Gabriel’s glad if Collins is coming back…

Collins retired in 2011 but last month suggested he was reconsidering the decision, saying: "I have started thinking about doing new stuff. Some shows again, even with Genesis. Everything is possible."

Asked what he thinks of his former colleague’s comments, Gabriel tells Rolling Stone: "Good! I think he got himself into a bit of a hole, and that’s great news he’s coming out of it. It doesn’t have to involve work – but if it does, that’s a great indicator."

His reaction leads to the inevitable question about a Genesis reunion, with the possibility having been raised on several occasions over the last decade. Gabriel replies: "It’s never been ruled out. I’m trying to picture a time when it would top my priorities list though."

But he adds: "If you’re gonna do it, you gotta do it before you’re all dead, right? I was thinking about that the other day. We’re quite lucky – looking back at other bands of our generation, there’s usually one or two missing now. So you do get a sense of the clock."

And he thinks the chances of staging a live performance of classic album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway are slipping away. "I’m getting older," he says. "My voice has dropped a tone since the Genesis days. That’s a fact of life. I still sort of think through film ideas for The Lamb."

Meanwhile, he’s aiming to complete the solo album he began in 2005, to be entitled I/O. "I really need to stop doing other things and lock myself away for a while," he reflects. "It probably hasn’t moved nearly as much as I would have liked to in the intervening time. The songs are still there, but some of them I would redo now; and there’s some new stuff as well."

Classic Rock Magazine, by Martin Kielty