Steve Hackett remembers batwings, blues clubs and Genesis on £15 a week

Steve Hackett remembers batwings, blues clubs and Genesis on £15 a week

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold July 22, 2026 Duration: 38:00

Steve Hackett’s seven years in Genesis get re-explored when he tours in October, along with ‘solo gems’ from the records he’s made since, the latest ‘the Roaring Waves’, a collaboration with old pal Steve Rothery. He looks back here at defining moments in the Genesis story such as the stage props, the early American tours and Phil Collins when he met him having just auditioned for Zeffirelli and being “all fur coats and girlfriends”. Along with …

 

… when bands stood on fishboxes if there wasn’t a stage

 

… playing harmonica through his nose and “open wounds” from American guitars

 

.. Cream, John Mayall and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band on Eel Pie Island

 

 ... what Lennon said about Genesis “in the days before we could tweet it, sadly”

 

… Apache, Man Of Mystery and the guitarists Hank Marvin inspired

 

… how Phil Collins got to be the band’s singer and the days when Phil and Peter Gabriel did Alan Whicker impressions onstage

 

... Guy Garvey at the Prog Proms

 

… the last time the five of them were together and the chance of a reunion

 

… and the new album with Steve Rothery, inspired by Whitby and the legend of Dracula.

 

Order copies of ‘The Roaring Wave’ here: https://stevehackettsteverothery.lnk.to/TheRoaringWaves-Album

 

Order Steve Hackett tickets here: https://myticket.co.uk/artists/steve-hackett   and https://www.hackettsongs.com/tours

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Word In Your Ear
Podcast Episodes
Georgie Fame, Ben Sidran and the golden age of ‘60s Soho [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:16
Ben Sidran was in a teenage band with Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs, a session pianist with the Stones in 1969 and carved a brilliant career as a jazz musician, producer, author and broadcaster. He’s just written ‘Cool Cat…
Mari Wilson, our favourite girl about town, takes Neasden to Chelsea [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:53
Mari Wilson has drunk deep of all that London nightlife has to offer, from a London Transport social club in Wembley to a posh venue in Chelsea via the Cooks Ferry Inn in Edmonton, and she remembers it well. Here she mar…
All music is dance music! – and the best stage name ever [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:52
Another over-heated week put through the conversational air-conditioner, which involves … … the man who got rich writing words that could never be sung … Anna Bullock? Stefani Germanotta? People who’d never have made it…
Kevin Rowland, the new Dexys and what he's learnt from life [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:42
We first saw Kevin in ‘77 wearing jodhpurs onstage with his art-punk band the Killjoys! He’s formed a new version of Dexys, made an album, starts a tour in October, and looks back here at central moments in his life, som…