{"id":732,"date":"2026-09-02T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/when-youre-friends-first-and-the-music-comes-later-you-know-its-non-competitive-steve-hackett-and-steve-rothery-aimed-to-prove-two-guitarists-can-share-a-studio-w\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:00:00","slug":"when-youre-friends-first-and-the-music-comes-later-you-know-its-non-competitive-steve-hackett-and-steve-rothery-aimed-to-prove-two-guitarists-can-share-a-studio-w","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/when-youre-friends-first-and-the-music-comes-later-you-know-its-non-competitive-steve-hackett-and-steve-rothery-aimed-to-prove-two-guitarists-can-share-a-studio-w\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen you\u2019re friends first and the music comes later, you know it\u2019s non-competitive\u201d: Steve Hackett and Steve Rothery aimed to prove two guitarists can share a studio without dissolving into a duel of overplaying egos. Did they do it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThere was a point when we were making this album when he said the music felt like an extension of our friendship,\u201d Steve Rothery<\/a> says, turning to his counterpart, Steve Hackett<\/a>, with a warm smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re friends first and the music comes later, you know it\u2019s non-competitive, and something else starts to happen,\u201d says Hackett with a matching grin.<\/p>\n

The long-standing friends have are discussing their first full-length collaborative album, The Roaring Waves<\/em><\/a>, which is billed as a cinematic exploration of all things oceanic. Eight years in the making, it showcases the two virtuosos in a dramatic new light.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a technical album,\u201d says Marillion<\/a>\u2019s Rothery. \u201cFor me, music has always been about melody, emotion and atmosphere, and I think that\u2019s what we both encapsulate in our playing. You\u2019re going to move people a lot more with several notes over a beautiful chord sequence played with emotion than you are by sweep-picking across the neck for five minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ex Genesis<\/a> guitarist Hackett says the album goes against the argument that \u201cyou put a couple of guitarists together and they try and outplay each other,\u201d adding that it\u2019s \u201cdeliberately non-virtuosic, and certainly not the kind of album guitarists normally make together.\u201d <\/p>\n

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A score to a non-existent movie, The Roaring Waves<\/em> finds them creating musical musings on everything from Rothery\u2019s childhood by the sea in Whitby to the final voyage of a lost Soviet submarine.<\/p>\n

It opens with The Storm<\/em>, where after some gales and rainfall effects, Hackett plays a sorrowful lead call-out as a military-style rhythm develops. Then both guitarists drive into a heavier riff before more freeform fret-bothering, each reacting subtly and sensitively to the other\u2019s choices of direction. <\/p>\n

The residual benefits of Rothery working with Thorsten Quaeschning<\/a> of Tangerine Dream<\/a> on their Bioscope<\/a> project might be evident in places, where restraint overrules rocking out. Sandsend<\/em>, named after an area near Whitby, bathes in a kind of subdued serenity, honouring its melody without overselling it. <\/p>\n

Red Dragon<\/em> throws the listener off with faux bagpipes before digging into a chunky, meaty motif. Then it\u2019s back to the ocean for the seven-minute title number. There\u2019s a tantalising taste of flamenco, then stabs of tension introduce warm, unapologetic guitar wizardry. The construction here is perhaps the closest this album comes to Hackett-era Genesis.<\/p>\n

K-129<\/em> was inspired by a Soviet submarine which went missing in the late 1960s, with some claiming the captain took it on a suicide mission to the seabed rather than start a war. It\u2019s faintly too perky to evoke the claustrophobia it\u2019s shooting for, but the insistent whispery sidebars of electronica give it gravitas, and there\u2019s sincere urgency over the closing stretch. Next, The Black Sea<\/em> glides in gracefully \u2013 and here\u2019s where Rothery really gets his Andy Latimer<\/a> on. The tender melancholia could sit comfortably within a Camel<\/a> opus such as Moonmadness<\/em><\/a> or The Snow Goose<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Steve<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Anne-Marie Forker)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe original ideas defined the concept,\u201d Rothery says of the fruits that bloomed from their initial jam sessions at Marillion\u2019s studio, Racket Records. \u201cWe asked, \u2018What picture does this paint?\u2019 and from that moment, the songs and concept evolved together; they guided the mood and atmospheres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though their ever-packed schedules have made writing sessions sporadic, they\u2019ve revelled in a distinct lack of pressure to get it done. \u201cIt\u2019s a case of letting the music grow organically,\u201d Rothery says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create music that people would love to listen to on headphones last thing at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What defines this album more than most guitar pairings is that it\u2019s responsive. There\u2019s question and answer \u2013 it\u2019s antiphonal<\/p>\n

Steve Hackett<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

That\u2019s why the tracks defy conventional song structures to flow like the waters that inspired them; sections barely repeat as their current pulls listeners along to what Rothery calls \u201ca fascinating dialogue between our instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hackett adds: \u201cI think that what defines this album much more than most guitar pairings is that it\u2019s responsive. There\u2019s question and answer \u2013 it\u2019s antiphonal. We\u2019ve been able to take things onto a whole different level.\u201d<\/p>\n

An inspiration-seeking trip to Rothery\u2019s old stomping grounds on the North Yorkshire coast provided a powerful full-circle moment for him. \u201cIf you\u2019d have told the 15-year-old me, who was just discovering Genesis and starting to learn to play guitar, that one day this legendary guitarist would be a great friend of mine, and that we\u2019d be walking around these same streets, 40 years later, I\u2019d have fallen over,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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After all the ghosts at sea, the album finale is a blindside blast of light relief, tacked incongruously onto the end because they liked it so much. Pacific Coast Highway<\/em> is one for cruising across the States in a beloved car: in parts it sounds like they\u2019re auditioning for a new Top Gear<\/em> theme tune. Hackett kicks it off with some busy harmonica, thoroughly enjoying himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the one that\u2019ll give the biggest shock to prog audiences,\u201d Rothery notes of the piece, which also includes both Steves\u2019 wifes \u2013 both named Jo \u2013 providing a splash of vocals.<\/p>\n

Hackett and Rothery express a desire to write more music, and even tour together. There\u2019s just the small matter of trying to find some free space in their perennially ink-black diaries. As Rothery jokes, \u201cIt might take another 10 years!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Roaring Waves<\/strong><\/em><\/a> <\/strong><\/em>is on sale now.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere was a point when we were making this album when he said the music felt like an extension of our friendship,\u201d Steve Rothery says, turning to his counterpart, Steve Hackett, with a warm smile. \u201cWhen you\u2019re friends first and the music comes later, you know it\u2019s non-competitive, and something else starts to happen,\u201d says […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}