GTR (band) GTR (band) GTR were a British rock band founded in 1985 by former Yes and Asia guitarist Steve Howe and former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. Though the band's leaders were known as progressive rock musicians, GTR appealed to album-oriented rock radio stations. The band lasted for two years and one album. Hackett subsequently criticized the project, though not necessarily the other musicians involved in it. The band's name came from an abbreviation of "guitar" used by recording studios for labelling guitar tracks. After Steve Howe left Asia in 1985, he and former Yes manager Brian Lane discussed forming a new
GTR (band) group. Howe expressed interest in working with Hackett, whom Lane then approached. The former Genesis guitarist proved amenable, despite some doubts as to the project setup: his last few solo albums (including the atypical all-classical-guitar project "Bay of Kings") had sold disappointingly. Still, he hoped GTR would sustain his prominence as a guitarist and finance future solo work. Once the two guitarists were in place, the group recruited American drummer Jonathan Mover (ex-Marillion, and later to work with Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Alice Cooper), bass guitarist Phil Spalding (ex-Bernie Tormé, Toyah, Mike Oldfield and Original Mirrors) and singer Max