That was that. Chester Thompson: Schlagzeug; Leland Sklar: Bass; Brad Cole: Keyboards; Produktion. Its an interesting gig musically speaking. Gabriel, Hackett, Rutherford and banks Are great composers. But I was fortunate. And even though I listened to the cassettes, I didnt get a real feel for what was going on before I got there. Basically, I want to keep putting things out. There were all these conversations going back and forth that Id try to track. Id come in and read it down the next day, which was pretty new to them because none of them read [music] at all. I agree, one weak album, because GTR was a multi members enterproce that involved even Steve Howe, but it wa a disaster. How much did you know about prog-rock bands like Yes, King Crimson By then, I had heard a lot of the prog-rock stuff and was very interested to play with those guys. 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. Do you recall first hearing In the Air Tonight? Im constantly writing, constantly trying new stuff. [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. Who did you see after that? If you did your part, it was fun. A lot of well-known names. That's pretty much the zest of it. I was okay one-on-one, but they speak much, much faster than we do. 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. It was really cool. We normally had a lot of eye contact at shows. Im sure if you spent time with him one-on-one it would be different. Carl Palmer: again great drummer but not a main composer in ELP or Asia. 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. First thing out of his mouth was, Would you come back to the band? It was perfect timing. Some of his hits are cheesy. Several times we were on Phils tour in 2005 and they had meetings about how to put this tour together. 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. They were doing Cloudburst and all that stuff. We arent, like, chums, but we stay in touch. No. He said, I double-track everything anyway, so it would be great if we could just do it together. But they all live very close together and they always had a set writing period where theyd be like, Okay, from blank to blank, were writing. They would each do that, come back with what they had and basically it was just too easy to go, OK, lets put this down. And thats what they did. It was just different. And then it got to be a little more honest. Ive said half-jokingly that with Frank, I learned how to play all the notes, all the subdivisions. That aint me., Despite thoseearly troubles, Thompson recalled that he hit it off immediately with Collins, which made their regular drum duets easy to perform. I said, Man, I cant do that. It got awkward. Whens the tour? And Tony Smiths eye lighted up like Id rarely seen. Did they talk to you about being a part of that? I remember doing an arena after doing stadiums and it felt like an intimate club. It was non-stop laughing every day. And then I ended up doing Phils Motown thing and that didnt go well. Well appreciated, keep up enjoying Phil Collins! Her daughter was this quiet little kid, but shes turned into this monster artist named Judith Hill. Again, Ive got no grudge. Look At The Sussudio LP Cover. You guys have always done that. There were all these conversations going back and forth that Id try to track. It was amazing to be in the room while they were playing at full tilt and because . I dont know. Music Department: The Who's Tommy, the Amazing Journey. That stood out more than anything. Neal Peart: great drummer, lyricist, and sometimes composer of the music in Rush. I knowsome people are not going to like my commentaries . Whats going on? He said, Didnt you quit the band? I said, No, what are you talking about? Didnt you quit with Alphonso? I go, Alphonso quit? How was it for you culturally? They had presented him with this amazing gift. 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. He isn't the main cause of downfall for Genesis, so shut up about that. I think that Bruford said that in 1992-93 for the "Notes of the Edge" website. Not at all. It was amazing stuff, absolutely. I got back to L.A. and I called them up and said, When are we going back in the studio? They were like, Well, you dont need to go back in. I was like, Whats going on here?. Great drummer. We want to hear it. [Laughs] Its interesting, I probably absorbed more of their culture than they did anything I grew up with because I was really uncomfortable. They kind of assumed that he would. I did one of his solo albums and we had been pretty good friends. Well, basically, I hadnt prepared in as much detail as I usually did. Phil was not sure family-wise and he hasnt had the easiest of times there. I dont know if they were connected owner-wise, but there was a whole circuit of those theaters. I absolutely loved this round table discussion of Zappa's drummers. After 20 years, it was enough. I also had an older brother in the military. Former touring drummer Chester Thompson and Collins had a falling out and have not spoken in years. You didnt finish the tour, though. During that particular run, there was none, ever. Its going very well. The whole band took Tony's side (There's no Genesis without Tony) instead of compromising, giving more songs to Steve, It's ridiculous that Your Own Special Way was in W&W instead of Steve's superior material. But he deserves more respect. Early life [ edit] He could really play. Were you intimidated when you walked into that rehearsal space? [Sighs] Thats a whole drama Im not crazy about. I dont know what they might have been going through behind the scenes, but our time together was just great. It`s not true. I no longer teach at the university, but I have taken on some private students. It was really cool. No mud slinging at all. 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). Man, it was wonderful. And of course, there was another drummer there and it was an audition. It was an incredibly difficult piece of music that we actually nailed in the studio. HE WAS RECRUITED BY PHIL COLLINS, TO REPLACE PHIL AS THE PRIMARY TOURING DRUMMER. He was into a lot of the American jazz drummers. A lot of well-known names. So many songs, so many albums, so many concerts. Later that year, he also cancelled two gigs after falling in his hotel room and hitting his head, a result of the drop foot mentioned above. He put everything into it. Phil Collins had to hire Chester Thompson and Bill Bruford. Good read! Also, drum parts in Genesis are not very easy to play and sing at the same time on stage. He said they were going to be doing something totally different and they werent interested. Theyve got a studio. Oh, my goodness! I saw everybody in those days. Chester's performance and recording experiences have influenced over three decades of music and musicians. All three members of the trio Genesis played a part in the decision to simplifiy their sound, with Banks being the most in charge. I have a big MS Word file with interviews about the "Union" album of YES. Were drums your first love as an instrument? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7_vNpVXubA, What happened from there? You are using an out of date browser. Their manager was someone I knew from L.A. We had worked on a couple of things together. We were out there hitting it together and theres something about that. Genesis' The Last Domino? . And even though Im not doing it anymore, Im glad that he decided to go back to work. And the best artists do it without you even realising it. Phil double-tracked all the drum parts. The first couple of years, I pretty much put it together. IvanI think we have reached the end of our discussion wether Phil is nasty or not. Its not something he did. In my mind, these guys were almost hippies compared to what I was used to. Zidkyahu was used on the tour.]. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/llins-frank-zappa-weather-report-1122064/amp/, https://ultimateclassicrock.com/chester-thompson-phil-collins-solo-tour/. And Caribou Ranch was magical. We basically tracked it with no bass. [Laughs] He figured it out pretty quickly. All of the above. Breaks Down His Killer White House Correspondents Dinner Set, Bernie Sanders: Many GOP Leaders 'Don't Even Believe in Democracy'. Has Phil talked to you at all in the past 10 years? It was just there. 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. 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. In the book Tony says that Phil liked Yes and brought some of their playing ability to Genesis. Thompson believed he had 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. Oh, yeah. When I was old enough to get my own transistor radio, that was huge. He was a great writer and arranger. Max Roach and Art Blakey were first. He had seen what turned out to be my last Weather Report concert, but he was very familiar with the Zappa stuff. No. And Phil and I had a lot of the same roots. The guys work ethic he just worked. I found Richard Mc'Phaill here, at that point and due to the 1973 in memorian, I thought McPhaill was dead, later I found an interview by him (2001) and new he was alive and healthybutonlytoday found he made backing vocals in Genesis Revisited. I have no idea. Heres the crazy thing, man. At least 50% of the already mentioned are composers also, and yes there are few drummers who are lead singers, because they would need to hire another musician to replace them while singing.