MY PROG HERO
Inspiring the wider music world…
Forever associated with new wave, ex-Simple Minds bassist Derek Forbes reveals the influence of ELP, Steve Hillage and Genesis on their music.
“I first became aware of Emerson, Lake & Palmer at school when I was about 15 or 16. I went to see ELP play in Glasgow and watched your man Keith Emerson pull his Hammond organ all over himself and sticking knives into the keyboards and whatever. The thing is, we had this music teacher at school and she would belt us if we didn’t know all the musical signs and notes. She used to play Mussorgsky and Purcell and Britten and that all saturated into me at that time. So I really love ELP’s version of Pictures At An Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky, especially The Hut Of Baba Yaga. And being familiar with that music, it was really interesting to see it being performed that way on Hammond organs and stuff.
That really floated my boat and it was great to hear some stuff that was different because before then, I was into Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but this was so different. Greg Lake had an effect on my later playing. I first picked up a guitar around that time and I was like a sponge soaking everything up.
Working with Steve Hillage was amazing because he was a musician and a writer, too. But he
