{"id":1025,"date":"2024-03-08T09:19:06","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T09:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2024-04-02T16:09:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T15:09:08","slug":"hacktrax-news-march-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/03\/08\/hacktrax-news-march-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Hacktrax News – March 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Velvet Afternoon 20th Anniversary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I remember when I was on tour in the U.S. with my brother in the early 80\u2019s, a guy came up to me after a gig. \u201cSo you\u2019re John Hackett?\u201d he said. I nodded. \u201cWow, I was expecting this ooold <\/em>man, not someone young like you!\u201d I think it was a compliment \u2013 I guess he\u2019d assumed a controlled flute vibrato would only come after a lifetime\u2019s practice. Now I am that old man, though like Clint Eastwood, I try not to let him in too often. But I\u2019m still practising and trying to improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Some 10 years later, after the birth of our son (and with house prices being what they were even then!) my wife and I made the decision to leave London for Aylesbury. I\u2019d often gone there as a teenager either by train or cadging a lift off of one of the guys in Genesis. Friar\u2019s was a regular gig for bands like Genesis, Van de Graaf Generator and many others. I guess that\u2019s why Aylesbury held a natural attraction for me.
We stayed there for 10 years, raising 3 children. It was during this time I suffered my neck injury and with time on my hands began to write my first solo album \u2018 Velvet Afternoon\u2019.
I got inspiration by wandering up and down the canal, singing melodies into a micro cassette dictating machine (no Dictaphone jokes, please). I\u2019d then go home to my studio (okay, it was a shed at the bottom of the garden) and start to harmonise the tunes that had somehow appeared on those long walks and spin them out into complete pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Later Sally Goodworth the pianist would take my skeletal melodies with chords and improvise beautiful, flowing piano accompaniments. Even later still my \u2018Symbiosis\u2019 partner in crime Clive Williamson helped us finally turn these little tunes into a fully-fledged album, and here we are 20 years later.
It\u2019s just flute and piano, very simple but somehow it\u2019s one of the recordings I\u2019m most proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then I\u2019ve recorded a number of acoustic, classically influenced albums including Moonspinner which has the original version of Red Hair \u2013 now transformed into a prog rock jam by the John Hackett Band.
If you want to listen to the origins of my solo career you can stream Velvet Afternoon on Spotify here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday 20th April I shall be back in Aylesbury with the John  Hackett Band at the Queens Park Arts Centre where my wife often used to while away a few pleasant hours doing pottery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, all thanks to Tony Brierly for inviting us to play at Band on the Wall in Manchester back in February. It was a first for me to play at this lovely venue, somewhat improved now from the original\u00a0 version where the band were\u00a0 squeezed onto a tiny balcony on the wall, allowing more space for dancing. Congratulations to Tony for organising the evening and our best wishes in his endeavour to raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Upcoming Gigs <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s been a lot in the press recently about smaller venues struggling during the current cost of living crisis \u2013 please do book tickets in advance if you can, as it really helps these important venues continue putting on shows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fri 15th March \u2013 Forum, Darlington \u2013 with special guest Heather Findlay
Tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday 16 March \u2013 Beatrix Players<\/strong> – Barlaston Village Hall, Stoke on Trent \u2013 with Amanda Lehman
Tickets<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fri 5th April \u2013 Crookes, Sheffield \u2013 with Del Scott Miller
Tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sat 6th April \u2013 The Village Pump, Trowbridge \u2013 with Howard Sinclair
Tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday 12 April \u2013 Beatrix Players<\/strong> – The Winter\u2019s End Progressive Rock Festival –
Tickets<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fri 19th April \u2013 Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax \u2013 with Joanne Harris & the Storytime Band
Tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sat 20th April \u2013 Queens Park Arts Centre, Aylesbury
Tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sat 25th May \u2013 45 Live, Kidderminster + Emerald Dawn
Tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sat 1 June \u2013 Soundle Music Festival
Tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sun 2 June \u2013 Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre \u2013 with Amanda Lehmann
Tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sat 15th June \u2013 East Molesey Methodist Church, London <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sun 16 June \u2013 The 1865, Southampton \u2013 with special guest Heather Findlay
Tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

12 th April \u2013 Winters End Beatrix Players 19 th April \u2013 Halifax JHB 20 th April \u2013 Aylesbury JHB 25 th May \u2013 Kidderminster JHB 1 st June \u2013 Soundle JHB 2 nd June \u2013 Barnoldswick JHB 15 th June \u2013 East Molesey JHB 16 th June \u2013 1865 Southampton JHB<\/canvas><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Velvet Afternoon 20th Anniversary I remember when I was on tour in the U.S. with my brother in the early 80\u2019s, a guy came up to me after a gig. \u201cSo you\u2019re John Hackett?\u201d he said. I nodded. \u201cWow, I … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1041,"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions\/1041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hacktrax.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}