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Q & A
Steve Hackett: “Being in Genesis was like joining the upper ranks of the diplomatic corps…”
WHAT are your memories of developingThe Lamb…at Headley Grange? We were all enthralled by the drum sound that John Bonham got there, at the bottom of the stairwell, so we were keen to take it over for a few months after Led Zep left. The rumours were that the place was haunted, and I can see why, because the noises at night were unbelievable. I can only assume it was rats, scurrying around inside the air ducts, which made it very difficult to get any sleep. It was also falling to pieces. On my last day there, I used a toilet on the top floor, washed my hands, and as I left the room, the floor collapsed. I was inches from falling to my death! We then moved to another derelict building in rural Wales, using a mobile studio, a huge truck that had been used by The Rolling Stones. We thought that a residential studio would be good for us, but it would have been a lot easier if we’d just done it in London. We were all in relationships. Phil had a stepchild, I was going through a divorce, and Peter had just had a daughter, who had a troubled birth and spent several weeks in an incubator. I think none of us really understood what a terrible ordeal that must have been at the time.