Mike Rutherford
Do you think Genesis are going to perform at the Rock and Hall of Fame induction ceremony in March?
I have no idea. I'm sure we'll go. I don't know if Peter Gabriel will go. I wouldn't see why not, really.
It could be your first time playing in public with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett in a very long time.
Sure. We've just done weddings in the last few years. Time to move along. I think the older you get the more you appreciate the history of what you've been through with these people, which is quite nice. And we're all still alive. That's a plus these days, too.
Do you think prog-rock fans will latch onto the Genesis induction?
I always thought Genesis didn't quite fall into that camp like they did. We were a mixture of things, and always more songwriters than instrumentalists.
You discussed the idea of a reunion tour with Peter Gabriel a few years ago.
That was a while back before we did our three-piece tour. That's an idea. Not sure if it will come to life. Peter had an album to come out before he did anything with us. And it hasn't come out, and that was five years ago.
Are you working on any new material now?
I'm actually doing a new Mike and the Mechanics album. I kind of thought I had put it to bed, but I still enjoy songwriting. Working with a few new co-writers and a couple of new faces for the band. Paul Carrack is doing some solo stuff, so we have a guy called Andrew Roachford, an R&B kind of singer. It's a little different, but the soul seems to be there. We'll see. I'm enjoying it.
Tony Banks
Are you surprised by the news?
Certain kinds of bands tend to be favored for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, more of the sort of guitar-based stuff and everything. As the keyboard player I guess I'm the one keeping us out of there I suppose. We're a slightly schizophrenic group. We fit into a lot of genres. It's slightly more difficult to tie down but if we'd broken up back in 1974 or '75 we obviously wouldn't have gotten this award, so it's a kind of combination of everything I suppose.
Bands usually perform at these inductions, have you talked to your bandmates at all?
We haven't really talked about it yet whether we do something small or might do something a bit more, but not the full band. I don't feel a great need to play. I'm happy just to drink in that zone. For now we just kept the date free. That's all we've done so far.
How's Phil Collins doing? Is he recovering from his injury? [Surgery to repair vertebrae in Collins' back left him unable to play the drums earlier this year.]
He's got a little bit better, but I don't think he'd be itching to play early '70s Genesis music at the moment. I think he's playing a little bit of drums but only very much sort of simple stuff really, his arm is not working right back there yet. It's getting better all the time.
What happened when you guys sat down with Peter Gabriel to talk about a reunion tour a few years ago?
There was a possibility of doing The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I think Peter was unwilling to commit. Originally he was quite keen on the idea, but then he thought about what it would actually involve, and I think he's been out of a group such a long time I think he's forgotten a bit. I think he only suddenly remembered when he was sitting down with us all what it would be like to have to sort of share ideas. He's gotten used to ruling his situation a little bit, which obviously he couldn't do with Genesis.
He's a busy man, he's got lots of other things he's doing, not just music and everything. And obviously with the way Phil is, drumming-wise, I think the chances of us doing anything are pretty small. But anyway it's probably better in the memory, better in fantasy than it is in reality for the fans. You know, five old men up there kind of trying to relive their youth. It's a long shot but we never say never to anything. 'Cause we don't know and we're not totally closed to it by any means.
© RollingStone, by Andy Greene
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