“It really seriously disturbed me, singing my songs about peace and love and there’s fighting in front of me. But it was very good for the album”: Steve Hillage’s career in and out of psych prog icons Gong

Steve Hillage reflects on a varied career spanning psychedelic progressive rock, electronic dance music and record production, prompted by his 2016 22-disc retrospective, *Searching For The Spark 1969–1991*. He describes his time with Gong as brief in calendar terms but intense and formative, calling the line-up behind *Angel’s Egg* and *You* the best band he has ever played in because its seven strong personalities created something greater than their individual contributions.

The interview traces Hillage’s work with Gong, Khan and later System 7, as well as his move into ambient and dance music and production work for artists including Tony Banks, It Bites and Simple Minds. He recalls that performing songs about peace and love while fighting broke out in front of him was seriously disturbing, though he says the experience ultimately fed productively into an album. Gong’s key records in this period were 1973’s *Angel’s Egg* and 1974’s *You*.