Tony Banks names the musician who is “keeping Genesis alive”
A band’s legacy is ultimately out of their control. Despite their efforts to create music with lasting impact, it’s uncertain whether their work will be revered for pushing boundaries or dismissed as typical of their era. While Tony Banks isn’t overly concerned about the legacy of Genesis, he believes that fans can find solace in experiencing Steve Hackett’s solo endeavours, seeing it as the next best thing.
Before the band became progressive rock titans, though, Banks had been at the centre of the band’s baroque pop roots. Forming the band alongside singer Peter Gabriel, Banks was the one responsible for them spreading their wings into unchartered territory, making songs that were far longer than the average single on their album Trespass.
For the next few years, the band would continue working on different lineups of the band, each bringing their own secret ingredient to the sound. While the most high-profile change came with a certain drummer named Phil Collins sitting behind the drumkit for the band’s album Nursery Cryme, the arrival of Hackett behind the fretboard gave them a whole new dimension of sound.
Since Mike Rutherford was known primarily as the bass player, Hackett taking over for Anthony Phillips meant bringing a lot more chops to the table. Outside of being one of the most technically gifted guitarists of his generation, Hackett would also break ground with the way he played, employing tapping on the fretboard years before Van Halen came around.
Once Gabriel left after the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Hackett would start eyeing up his chances to go solo in the future. Even though the band would be on firm ground throughout the late 1970s with Collins at the front, Hackett thought that there was more to be found elsewhere, eventually opting out for a solo career.
Compared to the pop-focused direction the band went next on songs like ‘Follow You Follow Me’, Hackett’s music fell more in line with those preferring the classic Genesis sound. With a lot of time signature changes and beautiful chord structures that sounded like he was trying to make a symphony out of just his guitar.
Even though Banks was busy making pop records with Genesis and would eventually move into making classical music, he thought that the core piece of Genesis’s glory days was still rooted in Hackett’s music. For all the millions of fans who got on board the minute that Invisible Touch got big or even when Patrick Bateman introduced them to the band, Hackett remembered Banks talking to him about carrying on what Genesis started.
When visiting his old bandmates, Hackett remembered Banks saying that he was keeping in the spirit of their prog roots, saying, “The only one who’s really commented is Tony Banks. I was there at the launch of Mike Rutherford’s autobiography, and he said to me, ‘You’re keeping the legacy of the band alive.’ And I thought, ‘Oh well, okay, yes indeed.’ And of course, I’m celebrating so much of his early work”.
Hackett has also found ways of celebrating what he did with them, incorporating various Genesis tunes amid his solo work live. For all of the new music that Hackett continues to record to this day, there are always going to be traces of his old band seeping through the cracks, whether he likes it or not.
