Steve Hackett has opened the door to the possibility of a Genesis reunion – or at least it is one to file under “never say never.”
Speaking to the Word in Your Ear podcast and YouTube show, Hackett was an open book, discussing his early days with the trailblazing British prog institution, living off 15 bucks a week, and the formative influences that shaped his style and musical education.
He talked intensively about his almost seven-year-long stint in Genesis, during which time he recorded some of their definitive albums – Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound et cetera – and made himself a poster boy for prog guitar.
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And so the conversation just gravitated towards one obvious question: with all of the original members still alive, might Genesis reform one day?
“Well, I’ve always said that if they wanted me to reform, I would do it,” says Hackett. “I would even play harmonica, or do a walk on, but what is a reformation?”
Presumably, that would be all of the circa ’70 to ’75 lineup, together onstage, playing a show. But there are considerable barriers to this. Peter Gabriel has shown little interest in previous reunion tours. Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford might already consider the project done after The Last Domino? tour in 2021. When that tour was put together, Phil Collins was quoted as saying it was the “easy option” to just go out with Banks and Rutherford.
The are more serious reasons why the classic era lineup might not play together. Phil Collins has had long-standing health problems. When he, Rutherford, and Banks took to the stage for The Last Domino? shows, his son, Nicholas, was sitting in for him on drums. Collins senior performed seated, and told the BBC that he struggled to even hold a drumstick. He first encountered these issues during the band’s 40th Anniversary reunion Tour.
“Something happened on the Genesis reunion tour. At the end of each show I had a drumming duel with Chester Thompson, and one night something happened. It just went,” he said, speaking at a press conference in 2016. “I tried everything – bigger drumsticks and so on, but it just never came back. It’s a mystery what happened, I just couldn’t get it back. But I’m 65 and have played drums since I was five. I’d like to have the choice about being able to play, but I’m not going to cry myself to sleep about it.”
On March 26, 2022, during the final night of the The Last Domino? Tour, at London’s O2 Arena, Collins told the audience that that was it.
Hackett tells the Word in Your Ear host that musicians all have a different perspective of the past, and even when they do revisit old material there is an instinct to move it forward and develop the songs.
“I’ve rerecorded some of this stuff, and I’ve sometimes dealt with orchestras, so there’s some sort of sense of development there,” he says. “I’m gonna be doing that in Quebec, but it means that I get a chance to choose what I think is the best of it, and I like to think that it’s agenda free. Of course, there will be a few guitar parts that get heard that maybe were a little submerged back in the day, but that’s my prerogative.”
Not all bands can agree on what the so-called classic period is. Hackett alludes to the ‘70s being a more artistically satisfying period for musicians like them. Gabriel left in ’75. Hackett followed him in ’77. The hits that came for Genesis in the ‘80s might change what the band would consider to be the classic period.
“It wasn’t carte blanche to go out and do what you liked. I think the tail was wagging the dog rather more, and I suspect for today – for anyone who is signed to a major record company – it is the same. The Americans will be saying, ‘I don’t hear a single.’”
