John Etheridge Interview (Soft Machine) - The Hidden Track

John Etheridge—Legendary guitarist of Soft Machine—joins the Hidden Track for one of the most candid, insightful and far-reaching conversations of his career. Over the course of an hour-plus interview, Etheridge opens up about Soft Machine's evolution, the band's artistic crises and reinventions and the strange cultural forces that shaped their music from the late 1960s through today. This is a rare deep dive into the mind of one of Britain's most original guitar voices. Chapters: 00:00 — Current Soft Machine lineup (“best band I’ve ever been in”) 03:09 — Working with Theo Travis / band chemistry 05:31 — New album discussion & recording process 13:54 — Why Soft Machine is not a nostalgia act 18:13 — The “spirit” of Soft Machine & unconscious playing 28:35 — How Ratledge & Hopper shaped the Soft Machine sound 31:51 — Meeting David Gilmour the day he joined Pink Floyd 36:17 — What the 1970s music scene was really like 40:17 — Did punk kill prog? John’s take 40:50 — How the guitar nearly died in the 1980s 48:03 — Playing with Stéphane Grappelli & authenticity in music 50:03 — Naming the new Soft Machine album (“13”) 54:00 — Closing reflections