PHIL COLLINS on HIS DRUMMING PHILOSOPHY , DRUMMING STYLE & DRUMMING WITH CHESTER THOMPSON JOHN EDGINTON DOCUMENTARIES 23.2K subscribers Subscribe 2.3K 148K views 1 year ago NEW YORK PHIL. He was a great writer and arranger. I certainly wasnt surprised that he was successful. He wasnt a fan of the music. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Chester Thompson took to the drums at an early age.James Harris, a family friend and jazz drummer, first introduced Chester to the drum kit at age 11, and by the time he was 13, Thompson was already doing club gigs in the greater Baltimore area. Phil Collins and Chester Thompson Interview for Drummer in 1977 during the period of Seconds Out Captain Beefheart plays harmonica on the album. Editors picks There were all these conversations going back and forth that Id try to track. Do you recall first hearing In the Air Tonight? His disparaging remarks about prog was probably a case of being less than honest.Another point in his defense is that he was one of the later ones to "sell out". Yes, it`s true, but none of them became the permanent lead singer in their bands like Collins. And he just totally shot down the idea of doing anything. And Phil and I had a lot of the same roots. Part of that was no matter how well I prepared, he always made some pretty intense changes. We were playing London near the end and the guys all came down. Hed recently wrapped up stints with Frank Zappa and Weather Report that lasted about two years each, and Genesis previous touring drummer, Bill Bruford, bailed after just four months on the road. With the exception of when he is doing his solo work, Collins is usuallythe one most in the background, going with the opinions of the rest of the group. JavaScript is disabled. Playing that stuff from the Seventies was full of charge. Collins was perfectly happy to exist behind his large collection of toms and cymbals during Genesis' Peter Gabriel-led . Obviously it's not definitive, but the Chester Thompson Wiki page does have some information on it. After 20 years, it was enough. Wed do eight-hour rehearsals. Yes, please explain the secret to bypassing the RS paywall. Ill get back to you. Sure enough, he got back and said, You were right. Rolling Stone suspended its policy on Genesis not being cool enough to report on for a long interview with Chester Thompson. I dont know when he slept. Pat Mastelotto: I don`t know about his status with King Crimson. But Phil being Phil, he detailed every single fill, every single detail of every single song. I might. It was definitely different musically since the band was much bigger with horns and backup singers. Are there any salient quotes or paragraphs detailing why they fell out? Basically, Phil flipped at Chester during the Going Back tour, for not playing exactly what he wanted to play, and they haven't spoken since. I think that he became popular with housewives, and that was his "guilt". Again, as humans, we adapt. There was a short tour coming up and he reached out to me. How were the Phil solo tours? Peter Criss (Even lead vocals), Keith Moon, Carmine Appice, Roger Taylor (Much better backing vocalist than anybody else and even lead a couple of times). Ralph and I had to watch each other like hawks and really listen carefully. Well, lets see. Unfortunately, they never had enough of his clear vocals to release it, or anything. When Phil Collins moved from the drum kit to the front of the stage in 1976, Genesis hired former Yes drummer Bill Bruford to join them on tour. There was no getting around it. In Europe, everyone in the audience knew all of their catalog. It was perfect timing and what a fun tour. He asked if Id consider coming in. But I believe Steve won more, because he didn't took part in the POP Genesis (Something with what he clearly disagrees) and made a solid career. I probably heard more Elvis than anything in the Fifties. You guys did a drum duet at that first Genesis show in 1977 and it never left the set list after that. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Genesis, as soon as they could afford it, started chartering planes for tours. Let me remember: Leee Kerslake. That stood out more than anything. I dont know if I had an expectation one way or the other. I met him the night before at his house. Chester was very cool in this article. Man, what a phenomenal singer and piano player. He canceled a tour and was honest about it. I don't think he's bnasty, seems a nice chap, but he said too many stupid things and then contradicted himself depending in the way the market went, He said Prog is crap when Prog was unpopular and harrased by Punk, Discoor New Wave, but when his boring pop became part of the past he changed and said he always was a proghead. But he just enjoyed being around us since we were so lively and fun. And then he added the drums and it was like, Forget about it. We were all in the car going to the first show in Japan. But I was fortunate. They were amazing. How did you grow as a drummer during your time in Weather Report? Among other things, in one interview Bruford said: "In YES, the most important members are the singer, the bassist and guitarists like Rabin and Howe. Probably not. Exactly. He played beautifully on that ballad Cannon Ball. I had already tracked most of Black Market. Chester Thompson on His Years With Genesis, Frank Zappa, and Weather Report He spent 30 years in Genesis as a touring drummer, but he had a falling out with Phil Collins in 2010 and they haven't spoken since www.yahoo.com 1975 Slingerland Stage Band, Poplar/Mahogany, White Marine Pearl (20,12,13,14, plus 16 Premier) Its not as bad as its made to be , Havent exchanged cards since 2019 ?? Reading some of these commentaries in this threadI started to think that Phil Collins is really underrated because not too many drummers are key members in their bands. Genesis was very balanced. I remember doing an arena after doing stadiums and it felt like an intimate club. Who knows what thats going to look like at this point. Id hang out with these guys and theyd play all sorts of crazy stuff Id never heard before. The first couple of years, I pretty much put it together. Id say we agree on his drummingskills. Before one tour, we sat there and listened to all the previous tours and everything we did. It started with some frat parties. One day, he got pretty frustrated with me and literally cussed me out in front of everybody. You couldnt be less than what you were supposed to be. If I were to sum up my opinions of the five (actually leaving out Ant Phillips seems wrong since I think his guitarplaywas important to the early Genesissound and the fact that Mike calledhim the keymember at the time) members life after Genesis: I feel like Ive sort of left the point wether Phil is nasty or not Summary: I dont think Phil is a nasty man and he doesnt deserve all the critisicm he sometimes gets here at Progarchives. Maybe once in a lifetime. Phil Collins had to hire Chester Thompson and Bill Bruford. But hed get more comfortable with it and be really involved with putting it together. I said to those guys, I dont care if you use another drummer on parts of the album. It was never a competition where I thought it should be me. I never liked the idea of re-recording old favourites but Im getting a little bit intrested now. Most of the drummers have musical studies, to make arrangements you need to read and write music, even if you don't make the arrangements, you need to read music in order to understand the new arrangements that bands do after every tour in old songs. And he put down some intense, complicated stuff. He liked having a big band onstage, too. He was a drummer deep down in his very soul, one that would take on occasional backing vocal or songwriting duties only if he had to. IN THIS 2014 INTERVIEW, PHIL COLLINS DESCRIBES HOW HE RECRUITED THE AMERICAN DRUMMER CHESTER THOMPSON TO PLAY DRUMS WITH GENESIS, REPLACING PHIL AS THE PRIMA. I thougfh the consensus was that Collins was not the only reason, but just a small part of Genesis's evolving intoa pop band? [Laughs] Its interesting, I probably absorbed more of their culture than they did anything I grew up with because I was really uncomfortable. We learned how to deal with it. [Sighs] Thats a whole drama Im not crazy about. Mick Fleetwood: owner of the band`s name, thier main founder, but not a composer in the band. Ive never heard anything he did that had that particular feel to it. I just love the adventure of life. I managed to get 11 songs tracked with my own band in L.A. because we decided a while back not to just sit around. How much did you know about his music before the audition? And then I got into better clubs around Baltimore. It was really brilliant. IMO, those are two of Genesis' best albums, ATOTT more so than Seconds Out because Seconds Out isn't a true Phil Collins Genesis album because most of the stuff was originally recorded with Peter Gabriel singing. But I was pretty surprised when he left. The problem is that after a couple of albums Tony lost xcontrol and Phil decided what path to take, making a parallel solo career that is comonly mistaken with Genesis later albums, that's what I blame him for.Actually I havent heard Hacketts Genesis revisited - is it good? The new managers were like, Absolutely not. Right. That was that. Even the sax players who sometimes only play 3 notes or a solo in songs are more impotant than drummers in bands (it is the same in Jazz, not only in Rock bands). It was about to move to Chicago and I was kind of wondering, Why havent I got my contract yet?. Every night after the show wed hang out. It got awkward. Roger Taylor: good singer, good composer, good drummer, but he has never had the same success as Collins with his solo albums. Their manager was someone I knew from L.A. We had worked on a couple of things together. Phil Collins Takes The Drum Quiz | The Jonathan Ross Show 4.1M views 6 years ago IN THE AIR TONIGHT-PHIL COLLINS-THIS SONG MADE ME JUMP OFF THE COUCH!! I got to play some really cool stuff. Not at all. Just to mention a few key members that played drums. The 2021 tour is billed as "The Last Domino?" named after the song "Domino" which . As of late though, I think Phil Collins has sold out, but not the with Genesis. Well, probably. Drummers are not really "musicians", because they don`t play "musical notes", so let`s keep them in the background. It's really weird how people attack Phil Collins. Show more 8:40. What I don't like is MUZAK (Elevator music), and that's Phil's field. I had a conversation with Mike Rutherford, not knowing what they were going to be doing. I also think that he is underrated, because he likes ballads, and not many people who likes Prog Music likes ballads. I dont know what they might have been going through behind the scenes, but our time together was just great. I had no idea. Thompson believed hehad landed a short-term job when Collins asked him to join Genesis without an audition in 1977, but he went on to take part in every road trip until 2007 and was also a stalwart of Collinssolo group fromthe initial Hello, I Must Be Going tour in 1982. We did most of the tracking up at Caribou Ranch in Colorado. Hed mentioned that theyd been through a few drummers that year. Phil double-tracked all the drum parts. I started with those frat parties, bars, and little dives. It just turned out to be a one-off, but fortunately we recorded and videotaped it. Long story short: Collins turned up in a bad mood for the 2010 "Going Back" tour and griped at Thompson because Thompson hadn't prepared the Motown drum parts in enough detail. He ended up with a recording contract. We laughed a lot. Bands always change, and poor Phil just happened to headline the band as it started turning away from it's roots, and he gets branded as the bands destructor. But at this point in life, if I could do my own stuff, Id really love that. Too bad Vinnie couldn't make it. All three members of the trio Genesis played a part in the decision to simplifiy their sound, with Banks being the most in charge. Had they brought me, they would have had to pay another musician just to sit there. Was he demanding? !-REACTION RisbyDaCreator 10K views 2. That was their first tour in 10 years. Oh, yeah. It had been years. He was part of a band in Milwaukee that played a place that was the place to stop and jam when you were on tour. He kept trying to get me to take less than what I was already making. We all knew he was going to be a great player. Exactly. "And so the horns would make a mistake and hed turn around and look at me! He was already going on tour in summers between school. Would have to be an idiot not to agree with this, my problem is not with his drumming, I recently had a discussion with a member who said he was only an average drummer not able to play with Yes. We played songs and that was that. I didnt know, but he did step back for quite a while. Apparently he was a close friend of the band because in 1969 Genesis moved to cottage owned by Richard Macphail's parents to concentrate on writing. Ive still got pretty mixed feelings about it. I dont know how to describe it, but it was based on holograph technology. Ive said half-jokingly that with Frank, I learned how to play all the notes, all the subdivisions. It was sort of weird, though. I was playing in the San Francisco production of The Wiz back then. I imagine it was frustrating. He hung out with the band after the shows and stuff. Its very rewarding and Im involved with an organization here called the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Listen Renaissance, Marillion, Pendragon Barclay James Harvest, Moody Blues, Procol Harum, The Strawbs, etc are full of ballads, and nobody ever made a problem. In this 2014. And Ill never forget. Theyre such great singers. Hed then go off to a studio and work on whatever he had in the can. [Laughs] If I could have him, Id be touring with him right now. Phil Collins (onion head) <-nickname), is a great drummer and that is where i believed he should have stayed. But Phil Collins still did great things with those two albums. George shared with me that [violinist] Jean-Luc [Ponty] didnt enjoy it so much because he couldnt stand being silly. That was amazing. They went over all the details in soundcheck and we rehearsed the day before. Prog Rock is melodic and can be romantic, there's a difference between romantic and cheesy, most Phil Collins songs are cheesy.