Crimson Echoes

The John Hackett Band are celebrating a decade of making music together with their second album, the recently released Red Institution. The four-piece talk about their easy chemistry, songwriting inspiration and those pinch-me moments of performing material originally by King Crimson and the other Hackett.

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“We played with a lot of energy,” says drummer Duncan Parsons after the John Hackett Band’s first gig of the year. “But not always the right notes!” Parsons’ self-deprecating humour aside, after a decade of playing together, JHB are a group perfectly in synch with themselves and their music. Alongside Parsons are guitarist Nick Fletcher, bassist Jeremy Richardson, and virtuoso flautist/multi-instrumentalist John Hackett, the man who gives his name to the band. A prog veteran, John’s professional career stretches back to 1975 when he featured on his older brother and Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett’s classic debut solo album, Voyage Of The Acolyte. Since then, he’s recorded prolifically, from further collaborations with Steve, Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett alumnus Nick Magnus, as well as ambient group Symbiosis, to nine solo albums and beyond, not to mention the new-look Beatrix Players. With the John Hackett Band, he leads a quartet of talented musicians with plenty to offer.

Red Institution, the band’s latest album, is full of surprises: a grab bag of shifting themes, moods and tempos built around solid songwriting and challenging interplay. On Theme & Rondo Hackett’s fluid reed dances over a muscular backbeat before yielding to Fletcher’s dexterous guitar, which veers from fiery arpeggios to soulful explorations. Who Let The Rain In? is a slow burner with a wicked hook and a subtle 1960s psych-tinged feel, which gradually builds to a burning outro.

At the heart of each of the 12 tracks lies a deep passion and reverence for classic prog.

“I really got into it back in 1969, when my brother took me to see King Crimson at the Marquee Club in London,” says John. “I heard the original line-up, including the wonderful Ian McDonald playing on I Talk To The Wind, which is what inspired me to take up the flute.”