We were planning an exchange for Yuji’s recording work and were thinking of doing some remixes for Rovo, but they said they had an idea to do a collaborative live tour with System 7, which we did in 2012. As our connection grew we had Yuji Katsui, Rovo’s main man, guest on electric violin on the Gong 2032 album and then on the System 7 album UP. A few years later, when we made our animation video in Japan for the System 7 track Hinotori, one of the video team was a lady who was also Rovo’s VJ for live shows. We were very impressed both with the music and their visuals. Steve Hillage (System 7): “We play a lot in Japan and we first saw Rovo play at a festival in 2002. Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): How did the hook up with ROVO come about? How does it work in practical terms with you living so far apart?
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“One of the beauties of the project with Rovo is that it allows me to really stretch out on guitar while at the same bridging with my work as a techno producer – I haven’t played so many long solos on a live show for a very long time.” “In general I don’t practice guitar every day, but I have been playing quite a lot more in the last few years,” says Steve. In March, he’s back on the road again, though this time with Japanese progressive space rockers Rovo, performing tracks from their recent collaborative album Phoenix Rising Live!, so how much does he still practise his chords? Though best known in recent years for the festival friendly ambient-tech electronica of System 7, he remains rightly revered for being one of rock’s great guitarists, playing on the likes of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and even popping up playing with hooligan punk warriors Sham 69 at Reading Festival in 1977.
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40 years after he joined seminal ambient/ rock pioneers Gong, Steve Hillage remains at the cutting edge of alternative, experimental music, both through his System 7 band (with long term partner Miquette Giraudy) and frequent solo or collaborative projects with like-minded musicians from all over the world.