Steve Hackett – HuffPost 6.29.12

Mike Ragogna: What advice might you have for new artists?

Steve Hackett: My advice is always the same–to enjoy it, enjoy what you do, particularly when writing a song. If you enjoy it, other people will enjoy it. There’s no magic to it. You need to really enjoy it yourself. It’s so important to do that. You can try really hard, lacerate yourself for making mistakes because they’re perfect and you’re not. But it’s not like that. Stick at it, don’t throw in the towel and make sure you go enjoy every gig. Everyone goes on nervous. I did a gig last night, it happened to be to a sold out house. I happened to be quite lucky. I’ve always counted myself lucky. But, I go on nervous. I always tell myself, if all else fails, if the electricity goes, if the drummer falls over, if the guitars break their strings, if a bomb falls on it, it doesn’t matter. The thing is make sure you enjoy it. I’m going to enjoy it, even if I have to take off my left boot and bang it on the floor because nothing else is working. You’ve always got to have that fallback position that you’re going to enjoy that night. Loving it and enjoying it is the same thing. Don’t worry what it’s like, just enjoy it.