Final Chapter in the book of Genesis?
Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks talk to Marc Lee about reuniting for the Turn It On Tour and what the future might hold for Genesis
When Genesis were finally reunited with frontman/drummer Phil Collins for last year’s Turn It On Again tour, it was hardly because anyone needed the money.
The band have sold more than 150 million records since the early Seventies, and Collins pays himself an annual salary that, in recent years, has exceeded £20 million. Nor was there any new material to promote.
Keyboard-player Tony Banks’s overriding memory of the concerts is of a happy mood of nostalgia, while guitarist Mike Rutherford fondly recalls the camaraderie: “It’s always a great vibe.”
“We toured for the right reasons,” says Collins, who had been out of the band for 15 years.
The idea of the £10 million jaunt was to present the best of Genesis’s 15-album repertoire employing the latest technology, which led to the construction of a 64-metre-wide video screen, the largest ever seen on a concert stage. And, if there had been any doubts about the enduring popularity of the ageing prog-rockers, they were soon dispelled: 1.4 million wildly enthusiastic fans – many of them born after the band’s heyday – attended the 22 European concerts, which were followed by a further 25 dates across North America. So the tour can only be judged a huge success: even the torrential rain that lashed gigs on both sides of the Atlantic failed to spoil the fun.
All of which might have led you to think that this marked the beginning of a new chapter in Genesis’s career. Well, apparently not. Speaking to Banks, Rutherford and Collins last week, it soon becomes clear that they have Turned It Off Again. The biggest obstacle to them working together in the future is Collins’s announcement last month that he has decided to retire – “Something I’d always associated with old people,” he says ruefully. “But I suppose I’m old now.” (He’s 57.)
“After the final show in Los Angeles,” says the singer, “I just wanted to tell these guys, ‘Thank you, and I love you.’ It felt like an emotional closure. I don’t think we’ll do any more.”
Collins is stepping out of the spotlight mainly for the sake of his youngest children, aged three and seven. “I do feel this tug [to play], but touring takes me away from my kids, and I have to do the right thing.”
Lolling on either side of him on a vast sofa in a private members’ club, Banks and Rutherford seem unperturbed by their bandmate’s resolve to call it a day on Genesis. They enjoyed last year’s outing, but taking their music to the world’s biggest stadiums is no longer a priority in their lives.
In fact, as our conversation progresses, the only two Genesis members to have been in every one of the band’s many line-ups start to seem like rock and roll’s most reluctant stars – Banks in particular.
Watching him on stage, it’s striking how intense his concentration is. He sits contemplating his array of keyboards, seemingly unaware of the tens or hundreds of thousands of eyes on him. He barely moves and utters not a single word throughout the show.
“It’s not a natural thing for me,” he says. “I’m not a natural performer. When I’m on stage, I’m not sure sometimes why I’m up there.”
Which reminds Collins of an occasion during last year’s tour when he produced a camera in the middle of one show and – riskily – took a picture of Banks. “I hadn’t warned him, and I didn’t know how he was going to react. He could have been absolutely livid.” Happily, Banks flashed a rare smile.
Rutherford, who also leaves the onstage chat to the ebullient Collins, says: “I’m more comfortable on stage than Tony, but I’m not a natural performer either. For the first 10 years of the band, I sat on a stool half the time. I don’t live to be on stage.”
So, if touring is now behind them, what does the future hold? All three say they want to continue writing,
but each also has a particular passion outside music – all of them very un-rock-and-roll.
“I’m a keen gardener,” says Banks. “If it’s a sunny day, I’m out there.” And we’re not talking about a handkerchief-sized suburban garden here – he’s got eight acres to look after. “It could take up all your time or more.”
Rutherford, once a proficient polo player, says: “We have a big equestrian centre at home. I’m also a keen golfer.”
As for Collins, apart from the parenting duties, he has become fanatical about the extensive model railway he has set up in the basement of his home in Switzerland. He’s down there every day, he says, and can’t wait
to get back to it.
It all sounds as if quiet lives lie ahead, then. And yet, and yet…
There has been much talk recently about the band going on the road to perform The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, their landmark concept album of 1974. It was the last Genesis record to feature original vocalist Peter Gabriel, who left shortly afterwards to pursue a hugely successful solo career.
Talking to my colleague Neil McCormick at about the same time as I met Banks, Rutherford and Collins, Gabriel said he hadn’t ruled out rejoining the band. When pressed – and despite Collins’s apparent determination to quit performing – the current band members agree that The Lamb remains “on the back burner”.
“It’s still out there as an idea,” says Rutherford. “Visually, you could do so much with it.”
Not that there wouldn’t be problems to overcome. The band’s music has changed enormously since their original singer’s departure: Collins muses on whether Gabriel would want to sing on the later, poppier songs, such as I Can’t Dance.
Banks is also concerned about what the dynamics would be like in a re-formed Genesis. “Peter has got used to being the boss,” he says. “And, if he came back, it wouldn’t be like that. It would be back to the old days of fighting and compromising.”
Nothing is certain, then. But perhaps we have yet to reach the final chapter in the book of Genesis.
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May 30, 2008 3:17 am
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By Britne, June 26, 2008 @ 11:20 am
Genesis was the first concert I ever went to back in 1983 or 1984. It was amazing ! When people ask me who my favorite band is, my answer is always Genesis. I missed the tour last year and now after reading this, I realize that I probably won’t ever get to see them again. This deeply saddens me but I understand. It would be hard to have young children and tour at the same time. They grow up so fast and you don’t want to miss anything, especially if you don’t need the money. I love Phil Collins and Genesis. Their music brings back memories of a very special time in my life that I will cherish always.
By houselookmej, September 8, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
you we deliver no no day tom tom
By vince, September 20, 2008 @ 2:05 am
dont do it phil, dont retire yet. the kids will be fine! simon and jolie turned out fine. lilly is doing wonderfully! please dont use the kids as an excuse to stop playing.anyone who has seen you preform knows that playing music to the fans, the true fans who have followed you and genesis through the years is indeed your true passion!! dont give up on us, we wont give up on you.