Ex-Genesis Guitarist Steve Hackett Releases The Night Siren + 2017 Tour Dates, LISTEN!
Guitar virtuoso and rock legend, Steve Hackett (formerly of Genesis), released his latest album The Night Siren on 24th March 2017 via InsideOut Music (Sony). As implied in the title, The Night Siren is a wake-up call – the warning of a siren sounding in this era of strife and division.
The Night Siren showcases Steve’s incredible guitar playing as strongly as ever, along with regular Hackett collaborators and also musicians from several different countries who Steve invited to join him in celebrating multicultural diversity and unity. This includes singers from Israel and Palestine, who both actively campaign to bring Jewish and Arabic people together. There are also instrumentals from the USA and Iraq and a multiplicity of sounds, including the exotic strains of Indian sitar and Middle Eastern tar and oud, the ethnic beauty of the Peruvian charango and the haunting Celtic Uilleann pipes.
Steve is widely travelled, making friends everywhere he goes and has always embraced multicultural diversity. In these times of unrest, he has been inspired to express his belief that the world needs more empathy and unity. His wish to involve a range of musical sounds, instruments, musicians and singers from different parts of the world is both a development of his eclectic approach to music and shows how people can be brought together, even from war torn regions.
Talking about his latest work, Steve says, “This latest waxing represents a bird’s eye view of the world of a musical migrant ignoring borders and celebrating our common ancestry with a unity of spirit, featuring musicians, singers and instruments from all over the world. From territorial frontiers to walled-up gateways, boundaries often hold back the tide. But while the night siren wails, music breaches all defences. To quote Plato, ‘When the music changes, the walls of the city shake’.”
The musical journey takes us from ‘Behind the Smoke’, focusing on the plight of refugees throughout the ages, to the penultimate track ‘West to East’ which reflects on the damage of war and the hope for a better world. From personal to universal, the themes celebrate the life force, breaking free from chains of repression.
The album features: Steve Hackett (guitar & vocals), Roger King (keyboards & programming), Nad Sylvan (vocals on Inca Terra), Rob Townsend (all things wind), John Hackett (flute), Amanda Lehmann (vocals), Gary O’Toole (drums), and Benedict Fenner (additional keyboards & programming). Also featured are singers Kobi and Mira (Israeli and Palestinian), Nick D’Virgilio (drums) from the USA, Malik Mansurov (Tar) from Azerbaijan & Gulli Breim (drums & percussion) from Iceland. Additional musicians who add to the rich flavour of the album are Christine Townsend (violin & viola), Dick Driver (double bass), Troy Donockley (Celtic Uilleann) and Leslie Bennett (keyboards on The Gift).
Tracklisting
1. Behind the Smoke
2. Martian Sea
3. Fifty Miles from the North Pole
4. El Niño
5. Other Side of the Wall
6. Anything but Love
7. Inca Terra
8. In Another Life
9. In the Skeleton Gallery
10. West to East
11. The Gift
The Night Siren will be released through Inside Out Music on 24th March in the following formats:
Special Edition CD/Blu-Ray Mediabook featuring 5.1 surround sound mix & making of documentary
Standard Jewel case CD
Gatefold black 2LP vinyl + CD
Digital Download
Steve Hackett is returning with an exciting new show Genesis Revisited with Classic Hackett for a 15 date UK tour in April 2017. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the classic Genesis album Wind and Wuthering, Steve and his band will be performing several tracks from the album as well as fan favourites such as ‘The Musical Box’ and other Genesis and solo numbers never performed before by Steve’s band including ‘Inside & Out,’ ‘One For The Vine’ and ‘Anyway’ as well as material from The Night Siren.
Genesis Revisited with Classic Hackett 2017 Tour Dates
24th March – Kursaal, Sala de Camara, San Sebastian, Spain
26th March – Trianon, Paris, France
27th March – Kulturfabrik Kofmehl, Solothurm, Switzerland
29th March – Teatro Colosseo, Torino, Italy
30th March – Teatro Galleria, Legnano, Italy
31st March – Teatro Astro, Schia, Italy
1st April – Teatro della Conciliazione, Rome, Italy
3rd April – Posthalle, Wurzburg, Germany
4th April – Capitol, Offenbach, Germany
5th April – Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark
7th April – Union Scene, Drammen, Norway
8th April – Nalen, Stockholm, Sweden
10th April – Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany
11th April – Laeiszhalle, Hamburg, Germany
12th April – Ruhr Congress, Bochum, Germany
13th April – Haus Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
15th April – Cultuurpodium Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
16th April – Cultuurpodium Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
26th April – Vicar Street, Dublin, Ireland
28th April – St David’s Hall, Cardiff, UK
30th April – Hexagon, Reading, UK
1st May – Symphony Hall, Birmingham, UK
3rd May – City Hall, Sheffield, UK
4th May – Colston Hall, Bristol, UK
5th May – Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK
7th May – Philharmonic, Liverpool, UK
8th May – Guildhall, Portsmouth, UK
10th May – Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, UK
11th May – Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, UK
13th May – New Theatre, Oxford, UK
14th May – Corn Exchange, Cambridge, UK
16th May – Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, UK
17th May – Sage, Gateshead, UK
19th May – Palladium, London, UK
Steve Hackett is renowned as an immensely talented and innovative rock musician. He was lead guitarist with Genesis as part of their classic line up with Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, who produced several of the band’s most acclaimed albums including Selling England by the Pound (a favorite of John Lennon) and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. With Steve’s extraordinary versatility in both his electric guitar playing and his composing, he involves influences from many genres, including Jazz, World Music and Blues. He is equally adept in his classical albums that include renditions of pieces by composers from Bach to Satie, his own acoustic guitar compositions that have gained the admiration of many, including Yehudi Menuhin, and ambitious guitar/orchestra albums such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic.
