During that particular run, there was none, ever. It was a real wake-up call. 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. They really enjoy life and love to laugh. It was about to move to Chicago and I was kind of wondering, Why havent I got my contract yet?. Man, I still love to play. In 2017, Collins revealed that he was a type-2 diabetic, undergoing treatment with a hyperbaric chamber after the condition caused obsesses on his foot which became infected. ", Chester Thompson on His Years With Genesis, Frank Zappa, and Weather Report, Watch Billy Joel Play Los Angelenos For First Time in 42 Years, U2 Announce Sphere Las Vegas Dates. How did you wind up touring with Ben E. King in 1969? Bill Graham and I could just never agree on the money. I have no memory of that whatsoever. Bruno Primas Forum Resident Location: Wisconsin However he did turn Genesis into a pop group and laughed all the way to the bank. This is why I don't think they sold out or did it for any other reason than that is what they wanted to do. When they did, theyd literally call each other up and go, Lets go do it. And so that never happened, basically. 153K views, 2.9K likes, 787 loves, 221 comments, 2.6K shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Genesis Reunion 2020: Phil Collins and Chester Thompson Genesis The Last Domino Tour . This is before they had hits, but they did have Yes We Can Can. In those days, they were doing pretty much doing all Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross stuff. In this 2014. Well appreciated, keep up enjoying Phil Collins! I was never going to be a full partner, but theres no denying it was a band. Don Henley: another drummer who is lead singer, and main writter with guitarist Glen Frey, and he also sings ballads without being "hated" as Collins is. Are there any salient quotes or paragraphs detailing why they fell out? Well, immediately after McDuff, I spent about six months in Boston. That wasnt going to work. Ralph Humphrey was very helpful that whole time because I had been getting into odd times, but not at the level Frank was doing it. You have four guys with British accents [Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Steve Hackett], and there was tour management and a couple of other guys, all with British accents. Yeah. It was a fun tour. When I was 13 and able to go on my own, I pretty much went every other week. Just like Dean Martin or Perry Como were passe by the 70s prog was out of fashion in the late 80s and I don't think anyone could really change that. 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, "Culturally, we were on opposite sides of the world," says Chester Thompson of touring with Genesis. In fact, I had called. Collins was perfectly happy to exist behind his large collection of toms and cymbals during Genesis' Peter Gabriel-led . She was with Michael Jackson and was actually working with Prince when he passed. But to a lot of the fans, I guess they feel like it is. Man, what a phenomenal singer and piano player. I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress . They assumed we were starting a new band like they did. The band was really good. Were you intimidated when you walked into that rehearsal space? [Laughs] They were like, How could you be down here doing this and not our tour? I was like, Im just here a few days. But I was really trying to be mindful of family time. "This album is dedicated to Richard MacPhail who left April, 1973.". . Serious Hits Live! - Wikipedia The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Drummers are not really "musicians", because they don`t play "musical notes", so let`s keep them in the background. It must have been interesting to watch them evolve from And Then There Were Three to Duke to Abacab and see them embrace New Wave to some degree and change up their sound. Chester's performance and recording experiences have influenced over three decades of music and musicians. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/llins-frank-zappa-weather-report-1122064/amp/, https://ultimateclassicrock.com/chester-thompson-phil-collins-solo-tour/. Had they brought me, they would have had to pay another musician just to sit there. Still his guitarplay wasvery important to the music even if his composing didnt reach the albums. But he still had that American stuff; it was a big part of his background, and we just hit it off immediately. On the We Cant Dance tour in 1992, did you sense that Phil wasnt going to continue with Genesis after it? 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. Watcher of the skies is very good and solid vocals by John Wetton, Fountain of Salmacis is great with an acoustic guitar intro and Steve singing ections with vocodsr , but my favorite is the Orchestral version of Firth of Fifth, very beautiful. Chester Thompson on His Years With Genesis, Frank Zappa, and Weather Report, Northern California between Sac and SF, CA, (You must log in or sign up to reply here. It came up again [in 1984] and it was just great. Phil and I locked way easier than Ralph Humphrey and I did. Phil Collins: A Nasty Man? - Progressive Rock Music Forum - Page 5 A couple of days later, he brought the whole band in. [1] Thompson has performed with his jazz group, the Chester Thompson Trio, since 2011. During this time, the drummer somehow also found time to tour with Santana and the Bee Gees and maintain a solo career. most great drummers won't ever do that, because they live for their drums. Later on he became tourmanager for Genesis. Nothing against Phil's son, I'm sure he's good, but why hasn't anyone said anything about Chester? Duke lp is OK but Misunderstanding shoud not be on that LP that is more of Onion Head solo lp song. The first Phil solo tour was kind of a drag. By the time they reached out to me, they allowed 10 days for rehearsal and it was a two-and-a-halfhour show. Not too many of them sing even backing vocals, not too many of them are composers, not too many of them become famous as soloists, not too many of them are very good lead singers. Even though he played with Brand X, he was not comfortable with soloing. There was no getting around it. What did you study? There were pictures taken and all that. No. I didnt see Phils tour. I think Onion Head's communication skills are obnoxious. Yeah. All of the above. It was a much bigger band. Steve and I always stayed pretty good friends. It was pretty valuable stuff. Always wondered what happened to Chester. 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 Amazon Associates Program via amazon.com. It had been intense the whole time. I remember doing an arena after doing stadiums and it felt like an intimate club. That must have been a very satisfying experience. But on that first tour Id be like, Come on, man. It`s not true. Phil Collins / Chester Thompson (Genesis) Drum Duet 1980 - 84 - YouTube 0:00 / 6:04 Phil Collins / Chester Thompson (Genesis) Drum Duet 1980 - 84 Seven Stones 2.15K subscribers Subscribe 1.5K. But doing it was really fun. Genesis, as soon as they could afford it, started chartering planes for tours. How about pop music? Right. Thiswent further,Steve wasn't even invited to the 1982 reunion in Milton Keynes (Only played the encores, because he was in audience). JENNINGS: Phil Collins-led Genesis returning to Buffalo Good read! I read it and just wept because most of it had happened by that point. Yeah. But since I had been in his band and on the road so much, I hadnt had time to do any networking or meet many people in L.A. O.K.! I also had an older brother in the military. Boy, we got in rehearsal and it was like oil and water. He was a phenomenal player oh, my goodness. But with Phil, youre one of a cast of thousands. Its an interesting gig musically speaking. I cant be gone that much at this point. Thats when Ricky [Lawson] wound up doing [the Phil solo tours of the mid-Nineties]. This means nothing at all, it's almost a tradition. Even though Daryl and I werent technically in the band [Genesis], we toured as the band. That stuff smokes. Well, basically, I hadnt prepared in as much detail as I usually did. He would be onstage. Phil Collins / Chester Thompson (Genesis) Drum Duet 1980 - 84 That's pretty much the zest of it. It was an incredibly difficult piece of music that we actually nailed in the studio. As of late though, I think Phil Collins has sold out, but not the with Genesis. We normally had a lot of eye contact at shows. But Chester, Ralph Humphries, Chad, Terry and Ruth made for a great conversation. I enjoyed it though. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on musics A list. That was fun, but it was a one-off. I did most of my tracks like Inca Roads with George on piano. Music Department: The Who's Tommy, the Amazing Journey. And its fine. Chester Thompson, who spent more than 30 years playing drums live with Genesis, recalled how Phil Collins targeted him every time things went wrong on the frontmans debut solo tour. I saw everybody in those days. Since then, I was pretty upset. The news that he left didnt come out until 1996 or so. It wasnt the same kind of luxury and stuff, which is fine., He added that Genesis was very balanced, instead of having a leader, and everybody had their say. But his first experience with Collins as boss was kind of a drag. He only truly related to drums," Thompson explained. Well, I didnt sleep. Unfortunately, they never had enough of his clear vocals to release it, or anything. Chester Thompson sheds some light on relationship with Phil Collins PHIL COLLINS: ON AMERICAN DRUMMER CHESTER THOMPSON DRUMMING - YouTube Part of me is not disappointed that Im not playing those same tunes again after 30 years. [Laughs] That was fun. It was this whole haunting thing that was really cool. I know people were caravanning from here to see it, but it was still a little too raw at that point. Turns out it was purely a union thing. Thanks guys and gals for more than one million views and almost 6000 likes. I certainly wasnt surprised that he was successful. 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. We went back and forth. So Phil did pop some good , some average and some contrived but all big selling. It was pretty profitable. 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. Except the horrible version of Your Own Special Way (Already horrible) because Paul Carrack sounds as Elmer Fudd , the mediocre Bossa Nova version of I Know What I like and the hard to swallow Waiting Room Only, the rest of the album (8 more tracks) is outstanding. Weve been healthy, fortunately. Thank you, I agree with you about the intelligent debate and even if we disagree about somethings in the end its down to a matter of opinons. He said, I just thought you should know that. So, of course, I went on doing what I did. Did you work remotely? But the next thing I know, they started having meetings. That is when we actually had soul music stations. I love the Tokyo Tapes show you did with Steve Hackett and all the prog guys in 1996. Phil double-tracked all the drum parts. The reason we were doing it was to raise money for Peter since he went broke doing his first WOMAD show. And then it got to be a little more honest. I did one of his solo albums and we had been pretty good friends. Basically, I had to jump right into the deep end. He said they were going to be doing something totally different and they werent interested. When it happened, we got together in New York for two weeks to just play and see if they wanted to do it. Were drums your first love as an instrument? 155K views 1 year ago NASHVILLE CHESTER THOMPSON PLAYED DRUMS WITH GENESIS FROM 1976-2007 . It wasnt his most intense stuff, but fortunately I knew who he was and that it was going to be good stuff. Ive done some teaching, not a lot, but at the moment I have a handful of private students at a school. He made Frank laugh and a big part of those days was humor. At one point, they were talking about going out with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett. How has your Covid year gone? It wasnt the same kind of luxury and stuff, which is fine. I dont know when he slept. Are you still teaching? Thats where I started. How was it for you culturally? It was amazing. Absolutely. I started thinking, Now what did I do? And so I kind of froze. It was the RKO [Proctors Theatre] in Newark, the Arcada Theater in Chicago, the Royal Theatre in Baltimore, and the Howard Theatre in D.C. Id say we agree on his drummingskills. You can tell he is play acting. And he put down some intense, complicated stuff. When you heard he was going solo, did you think it would work out for him? I am a huge Genesis fan, but am only in high school so I never experienced Genesis when they were popular. Neal Peart: great drummer, lyricist, and sometimes composer of the music in Rush. I checked with the manager. But on that first tour, Id be like, Come on, man. Soon after that, I wound up touring with [jazz organist] Jack McDuff. First of all, I arrived in California straight out of the hood in Baltimore. Phil helped survive Genesis. I don't think Phil Collins can be fully blamed for the change of direction. I didnt really know what was happening in the background. Oh, my goodness. He's a good drummer. Phil Collins had to hire Chester Thompson and Bill Bruford. Frank was playing guitar. They limit the amount of times you can access their site. I think he was playing a very deep Pearl snare, and it was setup similarly to the live MAMA tour snare, the whole kit was just a smaller version. I was okay one-on-one, but they speak much, much faster than we do. I just love the adventure of life. Was that fun? It was a weird, lonely feeling to be in the room with people that supposedly speak the same language and not be able to understand what was going on. Id always wanted to teach myself. Chester just says 'maybe' he wouldn't want to play the same Genesis songs yet again on a new tour, but IMO he doesn't give a definite no. Show more 8:40. Not at all. It was really disturbing because for the first two weeks. I think try get hold of the album. Im pretty excited about this project with them. Basically, he tried to come up with stuff the band couldnt play, and we always managed to pull it off. Do you think if Genesis come to America, youd want to go see the show? I played every weekend from eighth grade until I graduated high school. This is the same time that Chicago and Elton John are recording there. That's All. And he just totally shot down the idea of doing anything. Theyd add horn sections and stuff. And Ill never forget. 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. He passed away [in 2002]. Sorry man, but Steve is the only Genesis member that released a whole album with new version of Genesis songs, i can't understand how somebody can say he didn't liked the music. I still thought it would just be a couple of tours. But not only did Thompson stick with Genesis all the way through their Turn It On Again reunion tour of 2007 Collins also brought him over to his solo career in 1981 and used him for nearly all of his tours between 1981 and 2010. And even though I listened to the cassettes, I didnt get a real feel for what was going on before I got there. [Sighs] Thats a whole drama Im not crazy about. It was interesting because Tom Fowler, our bass player, had broken his hand on tour. Yeah. The Australia leg got added later and they wound up doing a film of the tour. Well, its been quiet. Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948) is an American drummer best known for his tenures with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Weather Report, Santana, the progressive rock band Genesis and Phil Collins as a solo artist. We did most of the tracking up at Caribou Ranch in Colorado. Wed do eight-hour rehearsals. We did it at Ike Turners studio, Bolic Sound. [Laughs] Umm I didnt really think it was going to be the end. It was really disturbing because, for the first two weeks, I could not follow a single conversation, he admitted. Yeah, apparently so. It was definitely different musically since the band was much bigger with horns and backup singers. Enjoy! Carmine Appice, Cozy Powell: composers as soloists, mainly. I really admire his career, and his commitment to his FAMILY. I was like, Man, when you turned around and looked, it threw me off.. In fact, most of the names of the drummers appear almost always at the end of the credits in the album covers. Unfortunately, they gave him the credit and didnt put my name on there. Several times. Thats where you started hearing Motown and stuff. The band stays like it is. Alphonso had been there three years. He played us the demo on the way to a gig before it had drums on it. Not even Peter made an album with all Genesis tracks, only Steve.