Jan Akkerman Says He Won't Rejoin Focus a Fourth Time

Former Focus guitarist Jan Akkerman says he still loves the music he made with the Dutch prog veterans, but has learned to resist the temptation to return. Akkerman co-founded Focus with Thijs van Leer in 1969, and tensions led to his departure seven years later. He returned to Focus in 1985 and again in 1990, and as he tells Guitar World, he won't sign up for a fourth time.

In 2024 Thijs van Leer told Prog he was not in regular contact with Akkerman. Asked about another reunion with van Leer, Akkerman says the idea is very tempting but he thinks getting involved again would be crazy.

Akkerman says he listened to John Coltrane and Django Reinhardt as musical inspirations behind Focus II, also known as Moving Waves, released in 1971. Akkerman says that while writing Hocus Pocus he was listening to a lot of The Beatles' White Album.