Legendary rock guitarist Steve Hackett is set to release his new studio album ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ on Friday, February 16th, 2024, via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’s’ 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: “I love this album. It says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.”
With just a week and a half to go till the albums release, Steve has launched the track ‘Circo Inferno’, and you can now listen to it here:
Steve said of the track: “Circo Inferno is the most frenzied point in this album’s narrative… A plea for rescue within the maelstrom of a Dantesque circus, involving swirling Phrygian runs, insistent sax, full on vocals and blistering guitar…”
The new album is available to pre-order on several different formats, including a Limited CD+Blu-ray mediabook (including 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit high resolution stereo mixes), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP & as Digital Album. All feature the stunning cover painting by Denise Marsh.
‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ is Steve’s first new music in over two years. Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK – with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan and Denmark, the line-up for ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drumstool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve’s brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.
The full track-listing is as follows:
People Of The Smoke
These Passing Clouds
Taking You Down
Found And Lost
Enter The Ring
Get Me Out!
Ghost Moon and Living Love
Circo Inferno
Breakout
All At Sea
Into The Nightwhale
Wherever You Are
White Dove
Summing up ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’, Steve says: “It’s a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?”
Steve Hackett & band will tour the world extensively in 2024, including a brand new UK tour ‘Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo’, which will see him return to the legendary Royal Albert Hall. He will also return to North America early this year, with European shows booked in for the Summer. For the full list of dates, head to: http://hackettsongs.com/tour.html
Legendary rock guitarist Steve Hackett is set to release his new studio album ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ on 16th February 2024, via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’s’ 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: “I love this album. It says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.”
Today a brand new track is revealed, titled ‘Wherever You Are’, and you can watch the video now here:
Of the track, Steve comments: “’Wherever You Are’ is a song of love winning through, shattering the chains of the physical world… Light obliterating darkness. A new universe has opened up with the hope that such a strong love could even survive death. The dreams of childhood realised, there is a sense of everything coming around full circle… Even the three part harmony guitar at the end of Genesis’ The Musical Box is revisited in spirit with the joy of celebration during this song.”
The new album is available to pre-order on several different formats, including a Limited CD+Blu-ray mediabook (including 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit high resolution stereo mixes), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP & as Digital Album. All feature the stunning cover painting by Denise Marsh. Pre-order now here: https://stevehackett.lnk.to/TheCircusAndTheNightwhale
Steve will celebrate the release of his new album with two HMV in-store events in London & Birmingham, where he will be taking part in a Q&A and signing albums. Find out more details on those here: https://ow.ly/HUaT50Q7paJ
‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ is Steve’s first new music in over two years. Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK – with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan and Denmark, the line-up for ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drumstool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve’s brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.
The full track-listing is as follows:
People Of The Smoke
These Passing Clouds
Taking You Down
Found And Lost
Enter The Ring
Get Me Out!
Ghost Moon and Living Love
Circo Inferno
Breakout
All At Sea
Into The Nightwhale
Wherever You Are
White Dove
Summing up ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’, Steve says: “It’s a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?”
Steve Hackett & band will tour the world extensively in 2024, including a brand new UK tour ‘Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo,’ which will see him return to the legendary Royal Albert Hall. He will also return to North America early this year, with European shows booked in for the Summer.
Legendary rock guitarist Steve Hackett is set to release his new studio album ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ on February 16th, 2024, via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’s’ 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: “I love this album. It says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.”
Today he is pleased to reveal the first single, and the albums opening track, ‘People of the Smoke’, and you can watch the video now here:
Steve says of the track: “People of the Smoke spins us all back in time to 1950, when bustling post-war London was stifled with smog from trains, chimneys, industry and smokers. I was born into that world! This song kicks off an album following my life’s journey both literally and metaphorically…”
The new album is available to pre-order on several different formats, including a Limited CD+Blu-ray media book (including 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit high resolution stereo mixes), Standard CD Jewel case, Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP & as Digital Album. All feature the stunning cover painting by Denise Marsh. Pre-order now here: https://stevehackett.lnk.to/TheCircusAndTheNightwhale
‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ is Steve’s first new music in over two years. Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK – with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan and Denmark, the line-up for ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drum stool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve’s brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.
The full track listing is as follows: 1. People Of The Smoke 2. These Passing Clouds 3. Taking You Down 4. Found And Lost 5. Enter The Ring 6. Get Me Out! 7. Ghost Moon and Living Love 8. Circo Inferno 9. Breakout 10. All At Sea 11. Into The Nightwhale 12. Wherever You Are 13. White Dove
Summing up ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’, Steve says: “It’s a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?”
Steve recently completed his North America Tour where he continued his ‘Foxtrot At Fifty + Hackett Highlights’ run. Next year he will tour the world extensively, including a brand newUK tour ‘Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo’, which will see him return to the legendary Royal Albert Hall. For the full list of dates, head to: http://hackettsongs.com/tour.html
Legendary rock guitarist Steve Hackett will release his new studio album ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ on February 16th 2024, via InsideOut Music. A rite-of-passage concept album with a young character called Travla at the centre of it, ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’s’ 13 tracks have an autobiographical angle for the musician who says about his 30th solo release: “I love this album. It says the things I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.”
‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ is Steve’s first new music in over two years. It follows the beautiful acoustic LP ‘Under A Mediterranean Sky’ from January 2021 – which rose to No 2 in the UK Classical chart – and, in September of that year, his metallic masterpiece Surrender Of Silence, which hit the UK Top 40. His 2023 live album, ‘Foxtrot At Fifty + Hackett Highlights: Live in Brighton’, reached No 2 in the Rock & Metal Chart. Steve’s new LP promises ballads, blues, blistering progressive rock… and healthy measures of theatre and fantasia.
Recorded between tours in 2022 and 2023 at Siren studio in the UK – with guest parts beamed in from Sweden, Austria, the US, Azerbaijan and Denmark, the line-up for ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’ includes some familiar faces alongside Steve on electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, bass and vocals. Roger King (keyboards, programming and orchestral arrangements), Rob Townsend (sax), Jonas Reingold (bass), Nad Sylvan (vocals), Craig Blundell (drums) and Amanda Lehmann on vocals. Nick D’Virgilio and Hugo Degenhardt return as guests on the drumstool, engineer extraordinaire Benedict Fenner appears on keyboards and Malik Mansurov is back with the tar. Finally, Steve’s brother John Hackett is present once more on flute.
The new album will be available to pre-order from the December 1st, 2023 on several different formats, including a Limited CD+Blu-ray mediabook (including 5.1 Surround Sound & 24bit high resolution stereo mixes), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180g Vinyl LP & as Digital Album. All feature the stunning cover painting by Denise Marsh.
The full tracklisting is as follows: 1. People Of The Smoke 2. These Passing Clouds 3. Taking You Down 4. Found And Lost 5. Enter The Ring 6. Get Me Out! 7. Ghost Moon and Living Love 8. Circo Inferno 9. Breakout 10. All At Sea 11. Into The Nightwhale 12. Wherever You Are 13. White Dove
Summing up ‘The Circus And The Nightwhale’, Steve says: “It’s a lovely journey that starts dirty, scratchy and smoky and becomes heavenly and divine. How can you resist it?”
Steve is currently on tour in North America, continuing his ‘Foxtrot At Fifty + Hackett Highlights’ run. Next year he will tour the world extensively, including a brand new UK tour under the name ‘Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo’ (that will see him return to the legendary Royal Albert Hall), as well as a return to the US for additional ‘Foxtrot At Fifty’ shows from March 1st through April 13th. For the full list of dates, head to: http://hackettsongs.com/tour.html
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interviewed former Genesis guitarist and solo artist Steve Hackett.
In the chat Hackett talks about his Foxtrot at Fifty & Hackett Highlights North American tour as well as his time and departure from Genesis. Plus pioneering finger taping and how he influenced Eddie Van Halen as well as metal Guitarists.
When asked about the Foxtrot Album and Foxtrot at 50 North American Tour “Foxtrot is a Genesis album from 1972 originally, So it’s not just 50 years ago, it’s 50 years plus because of Covid catch-up. We haven’t taken this show to North America yet, we have played it extensively in Europe, Scandinavia and other places in the world and finally we get to take it to Canada we get to take it to America. I think it’s one of Genesis Classic Albums of a certain era. ‘Foxtrot’ and ‘Selling England by the Pound’ are my two favorites of the ones I did during my time with Genesis with Peter Gabriel. I think it’s a classic and the version that my band did at Brighton in the U.K. is gorgeous. It looks and sounds wonderful and it’s an absolute class if you like early Genesis. I think it’s a must for music that’s detailed and at times complicated. The style of music is pan-genre; it ranges from sci-fi to social commentary, to humor. Most of the songs are stories; they tend not to be a Boy Meets Girl, it tends to be more complicated than that.”
When asked how he is the only former Genesis member performing the Peter Gabriel Genesis Era “I think it’s an aberration that the others don’t but I think the band (Genesis) became something else later on post Peter Gabriel or post MTV should we say. But I’m talking about music from an era when John Lennon gave us a name check and said he considered Genesis to be true sons of The Beatles and I’m very proud of that and it’s this era that he was talking about. So you can hear that influence if you hear ‘Willow Farm’, in the middle of Supper Ready a great long piece you can hear the Beatles all over, let’s be honest it is really the son of Walrus. It’s kind of circus music in a way, it’s cartoon music, it’s it’s parody. There’s a kind of Vaudeville tradition that it’s drawn from as well. It defies description really but the stuff on Foxtrot it’s very wide ranging there’s a lot of different styles, as I say pan genre is how I see it. It’s inclusive music, there’s so many styles that were being hinted at on that album. I think the original sounds good but I think the live version that I’ve done, you know 50 years plus later with my band I think it sounds better because we can play it better. It’s more in time, it’s more in tune. These guys are virtuosos. Genesis at that time were a Young Band struggling to keep up with the ideas that the entire team were able to come up with together. So you can say well that’s sacrilege and shoot me down in flames but hey you know until you’ve heard what this sounds like in its entirety which Genesis did not do. Genesis never did Foxtrot in its entirety, some songs were considered to be too difficult or insufficiently, or not audience worthy. But now with the passing of time the fact that it’s come to be regarded as a classic, stuff like Time Table and Horizons they’ve all found their place.”
When asked about also performing his solo material on upcoming tour “It’s 40 minutes 50 minutes or an hour of solo stuff. I think it’s got a lot to offer, it’s a really great show if I may say so I’m very proud of it.”
When asked about being a finger taping and hammer-ons guitar technique pioneer and how he influenced Eddie Van Halen “I love Eddie’s playing and he credited me with an influence that’s good enough for me. It’s a prototype tapping, the technique that I did and that he (Eddie Van Halen) named, that’s something that I was doing from 1971 onwards. You can hear it on Nursery Crime (album), Musical box (song) you can hear it on the song ‘Return of the giant hogweed’ on the same album. You can hear it on Selling England by the Pound (album), the first track, ‘Dancing with the moonlit Knight’. When we were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the band Phish, they were talking about the guitar solo. So the first thing that gets talked about was that guitar solo which included sweep picking, tapping and octave jumps which all of which I think you know it’s all part of the glossary of terms. No heavy metal guitarist wouldn’t want to be seen dead without being able to do all of those things. “ When asked about the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis live experience “Pete (Gabriel) was, I think, extremely important, really clever and marvelous lyrical ideas. I think his sense of theatricality rivaled Alice Cooper at times, once he embraced that totally. What that means is that an audience that might have walked out during an earlier era of complicated music. When you had visuals to accompany it, that made a big difference so production values the show itself that’s what really makes the difference. And so you know you hope that if you’re in a band like Genesis you’re going to survive the departure of your lead singer. You hope that you’re going to survive the departure of or leaving the group, as I did but what survives is the quality of the music. “
When asked about his departure from Genesis “I joined a band that was a democracy, a songwriters collective. I left the band that was becoming a dictatorship. I think that when I was told by Mike (Rutherford) and Tony (Banks) that I could no longer do solo work the hackles rose there because they also wanted to control who was writing the songs and that wasn’t the basis that I joined the band.Great band (Genesis) probably the best band in the world but at the end of the day you can’t keep a good Hackett it down. So you’ve got to be true to yourself and your Muse I think once a band starts to lose people, it lost Peter Gabriel, it lost me similar to sort of circumstances in in terms of being told that you can’t have a parallel solo career blah blah blah blah blah blah and all of that. And you figure well why not because it would have strengthened the band and of course the great Poetic Justice at the end of the day was that Phil Collins solo career outpaced the band in terms of sales. So I think that’s ironic justice for them but I still love the guys in the band. It’s different now we’re all very much older and I think that there would have been a rethink if anyone had been sensible enough frankly. Why would you want to lose the singer of the quality of Peter Gabriel, a great performer, writer, humanitarian all of that. You have to allow people room to grow. You can’t run a band by thinking that you own people, you can’t run it like that. You can’t suppress.”
When asked if he joined Genes as a full member or a hired gun “I was a fully fledged equal member that’s what I joined, that’s how I joined, on the understanding that there would be that. I joined on the understanding that there would be a Mellotron. I joined on the understanding that there would be a light show, that we would work towards these things. I joined on the understanding that we would get a synthesizer. I joined on the understanding that we would become more than a folk singing band. Now the band surpassed my intentions and desires. I felt my job was done, now I’ve got to see what I can do on my own.”.
When asked about the roadblocks and hurdles over the years of reuniting the Gabriel led era “The extreme competitiveness at the core of the band and I think there’s always been this idea that oh well if we let these guys back in again this is going to be seen as the real band where as the real band we want it to be seen as three-man team. At one point we all had a meeting, this is right back in I think in 2005. Anyway, nearly 20 years ago we were having a meeting. If we can make Lamb Lies down on Broadway, the thing that we will all do together and can we do it as a musical? Is that possible? Can we use avatars way before the stuff with ABBA. But competitiveness that’s the problem. We had this meeting in Glasgow where Phil (Collins) was doing a gig and straight away Tony (Banks) said I think that it won’t work, it won’t work as a musical, it’s too complicated. Well if it had worked it would have changed the shape of musicals. If Queen could do it, then I think that Genesis could do it. But it’s maybe too much power to Pete (Gabriel) you know because Pete very much wrote the story not the music, we all wrote the music. But the idea of relinquishing that amount of power and reflected Glory was just a little too much for the guys who were holding the name. Sadly because because I think Genesis was capable and is capable of of much.”
About Steve Hackett Steve Hackett joined Genesis at the beginning of 1971 and gained an international reputation as the guitarist in the band’s classic line-up alongside Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. Hackett’s intricate guitar work was a key element of Genesis’ albums from Nursery Cryme (1971) to Wind And Wuthering (1977) including the classic Selling England By The Pound.
After leaving Genesis at the end of 1977, Hackett’s solo career, which now spans more than 30 albums, has demonstrated his extraordinary versatility with both electric and acoustic guitar. Hackett is renowned as both an immensely talented and innovative rock musician and a virtuoso classical guitarist and composer and this was recognized in 2010 when he was inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame. He has also worked alongside Steve Howe of YES in the supergroup GTR.
Legendary guitarist STEVE HACKETT presents his brand new live audio/visual extravaganza, with the release of ‘Foxtrot at Fifty + Hackett Highlights: Live in Brighton’, set for release on September 15th, 2023.
Filmed & recorded live on his 2022 UK tour, in the coastal city of Brighton, UK, this release documents Steve and his band celebrating the 50th anniversary of the much-loved Genesis album ‘Foxtrot’. Played in full, this album features fan favorites including ‘Watcher Of The Skies’ and ‘Supper’s Ready’. The show also features a set of Hackett solo material, including The Devil’s Cathedral’ from his latest studio album ‘Surrender of Silence’, and the powerful ‘Ace of Wands’.
Today they are pleased to launch a live video for the track ‘A Tower Struck Down’, a song that originally appeared on ‘Voyage of the Acolyte’:
Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge & mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, the album is now available to pre-order on Ltd 2CD+Blu-ray & Ltd 2CD+2DVD, both including bonus behind the scenes interviews, as well as 5.1 surround sound. A Ltd Deluxe 180g 4LP edition will also be available, and you can pre-order now here.
The full track-listing is: 1. Intro / Ace of Wands 2. The Devil’s Cathedral 3. Spectral Mornings 4. Every Day 5. A Tower Struck Down 6. Basic Instincts 7. Camino Royale 8. Shadow of the Hierophant 9. Watcher of the Skies 10. Time Table 11. Get ‘Em Out by Friday 12. Can Utility and the Coastliners 13. Horizons 14. Supper’s Ready 15. Firth of Fifth 16. Los Endos
Steve Hackett & band continue their busy touring schedule with further “Foxtrot At Fifty & Hackett Highlights” dates in North America beginning in October. For the full list of dates, head to: http://hackettsongs.com/tour.html
Steve Hackett is joined live by Roger King, Rob Townsend, Nad Sylvan, Craig Blundell & Jonas Reingold, as well as on occasion special guest Amanda Lehmann.
About Steve Hackett Steve Hackett joined Genesis at the beginning of 1971 and gained an international reputation as the guitarist in the band’s classic line-up alongside Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. Hackett’s intricate guitar work was a key element of Genesis’ albums from Nursery Cryme (1971) to Wind And Wuthering (1977) including the classic Selling England By The Pound.
After leaving Genesis at the end of 1977, Hackett’s solo career, which now spans more than 30 albums, has demonstrated his extraordinary versatility with both electric and acoustic guitar. Hackett is renowned as both an immensely talented and innovative rock musician and a virtuoso classical guitarist and composer and this was recognized in 2010 when he was inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame. He has also worked alongside Steve Howe of YES in the supergroup GTR.
Hackett’s compositions take influences from many genres, including jazz, classical and blues. For his later studio works The Night Siren (2017) and At The Edge Of Light (2019) Hackett has explored the influences of world music. Recent tours have seen Hackett celebrate his time with Genesis including a spectacular 2018 tour in which he realized a long-held ambition to perform the works of Genesis live with his band and an orchestra. The lockdown enforced by the 2020 global pandemic has proven to be a particularly creative period for Hackett. He began by releasing Selling England by the Pound & Spectral Mornings: Live at Hammersmith, a live recording of 2019’s hugely successful tour celebrating that Genesis classic together with the 40th anniversary of one of his most-loved solo albums. Lockdown also gave Hackett the opportunity to write and record two new studio albums, the UK Classical Chart hit Under A Mediterranean Sky and the forthcoming Surrender of Silence.
In 2021, Steve and his band returned to touring, celebrating the classic Genesis live album ‘Seconds Out’, on what was one of his most successful tours to date.
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