Steve Hackett sat down with Classic Rock for a new interview and talked about his former band Genesis.
When Hackett was asked if any other Genesis members gave him feedback on his themed tours, he mentioned being the only one left to keep the band’s legacy alive.
“Funnily enough, it came from possibly the least likely source. Tony Banks [keyboards] has said a couple of times that I am the guy who is keeping the legacy alive,” he said. “I like to think what I’ve done [with the themed tours] is create a template that allows artists the possibility of revisiting their older material but also to keep things fresh. Dave Mason [ex-Traffic] has also done it. Any member of any band has the right to reopen the history book again and say: ‘This is what I’m doing. Here’s the old stuff and the new.’ The best of both worlds.”
In the 2021 Genesis biography, Hackett talked about why he left the band from the band back in ’77. Apparently, it all started with a serious chat he had with keyboardist Tony Banks. According to Hackett, he felt he wasn’t getting the recognition he deserved for his songwriting, even though he was ‘contributing’ a bunch of material for the band back then. “I had already managed to get a hit album on my own, so I needed to be respected as a writer, and I don’t think I was getting that from Mike and Tony,” the guitarist explained.
The rocker doesn’t regret leaving the band, as he said in an interview, “Genesis was becoming a little bit too much of a closed shop and it was affecting my ability to sleep. I agonised over leaving the band for a good two years and then I thought, ‘No, I’ve got to make a leap of faith at this point in time.’ And there’s no doubt that I made the right decision.”
Hackett may not regret leaving the band, but he made it clear that he would consider rejoining if asked. He mentioned feeling disappointed with past efforts to bring the whole band back together, but he’s open to the idea if it comes up again.