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Hackett Live

Introducing the line up for the forthcoming electric gigs...

Roger King - keyboards

Roger has been a mainstay of the good ship Steve for more than a decade now, recording, programming and co-writing in the studio, and translating studio production values to his keyboard playing in live arenas across three continents. You can find his name on 12 Hackett albums and 4 DVDs, at the last count, and still no end in sight. He's twiddled knobs and hit keys for a pretty eclectic client list - making records with Gary Moore, Snoop Doggie Dog and Jamelia amongst others; programming, recording and mixing soundtracks for blockbuster movies Cliffhanger and In The Name Of The Father; writing music for TV (of which more here) and sharing a stage with such luminaries as Evelyn Glennie and John Paul Jones. In spare moments Roger grows vegetables on his allotment. And he's only 46. It takes all sorts.

Gary O'Toole - drums, percussion and vocals

Drummer, singer, guitarist, teacher... veritable polymath, in fact - Gary has been a top professional drummer for more than thirty years. In addition to worldwide live appearances with Bucks Fizz, China Crisis, and blues maestro Stephen Dale Petit he has a studio CV as long as your arm, drumming for top producers Marius De Vries and Richard Niles, and for a staggeringly diverse range of artists from Mel C to Kylie Minogue to Chrissie Hynde. Not content to keep all this talent to himself, he's also found time to set up his own music school, teaching Steve Sidelynk (Madonna) and Coldplay's Will Champion, to name but two. Gary has been a fixture in the Steve Hackett Band since 2000, underpinning countless gigs from Stockholm to Santiago (including the DVDs Somewhere In South America and Once Above A Time). He also caressed, cajoled and battered drums on, and lent his inimitable vocal talents to, the studio albums To Watch The Storms and Wild Orchids. You can read what Gary says about himself at www.myspace.com/garyotoole. Some of it may even be true...

Rob Townsend - sax, flute and blown sundries

Despite a propensity for hitting things in a broadly rhythmic fashion, Rob Townsend started playing the sax when he got fed up with carting drums around and has never looked back. He’s played nearly everywhere with nearly everybody, but he's particularly made his mark in jazz, having worked with, amongst others, Sam Rivers, Eddie Henderson, Bill Bruford, Django Bates, Tim Garland, Laurence Cottle and James Taylor of JTQ fame as well as on film sessions for oscar winning composer Stephen Warbeck. Rob also writes and records reams of music for TV, film, computer games and other media. You can read more about these activities, and gain some insight into his peculiar sense of humour at www.voodookazoo.com. Rob joined Steve’s band in 2001 deploying his barrage of woodwind (not forgetting castanets) on 2372 gigs (actually it's probably fewer than that but we lost count after 70) as well as the Somewhere In South America and Once Above A Time DVDs. His unique talents also grace To Watch The Storms and Wild Orchids. We're not completely impartial, of course, but we rate Rob's sax solo on Serpentine Song as one of the very finest. Ever. As a hobby, Rob collects dust. When not doing some or all of the above, he lives in an iron lung near Watford surrounded by admiring wolves.

Nick Beggs - bass and related paraphernalia

Though Nick was originally schooled as an illustrator, at the age of 18 he chose an escape route through music after... yes you guessed it, dropping out of art school. He signed his first record deal with EMI in 1982 as a founder member of Kajagoogoo, co-writing and co-producing the multi million-selling hit Too Shy along with the rest of the band's three album back catalogue. By 1987 he'd moved onto his second project, Ellis Beggs & Howard (RCA records), co-writing the hit single Big Bubbles No Troubles, and three years later he joined progressive folk band Iona, recording two albums and touring extensively. Enough of a career for one man, you might think, but no: Nick has lectured on music at the The Academy Of Contemporary Music, The Guitar, Bass and Drum Tech, and The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts, enjoyed a stint as A&R manager for Polygram Records, and toured and sessioned for John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Steve Howe (Yes), Kim Wilde, Howard Jones, ABC, Midge Ure, Right Said Fred, Belinda Carlisle, Englebert Humperdink and Cliff Richard. As a noted exponent of the Chapman Stick, he has also recorded two solo albums, Stick Insect and The Maverick Helmsman, which he continues to perform live throughout Europe. Still a keen draftsman, Nick never takes to the road without a slew of sketchbooks to chronicle his travels. He also enjoys secreting himself in small places. Possibly to sketch - we just don't know... More (steel yourself) at www.nickbeggs.co.uk and www.kajagoogoo.com

Amanda Lehmann - guitar and vocals

Originally a classically trained pianist, Amanda fell in love with the power of rock and the overdriven guitar. But not being one to be constrained to any one musical genre, she has blended the boundaries throughout her musical career between folk, blues, rock and classical. An accomplished singer/songwriter, Amanda has written and recorded many pieces, and is currently working on her solo album on which she plays guitar and vocals and programs the bass, drums and synthesizer backing.

Amanda has played in several bands, fronting Amusikaido and Big Spanner, both based in southern England, but gigging throughout the UK. She has been involved in duo and solo work, session vocals and guitar, and also written music for film and TV.

After a recent break from the music scene in order to bring up her son, she has now re-entered the arena playing guitar and backing vocals with Steve Hackett, recording vocals on "Out of the Tunnel's Mouth", and subsequently joining the band on the UK 2009 tour.

www.amandalehmann.co.uk

Dik Cadbury - bass and vocals

Multi-instrumentalist Dik began his professional music career in 1971 with University Jug-Folk band Totem and went on to tour and record with Decameron from 1973, initally as bassist, vocalist and fiddle player and then as guitarist. When the band split in 1976 he opened Millstream Recording Studio in Cheltenham, installed John Acock as engineer and sought more live action. He joined Pekoe Orange in 1978 and shortly after that auditioned for Steve Hackett's new touring band. He joined John Hackett, Magnus, Hicks and Shearer in what Steve has referred to as his 'dream team', recording the much loved studio albums 'Spectral Mornings' and 'Defector'. In 1980 Dik and Decameron lyricist Dave Bell formed the jingle company Orijingles and a retro pub band The Teenage Idols to showcase their songwriting talents, and in 1983 Dik teamed up with former Manfred Mann singer Mike D'Abo to form society party band Mike D'Abo's Mighty Quintet, still performing today. Dik also joined international party band Top Catz as guitarist and MD. Following Millstream’s closure in 1989, Dik branched out into voiceover work (www.voiceatility.net), photographic modelling and acting, famously dying in an episode of the BBC's Dalziel and Pascoe. A solo album 'About Time', co-produced by John Acock, was released in 1999 (more at www.dikcadbury.com) and he continues to write with Pete Hicks and Dave Bell as well as in his own right, occasionally performing solo. He has recorded and performed with numerous artists, including The Manfreds, Steve Ashley, Marcus Foster and many others. Twenty-nine years on from 'Defector' Dik is delighted to be back in the Hackett fold.

Dik played bass with Steve in Las Palmas and Lugano 2009.