album – another example of what these people can do when they get together; and everyone on those two separate tracks are all equally talented.
RM: Another wonderful example of the cross-cultural power of music.
SH: Music is powerful, yes, and such a great healer; it demonstrates that people can work together in such wonderful ways.
Daniel Barenboim, who has his own West-Eastern Divan Orchestra – bringing in players from various parts of the Middle East, including Palestinians and Israelis – was playing a programme of Wagner at one point.
You talk about the healing there!
RM: Isn’t that wonderful; the ultimate cross-cultural celebration.
SH: Yes! Barenboim put it together with a gentleman called Edward Said, who unfortunately died shortly after the Orchestra was formed. This talented collection of individuals went on tour around the world, which is extraordinary because first of all there were obviously issues that divided them, as you can imagine.
Theirs is an area of the world that is, unfortunately, divided by the ongoing problem of extremism.
RM: By global contrast, as you have proved within you own work and with people like Daniel Barenboim, music has absolutely no truck with cultural boundaries, borders or flags…
SH: That’s absolutely right. There are no wars, no walls; the shackles are off!
The last two rock albums I’ve done had around twenty different players on them, from all over the world, so it becomes a case of the House Band getting expanded with your brothers and sisters from overseas, which I'm always very happy to do.
We took the same attitude with Under A Mediterranean Sky – that’s why there are aspects such as the Middle Eastern influences and Turkish and Greek, as well as more recognisable western harmonies.
RM: And Spanish music, another major influence.
SH: Well there’s also, of course, the Moorish, which influenced Spain, Spanish music and the building of the Alhambra palace in Granada.
I’ve seen the film of Segovia performing at the Alhambra, playing a number of pieces I’ve recorded myself over the years, including Scarlatti Sonata, which we mentioned earlier, although mine sounds slightly different, with a different trilling technique.
But then I’ve also seen the gypsies playing in Sacromonte, which is in the very same area, in the same valley in the same gorge! That’s the other side of Spain, away from the royal line – you move over from the Sultans to the people who work, live and play in the caves. Sitting there watching the dancers and musicians in those caves was just as impressive as seeing that film of Segovia playing all that wonderful stuff!
But, yes, for Spain we have Andalusian Heart as the typically Spanish track. It’s the big, romantic piece on the album with a small team of players – guitar, orchestration, Christine Townsend on violin and viola, Franck Avril on oboe – sounding huge!
That fittingly whirling piece conjures images of both conflict and the celebratory, which is no mean musical feat.
SH: Yeah, there is an aspect of that and, quite by chance, two of the players on that track – after their performances had been collected from them, separately – found their respective countries, Azerbaijan and Armenia, at war with each other over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
So it became another case of music doing something politicians seem unable or unwilling to do; whatever goes on in music, nobody dies, which is not the case in politics.
It's a bit of a hobby horse of mine, as you know. When I was doing The Night Siren album, we had two players on that, one from Palestine and one from Israel, who also happened to be friends.
It was lovely to have them on a track on that album – another example of what these people can do when they get together; and everyone on those two separate tracks are all equally talented.
RM: Another wonderful example of the cross-cultural power of music.
SH: Music is powerful, yes, and such a great healer; it demonstrates that people can work together in such wonderful ways.
Daniel Barenboim, who has his own West-Eastern Divan Orchestra – bringing in players from various parts of the Middle East, including Palestinians and Israelis – was playing a programme of Wagner at one point.
You talk about the healing there!
RM: Isn’t that wonderful; the ultimate cross-cultural celebration.
SH: Yes! Barenboim put it together with a gentleman called Edward Said, who unfortunately died shortly after the Orchestra was formed. This talented collection of individuals went on tour around the world, which is extraordinary because first of all there were obviously issues that divided them, as you can imagine.
Theirs is an area of the world that is, unfortunately, divided by the ongoing problem of extremism.
RM: By global contrast, as you have proved within you own work and with people like Daniel Barenboim, music has absolutely no truck with cultural boundaries, borders or flags…
SH: That’s absolutely right. There are no wars, no walls; the shackles are off!
The last two rock albums I’ve done had around twenty different players on them, from all over the world, so it becomes a case of the House Band getting expanded with your brothers and sisters from overseas, which I'm always very happy to do.
We took the same attitude with Under A Mediterranean Sky – that’s why there are aspects such as the Middle Eastern influences and Turkish and Greek, as well as more recognisable western harmonies.
RM: And Spanish music, another major influence.
SH: Well there’s also, of course, the Moorish, which influenced Spain, Spanish music and the building of the Alhambra palace in Granada.
I’ve seen the film of Segovia performing at the Alhambra, playing a number of pieces I’ve recorded myself over the years, including Scarlatti Sonata, which we mentioned earlier, although mine sounds slightly different, with a different trilling technique.
But then I’ve also seen the gypsies playing in Sacromonte, which is in the very same area, in the same valley in the same gorge! That’s the other side of Spain, away from the royal line – you move over from the Sultans to the people who work, live and play in the caves. Sitting there watching the dancers and musicians in those caves was just as impressive as seeing that film of Segovia playing all that wonderful stuff!
But, yes, for Spain we have Andalusian Heart as the typically Spanish track. It’s the big, romantic piece on the album with a small team of players – guitar, orchestration, Christine Townsend on violin and viola, Franck Avril on oboe – sounding huge!
RM: Andalusian Heart underlines why I opened this conversation by saying acoustic featured, as opposed to acoustic album; it’s the collective sum of the guitar, orchestration and those wonderful guest performance parts.
SH: It’s a great collection of individuals, yes. I don’t think of it as an acoustic album; I know the acoustic guitar does most of it, perhaps, but it’s about those milestones, or like that journey to the glorious town I mentioned earlier – the nylon guitar is just the foot soldier on the way to those big, victorious cities!
I love being able to deliver the punch in that way – understated in the beginning, as is the case with Andalusian Heart, but with orchestra on there.
It’s a little bit like a concerto in that way but I’ve compressed the events so you don’t have to listen to miles and miles of the journey [laughs], or the pianist going through all his chops, or the guitarist doing the same; we get to the bigger orchestrated theme a little bit quicker, with a bit of razzle dazzle in between!
At least that’s the idea!
RM: And it’s an idea that’s been fully realised on the album.
I’d like to mention another album you've recently featured on, across a number of tracks, with your good friends Djabe, the Hungarian jazz-rock troupe.
They put out a new album toward the end of last year entitled Magic Stag; it featured a cool AOR-jazz title track that featured lyrics, guitar and a storytelling narration from your good self.
SH: That's right! It's funny because I actually improvise with them more than I write with them.
They tend to to write and I jam, although they always give me a writing credit on something or other, because the line is blurred between what's spontaneous and what's written!
They are all about free playing too, so, usually, what you get from me are very honest, improvised solos.
Now, whether that's good enough I really don't know because when I'm making my own albums I tend to be... heavily corrective, shall we say? [laughs]. But with Djabe, it's as close as I get to jazz...
SH: It’s a great collection of individuals, yes. I don’t think of it as an acoustic album; I know the acoustic guitar does most of it, perhaps, but it’s about those milestones, or like that journey to the glorious town I mentioned earlier – the nylon guitar is just the foot soldier on the way to those big, victorious cities!
I love being able to deliver the punch in that way – understated in the beginning, as is the case with Andalusian Heart, but with orchestra on there.
It’s a little bit like a concerto in that way but I’ve compressed the events so you don’t have to listen to miles and miles of the journey [laughs], or the pianist going through all his chops, or the guitarist doing the same; we get to the bigger orchestrated theme a little bit quicker, with a bit of razzle dazzle in between!
At least that’s the idea!
RM: And it’s an idea that’s been fully realised on the album.
I’d like to mention another album you've recently featured on, across a number of tracks, with your good friends Djabe, the Hungarian jazz-rock troupe.
They put out a new album toward the end of last year entitled Magic Stag; it featured a cool AOR-jazz title track that featured lyrics, guitar and a storytelling narration from your good self.
SH: That's right! It's funny because I actually improvise with them more than I write with them.
They tend to to write and I jam, although they always give me a writing credit on something or other, because the line is blurred between what's spontaneous and what's written!
They are all about free playing too, so, usually, what you get from me are very honest, improvised solos.
Now, whether that's good enough I really don't know because when I'm making my own albums I tend to be... heavily corrective, shall we say? [laughs]. But with Djabe, it's as close as I get to jazz...
SH: The other interesting thing about that track is my wife Jo had a hand in the writing of the lyrics.
She also had a big hand in the production of Under A Mediterranean Sky, or course.
RM: Yes, I imagine it wouldn't have been the same sort of album without her input.
SH: Jo was the one who suggested the concept in the first place; she said instead of doing an album that's a guitar recital, albeit with orchestra at times, I approach it more like a rock album, in the way we had expanded previous rock albums with the use of various players and instruments.
Jo also suggested I try and describe places musically and indeed I wrote a couple of the pieces from what were almost submissions from her – she's credited on those two tracks among others, one of which is The Memory Of Myth, where Jo wanted something written in a Greek style.
RM: That's a gorgeously reflective, almost haunting piece.
SH: Thank you. Jo came up with the main melody, which is played played unaccompanied by Christine Townsend's violin right at the beginning.
Then, after I play some improvised guitar, in a Greek style, Roger King orchestrated Jo's melody – and it's one of the best string melodies I've ever heard.
In fact we were playing Grieg earlier, while I was doing some album signings, and I said to Jo that her melody touches on Grieg at times – that elemental thing that seems to conjure images of the landscape, which you get from his work; it's very powerful.
In fact I see a similarity between Grieg and Led Zeppelin; thousands wouldn't, but I do – when it's to do with the romance of place. Grieg is another influence, certainly.
RM: This also proves, once again, that behind every great man – and his guitar...
SH: [laughs] Yes, I think it does! It's nice that Jo is starting to get the recognition she is due on the things she has contributed to. If people like what I've done in recent years then Jo is all over it, really.
RM: She is indeed – and hopefully I'll get to pay my respects to you and Jo if, health rulings and pandemic reduction willing, the delayed Seconds Out + More tour goes ahead nearer the end of the year, once we're all vaccinated up the wazoo...
SH: Indeed! [laughs] I'm really looking forwarded to the day we can get back out on the road and normal circumstances can resume but, meanwhile, the lockdowns have been a chance to work on a number of different projects through what has actually been a productive time.
So many fans write to say you must be having a damn good rest – actually, no! [laughs] not at all!
RM: And we should all be delighted you haven't been resting up, as Under A Mediterranean Sky proves.
Meanwhile here's to the day COVID-19 is just a memory, although certainly not a myth.
Thanks for spending some extended time with FabricationsHQ once again, Steve; greatly appreciated
SH: Thank you so much Ross; it's always a pleasure. Cheers!
She also had a big hand in the production of Under A Mediterranean Sky, or course.
RM: Yes, I imagine it wouldn't have been the same sort of album without her input.
SH: Jo was the one who suggested the concept in the first place; she said instead of doing an album that's a guitar recital, albeit with orchestra at times, I approach it more like a rock album, in the way we had expanded previous rock albums with the use of various players and instruments.
Jo also suggested I try and describe places musically and indeed I wrote a couple of the pieces from what were almost submissions from her – she's credited on those two tracks among others, one of which is The Memory Of Myth, where Jo wanted something written in a Greek style.
RM: That's a gorgeously reflective, almost haunting piece.
SH: Thank you. Jo came up with the main melody, which is played played unaccompanied by Christine Townsend's violin right at the beginning.
Then, after I play some improvised guitar, in a Greek style, Roger King orchestrated Jo's melody – and it's one of the best string melodies I've ever heard.
In fact we were playing Grieg earlier, while I was doing some album signings, and I said to Jo that her melody touches on Grieg at times – that elemental thing that seems to conjure images of the landscape, which you get from his work; it's very powerful.
In fact I see a similarity between Grieg and Led Zeppelin; thousands wouldn't, but I do – when it's to do with the romance of place. Grieg is another influence, certainly.
RM: This also proves, once again, that behind every great man – and his guitar...
SH: [laughs] Yes, I think it does! It's nice that Jo is starting to get the recognition she is due on the things she has contributed to. If people like what I've done in recent years then Jo is all over it, really.
RM: She is indeed – and hopefully I'll get to pay my respects to you and Jo if, health rulings and pandemic reduction willing, the delayed Seconds Out + More tour goes ahead nearer the end of the year, once we're all vaccinated up the wazoo...
SH: Indeed! [laughs] I'm really looking forwarded to the day we can get back out on the road and normal circumstances can resume but, meanwhile, the lockdowns have been a chance to work on a number of different projects through what has actually been a productive time.
So many fans write to say you must be having a damn good rest – actually, no! [laughs] not at all!
RM: And we should all be delighted you haven't been resting up, as Under A Mediterranean Sky proves.
Meanwhile here's to the day COVID-19 is just a memory, although certainly not a myth.
Thanks for spending some extended time with FabricationsHQ once again, Steve; greatly appreciated
SH: Thank you so much Ross; it's always a pleasure. Cheers!
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Steve Hackett
January 2021
Under A Mediterranean Sky is out now as Limited CD Digipak, Gatefold 2LP (with etching on Side D) + CD + Booklet and Digital Album on Inside Out Music.
Magic Stag by Djabe, featuring Steve Hackett, is available on Cherry Red Records.
Steve Hackett Photo Credit: Jo Hackett
Muirsical Conversation with Steve Hackett
January 2021
Under A Mediterranean Sky is out now as Limited CD Digipak, Gatefold 2LP (with etching on Side D) + CD + Booklet and Digital Album on Inside Out Music.
Magic Stag by Djabe, featuring Steve Hackett, is available on Cherry Red Records.
Steve Hackett Photo Credit: Jo Hackett
