PART 1: The Genesis Story

PART 2: Interesting Information..

PART 1: The Genesis Story

Tony Banks met Peter Gabriel; Mike Rutherford met Anthony Phillips. Out of these teenage friendships and song writing partnerships a band called Genesis emerged. In 1967, at the height of the psychedelic boom, they began recording together with the man who thought up their name, producer and pop star in waiting Jonathan King.

In pursuit of success, Genesis took the scenic route. It was ten years before they scored their first hit single. Long, radio-unfriendly epics such as 'Supper's Ready', a 26-minute controlled freak-out from the 'Foxtrot' album, were their original stock in trade. Band members subsisted on a retainer of £10 per week. Hotels proving sadly unaffordable, the group would drive home to London and Surrey after every gig. Their live show looked great - a riot of masks and weird costumes - but it cost next to nothing. "The challenge was to create something visually striking that was also cheap," Banks remembers, "which was a good discipline."

By 1970 Genesis were making headway with their uniquely theatrical brand of progressive rock. A series of personnel changes introduced a new drummer, Phil Collins, and guitarist Steve Hackett. Gradually, the world started to prick up its ears. Mike Rutherford: "We've always gone down well in the big industrial cities of the East Coast and Mid west (America), maybe because of the element of fantasy and escapism in our shows."

Following the extraordinary success of the band's seventh album, a soundtrack to their spectacular stage show 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway,' Peter Gabriel left in 1975. "We came close to calling it a day when Pete left," Rutherford recalls, "It wasn't that we lost our nerve. We were always confident we could write the music, because Tony and I had done most of 'The Lamb.' It was just a question of whether the public would accept us." They did. Collins took over on vocals "because he really wanted to do it, basically" and the next installment of Genesis, 'A Trick Of The Tail,' promptly outsold all of their previous releases.

After the departure of Hackett in 1977 the creative nucleus of the band re-configured as a trio, aptly expressed in the album of the following year, '...And Then There Were Three,' on which Rutherford played both guitar and bass. The album also spawned the group's first real UK single chart success with 'Follow You, Follow Me.'

As the 1980's dawned Genesis veered in another direction, one that would introduce shorter, more radio friendly songs, and lead to enormous commercial success. The 1980 album 'Duke' bridged the two eras well with the highly acclaimed group of linked songs known as the 'Duke Suite' and the US chart success of 'Misunderstanding'. 1981's 'Abacab' album also proved to be a huge hit worldwide. "I think the fact that we were all in our thirties by the time we became really successful was a great help," says Banks. "To this day we've never had an argument about money."

Even without Peter Gabriel's showmanship, the band continued to set new standards as a live act. On their 1981-82 world tour they broke box office records in North America when they went out with a revolutionary lighting system, Vari-lite.

However, Gabriel made a brief return to the fold on October 2nd 1982 at the Milton Keynes Bowl for a one off reunion show 'Six Of The Best', this was primarily to help Gabriel's 'WOMAD' project out of an awkward financial situation. Steve Hackett made an even briefer re-appearance when he came out on stage for the encore of the same show. An unforgettable day for all those who witnessed the event.

Banks, Collins and Rutherford went back into the studio to record 1983's self titled album 'Genesis' which spawned two of the band's all time classic tracks, the hugely successful 'Mama' and the brilliant live track 'Home By The Sea'. Their 1986 album, 'Invisible Touch', broke more records when it yielded five US tope ten singles. "Despite the media's perception of us, we didn't think of ourselves as a singles band," says Rutherford. "In our minds we were a band that did long songs but just happened to have a few hits." The accompanying 'Invisible Touch' tour generated the highest average gross per venue of any act on the road that year. A total of 3 million people worldwide attended. In 1987 Genesis were voted Band Of The Year in Rolling Stone Magazine's Reader's poll.

Following a lay-off during which band members pursued individual projects, Genesis re-convened in 1991 to record 'We Can't Dance'. "We were quite surprised Phil wanted to make a Genesis album," Banks recalls. "We felt incredibly loyal to one another, but the pressures of his solo success made it increasingly difficult for us to function as a band." Difficult, but by no means impossible. 'We Can't Dance' sold over 10 million copies to become Genesis' biggest seller so far. A triumphal romp around the world saw the band play their largest-ever British audience when they sold out at Knebworth in the Summer of 1992.

After another break for soloing, Genesis and Phil Collins finally parted company early in 1996. "It did briefly occur to us that we should put Genesis to rest," Rutherford admits, "But Tony and I have never stopped writing songs since we were teenagers, so we thought, why should we give up now?" Most of the songs for the 1997 album 'Calling All Stations' were written before the selection of new vocalist Ray Wilson - a singer whose voice has more in common with Peter Gabriel than Phil Collins, an appointment that signalled a return to Genesis' rockier roots. Banks: "We liked Ray immediately because of the sort of sound pictures his voice conjures up. It has a natural darkness. With Ray we can write in a heavier, more atmospheric way than we did with Phil. We also like the fact that he doesn't have much history."

The release of 'Calling All Stations' didn't meet the same commercial success as past releases had. It was relatively successful around Europe reaching number 2 in the UK album charts. However, it was received poorly in North America and following poor ticket sales, the North American leg of the 'Calling All Stations' tour was sadly called off.

1998 saw Genesis revisit their past with the release of the first Genesis Archive (1967-75) Box Set, this included early demos and rarely heard live material.

The end of 1999 saw Genesis hit the charts once more with a collection of their more commercially successful songs. 'Turn It On Again - The Hits' briefly reunited the 'classic' line up of Banks, Collins, Gabriel, Hackett and Rutherford in a re-make of 'The Carpet Crawlers' from 1974's album 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway'.

So what does the future hold for 'Genesis', is this the end? Rutherford: "I don't really know, I never really know what's going on. We haven't really thought about what we're going to do over the next year. There's nothing planned at the moment, but there never really is. It's a little tough for Genesis at this moment in time, actually - for a lot of the older acts, to be honest. I can't complain, it's been 30 years of plain sailing, but getting no airplay makes whatever you do a little harder."

Banks: " My own feeling is that the Genesis time has probably run out. We haven't made a final decision yet, is the truth of the matter. We'll decide on that. We've had a fantastic career and I can't think of a reason to end it on a low. It's very uphill everywhere you look at the moment. I don't know. The kind of music we do best, particularly what we were trying to get back to on 'Calling All Stations' is extremely unfashionable now. But as for the moment there are no plans to go back into the studio with Ray, you have to be honest. We're going to review it, but one has to say that the chances are that we might now be nearing the end."

And what of the others? Gabriel is concentrating on getting his next solo album finished, Hackett always has at least one project simmering, but of all the past members the one that has expressed a possible interest in returning in some form is Phil Collins. Phil would be more than happy to take part in a reunion tour behind the drum kit and has also talked about the possibility of recording something new with Banks and Rutherford. Whether it happens and goes under the name Genesis remains to be seen...

PART 2: Interesting Information...

Thanks to Vtc1220@aol.com For ALL OF! This Information.

Well, Phil wasn't with them in the beginning and they went through drummers like water. Peter Gabriel was their singer up until 1975. Tony Banks who did keyboards, Peter Gabriel who sang for awhile and a drummer named Chris Stewart were in Charterhouse boarding school since 1963. They became good friends. And they called themselves Garden Wall. But they never released anything. They were just one of those school bands.You know about the Anon with ant and mike? Anthony Phillips? Bassist Mike Rutherford and Guitarist Anthony Phillips, along with a few other musicians, who've vanished into thin air at this point were a band called the Anon. Didn't Mike Rutherford start another band? Mike + The Mechanics. He didn't start them until 1985, during a solo break. Anyway, Mike and Ant were leaving the Anon and joined forces with Garden Wall. And recorded demos in 1967. They met a graduate of Charter house named Jonathan King, who produced their early material. In 1968, they released a Bee Gee type song called "Silent Sun" as their first single with a song called "That's Me" on the flipside. But nobody played it and it vanished into obscurity. Same thing as their next single, later that same year, "Winter's Tale" b/w "One-Eyed Hound". Chris Stewart quit at this point and they got John Silver to drum and Jonathan King urged them to cut an album. They released "From Genesis To Revelation", their first, in 1969, which also made the cutout bins because of the cover - black with gold letters! Because of that, all the stores dumped it into the religious section.Very different from every other album, but then again every Genesis album is different. When they released it, Silver quit to be a television producer and they got drummer John Mayhew to replace him.Are you familiar with "Trespass", their second? That had Mayhew drumming. If you have it, let alone heard it, you can hear how bad the drumming is. Maybe that's why that album is so boring. A few months later Ant developed an extremely bad degree of stage fright. It was so bad that he got pneumonia from it and sadly had to quit. Anthony Phillips that is. It's a shame too because at that time, he was their key member. He became a music teacher for a few years and then started a very good solo career although it is very obscure. Within months guitarist Steve Hackett replaced him. OK then, they cut four more albums. "Nursery Cryme", "Foxtrot", a live album - just called "Live", "Selling England By The Pound" and a concept album called "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway". n 1975, Pete quit for many reasons. One was that he had a kid who he wasn't sure was going to survive. I think also because he was asked to do a movie after someone saw the dirty story he wrote on the back of "Live". Right after he left, Steve went and cut a solo album called "Voyage Of The Acolyte". Real great album too. Has Phil singing a song on there too. "Star Of Sirius". After Steve released the album, they headed back into the studio and after auditioning thousands of singers, Phil decided to take over at the mic."Trick Of The Tail" a perfect ten album was the result! Excellent album. Shows you what they can do without Pete. However, Tony and Steve began to not get along too good.Tony took "Voyage Of The Acolyte" as a threat to the band and wouldn't let him write any songs with the band. Except for collaborations. Meanwhile, "TOTT" had Tony's name on all the songs. Most of them were collaborations, but Steve's name was only on three. Then they cut "Wind & Wuthering", which had Tony's name on most of the songs and Steve's name was on some, but still no songs with Hackett's name alone. However the album did spawn the hit single "Your Own Special Way". Which Mike wrote. Sorry I forgot to mention "I Know What I Like" from "Selling England" was their first hit single. In 1977, Pete appeared with a solo album with "Solsbury Hill" on it. It's self titled, but his first four albums were self-titled. It has a car on the front. Shortly after, Anthony Phillips started a solo career with "The Geese & The Ghost". Sorta like a twin album to "Voyage of The Acolyte", except "TG&TG" goes more in one direction. It's got Phil singing two songs on it. Like "VOTA", most of the songs are instrumental, but there are three on each with vocals. Later that same year they cut a live album called "Seconds Out". And Steve, fed up with arguing with Tony over composing songs, simultaneously quit the band. It's great. Put that album on, you'll think you're at a concert. As Genesis were three, they cut another album and called it "And Then There Were Three". It spawned the hit single "Follow You Follow Me", which practically doubled the sell of it and sadly is the only thing on there anyone pays any attention to. Excellent album. One of the most underrated albums out there.They planned a long tour for the album and by 1979, Phil's wife left him because of him always being on tour. He tried to work on the marriage break up. Meanwhile, Tony and Mike went and cut solo albums. "Curious Feeling", Tony's first solo effort, really shows his part in the band. It sounds like Genesis. Mike had a solo album called "Smallcreep's Day". There is a long opus on there inspired by the book "Smallcreep's Day". It's a book he must have read. It's a very good album and sorta shows his part in the band too. This was before the Mechanics. Phil in the meantime realized nothing was going to get any better if he got back together with his wife, so he started recording demos at home. In he played the demos for Tony and Mike and they picked two for the upcoming Genesis album "Duke". The songs were "Misunderstanding" and "Please Don't Ask". When they released "Duke", they spawned the hit singles "Misunderstanding" and "Turn It On Again". "Duke" also introduced the drum machine. After the tour for the album, Phil had been advised by many to turn his demos into a solo album. "Face Value", released in 1981. It has "In The Air Tonight" on it. Another great solo effort. Phil went back with Genesis to cut "Abacab" which came out later that same year. The album was very successful. And it is a very good album, the only bad song on it is "Keep It Dark", in my opinion. At the end of the tour in 1982 they released "Three Sides Live". A double live album with the fourth side containing some studio outtakes in the US. Although it was released in the UK under the same title, however, there were four live sides in England. This is a good live album, but it's not as good as "Seconds Out", doesn't even come close to it. I like the studio outtakes, but since they've done the remastering these studio tracks are currently unavailable. The released the UK version in America when they remastered it back in 1995 or so. "Abacab" was so popular that after they cut "TSL", they did an encore tour. Then there was yet another solo break. Mike cut another solo called "Acting Very Strange", which is completely different from "Smallcreep's Day". He sings on this one and personally I think it sounds terrible. He sounds completely drunk. I heard he drank alot of whiskey to give his voice a rough sound for this album. Skip over this one unless you want to goof on it :-) Phil had a second album, "Hello I Must Be Going", which is almost just as good as "Face Value". But you probably have it (if you don't the cover is blue with a profile of his face). It has a cover of "You Can't Hurry Love" on it, originally recorded by Diana Ross and the Supremes. He experimented with the 'motown sound'. "Do You Know, Do You Care", "I Cannot Believe It's True" and "I Don't Care Anymore" are personal favorites from that album. I haven't listened to Phil's solo in a long time, gotta dig that one out later and listen to it :-) Tony Banks wrote music for a movie called "Wicked Lady" and released a soundtrack for it. And appeared with another solo album called "Fugitive". I don't have either of these, so I don't know how good they are, but "Curious Feeling" (his first) is worth getting. Later in 1983 they headed back into the studio to cut another album. This one is self-titled for some unknown reason. I always called it "Shapes". The cover is little yellow shapes like the pieces to the perfection game. This one's good. In my opinion, just as good as "We Can't Dance". It's hard to explain what the album sounds like, but it's pretty good. Hits from this album were "Mama", "That's All" and "Just A Job To Do". After this, they toured as usual and then took a solo break once again. Phil cut his third solo album "No Jacket Required". If you don't have this the cover is black with his face in the middle. You said you have all his albums, but just incase I'll tell you if you missed any :-) "Sussudio", "One More Night" and "Take Me Home" are on this album. Mike formed a band at this point. He called it Mike + The Mechanics. It's good that he decided not to keep singing :-) Two singers, Paul Young (who recently died of a heart attack) and Squeeze singer Paul Carrack, who sang most of the stuff by them I like. But their voices were similar. Adrian Lee on keyboards and Peter Van Hooke on drums. They're a good band to get into if you like today's popular stuff. Like Backstreet Boys or N'Sync. The music is somewhat different, but it can fit in with that category. They released a self-titled album with a song called "Silent Running" which is a great song. The rest of that album is good too, yet somewhat forgettable. Another song "Call To Arms" you'll see Tony and Phil's name on it as well. It had a riff in it which was an outtake from either "Abacab" or "Shapes" sessions. I can't remember which. Tony had a solo album called "Soundtracks", which I don't have, so I don't know how good it is. I think he got the name because he wrote alot of stuff for movies. After this, Genesis rejoined and experimented with a slightly R&B-type music. "Invisible Touch" became the band's best-selling album, which went platinum six times. I think you said you have this. Then they toured until mid-'87 and then there was yet another solo break. The Mechanics did their second called "The Living Years". The title track was about Mike's father passing away. It was a big hit. It's a very good album, which to me would be a good first buy for a Mechanics album. Personal favorites on there are "Seeing Is Believeing" and "Beautiful Day". Phil had appeared in a movie called "Buster" about a small-time thief. The soundtrack isn't too good. It only has three songs perfomed by him. The rest is Hollies, Four Tops and other old bands. Tony Banks cut "Bankstatement" which I can guarantee it'd be much more successful if it was released today. It has some of his keyboard experiments in there and it's pretty good, but you'll have to see if you can find it on E-Bay because it's out of print now I think. It went unsuccessful. Phil had "...But Seriously" which you probably have. It has "Something Happened On The Way To Heaven" on it. Then he had a live album called "Serious Hits Live". Quite good for a live album. And it was his first live album as a soloist. The Mechanics came out with another album called "Word Of Mouth" which has a song called "Get Up" on it. That one song may sound familiar to you if you heard it. I think it may have been featured in the movie "Rookie Of The Year", but I'm not sure. The rest of the album is pretty good, but that was the big hit on there, but sadly it is now out of print - We're on 1991 now and people thought Genesis at this point were gone because "Invisible Touch" was way back in 1986 and it's a long break, Phil was even being considered "former" Genesis singer at this point, but they'd soon learned from their wrong assumptions (just to fill you in) - After "WOM", Genesis headed back into the studio to cut "We Can't Dance". It spawned the hit "I Can't Dance". Then they had two live albums. The one you had and that other one which was the volume two I told you about. It's alot better than vol. 1 too. Buy it. Then there was a solo break once again. Tony had another solo album called "Still" (don't have this one), Phil had "Both Sides" in which he played every instrument on it, probably his best solo album. And in 1995, the Mechanics had another album called "Beggar On A Beach Of Gold". I don't have this yet, but I ordered it from amazon.com, it just didn't get here yet :-) Will fill you in if you'd like. Tony had another album called "Strictly Inc" which he never even released in the US, so I imagine it's not too good, but who knows. In 1996 Phil's second marriage broke up and he simultaneously quits Genesis and returns with "Dance Into The Light" which like I said this is where he starts to faulter. This is sort of where I knocked off his solo career. Then in 1997 Tony and Mike got Ray Wilson to sing and they cut "Calling All Stations" which that too isn't any good. The only song on there really worth mentioning is "If That's What You Need". In 1998, Phil had his "...Hits" album with a cover of "True Colors". It was originally performed by Cyndi Lauper. Then he did "Tarzan" and then a Big Band album called "Hot Night In Paris", which is OK, but a little too big band for my tastes. Genesis subsequently reunited with Pete, Steve, Tony, Mike and Phil to cut a greatest hits album with a new version of "Carpet Crawl". They also had a boxset called "Archive 1967-75" back in 1998, which the first two CD's are a live show of the lamb, the third is of single flip-sides and live outtakes and the fourth is many of their first recordings back in the very late sixties. They will have another boxset, which should come out later this year, but I'm not sure when. Things are uncertain if they're really broken up or not. That's the way they are now.