Sometime ago I had the pleasure to interview Steve Hackett before one of his concerts in Santiago, Chile. I managed to ask him three questions before we were told we were running out of time (the show was delayed about 20 minutes, unfortunately). This is part of it, focused on why did Steve used tarot cards for his first album. You can find the full interview here;
What brought you to use those cards, and what story are you trying to share by using them?
Well, I was writing music at the same time as I was looking at the cards, and I think that it gave the album a focus, sometimes for instrumental themes, but very often for vocal themes. I was probably writing in a style that might be different to what I would do today, but I liked exploring the possibilities of something that was both symbolic and oracular, the idea of prediction, and I found them quite magic. I was fascinated with them, the little stories that went with them, like a tower struck down, and I was looking at various packs, and various types of interpretations of the same thing, and so I got an overall picture because of different packs that had been designed at different times. I don't spend much time doing tarot these days, although somebody who's married to a cousin of Jo, he says that when he does tarot, he does get predictions of the future, but they genuinely speak to him, something magical happens, and it's an extraordinary idea that he would get clarity from this.
It definitely feels like the album itself is saying something. At least to me, I really love the way you portrayed the cards' musical speaking, because if I listen to "Star of Sirius", I definitely think of the card itself. It definitely conveys a lot of that energy, I would say.
That song was written late, I'd actually done the album, and some people said, I think you need one more song, so I took a week off, wrote the song, and then went straight back into the studio, and Phil said he would sing it, and he did a very quick three-part harmony on it. But you can tell it's his voice. I enjoyed very much working with Phil and with Mike doing that, and Sally Oldfield, and my brother in particular, and John Acock, a lot of the people. John Acock is no longer alive, which is very sad, and Robin Miller, who played Oboe and Cor Anglais, they were all great to work with, but he's no longer alive now. And another guy played bass, Johnny Gustafson, who was on one of the tracks, "Star of Sirius". He's no longer alive, but everyone was young and vital, and they're all in spirit now, so I believe that there is a world of spirit and that people do carry on, so it's probably about as cosmic as I am today with this. I believe that the subtext also of music is to heal people. It's medicine, and it re-energizes people. It's also a kind of ambassadorial role. I'm not invading anyone with anything out of harmony.
Special thanks to @dontget2close for helping me out with Steve Photos!
I'll be posting more from the interview soon!
