Here I am, Sunday afternoon, in front of my PC, quite unsure how to put this.
I try:
Actually it turned out to be a kind of interview, but we were both in the same studio and surroundings for some hours, so we met again and again, and joked, smiled and so on.
THE REASON FOR THE MEETING:
My best friend, Torstein, is playing drums in a jazz band called The Real Thing here in Oslo. Every Saturday night they play in a TV show; playing intros and outros, fanfares, backing artists, and sometimes they play their own material.
Last Monday, he smiled and asked me: - Guess who will be the guest and main artist next Saturday? Yes, Mike & The Mechanics! I'll play drums behind him...LIVE!!! He said I could come and make it a try - to get in touch with Mike. I tried, and made it!
I met him three o'clock, shaking his hand, saying "Michael Rutherford - my name is Thomas Holter - would it be possible for me to have a conversation with you today - when you have a break and some time of?" He said: "Yes of course, I would like to." Then he disappeared, going down to the studio for rehearsals - with my friend - the drummer, also a big Genesis fan. They played Shoulder, without ANY playback, but with a B3 and a saxophone!!! Mike only brought with him the two Pauls. PC, MR and Staffan (from TRT) played aqoustic guitars. PY played bass, but lost his cable, so the organist had to take over the bass part (Sorry, this did not happen during the rehearsals, but LIVE ON TV! Anyway, it sounded great. They played the first verse solely with guitars, and then, BAM BAM BAM BAM - "Every day..." (I think...)
Then they rehearsed for a singback version of Coffee. Paul Carrack has really a great voice.
Down in the studio, I spoke to Mikes manager, and he told me to be around around eight o'clock in the evening. He asked me how much time I needed and who I represented. I said 10 minutes!?! 15 minutes??? And I represent myself, and Paperlate - the internet mailing list. Then he smiled and said OK. The manager was more difficult and sceptical than Mike was. I think that's a bit strange...
I went home to prepare some questions. I am not used to do interviews so I was starting to get a little nervous. And I didn't have a tape recorder. I SHOULD have had!!
THE CONVERSATION:
After the make-up session I brought Mike into The Real Thing's dressing room and asked him to sit down. He preferred standing. That made me a little LESS comfortable. But Mike and the way he is made me comfortable in no time.
OK, the conversation issuewise:
IN GENERAL:
ME: You haven't played live in Norway since the explosion [Phil in History video:"You're fired!!"] during the Lamb tour in 1975. Has this frightened you from coming back?
MR: Haven't we? No, of course not [the reason]. I think it is a matter of a lot of coincidences. The Mechanics have sold well here, maybe...
MIKE & THE MECHANICS: (I didn't write down the dialogue)
He was quite satisfied with the new album, and was happy that it sold so well here in Norway, and Sweden and Denmark. He was aware that Word of Mouth didn't sell at all, anywhere.
I asked him: On the Beggar album, everything is co-written. Are you most into the lyrics or the music? He answered that he mainly was into the music writing, but as with Genesis the last 15 years, he regarded The Mechs as a song writing collective. That's the way he prefer to work.
What about the future for The Mechanics? They will release a Best of album in January or February, and maybe a tour will follow.
GENESIS BOX SETS:
ME: Do you mind jumping over to some Genesis issues?
MR: No, not at all...
I asked him in what degree he was involved in the release of the box sets. He was very involved, and so was everyone. He was VERY optimistic, and it was a quite interesting process. They had gone through a lot of old material, and plenty of it sounded VERY GOOD. He talked about the Shrine show, it sounded great, and will cover 2 CDs. Yes everyone, Peter is SINGING his 1995 voice into a 1975 concert!!! He had to, because "all the stuff he wore prevented him from getting close to the microphone". Mike sounded as he thought that was quite natural to do. Steve is also REPAIRING some of his lines, not only mixing. Ant is also involved.
AND: Silver Song and Only Your Love WILL be included, but probably in the second box. I told him about Phil Collins refusing to have them released 20 years ago, but he didn't know anything about that. I think he was a bit surprised by my knowledge to some of the old unrealesed stuff, but he promised me that "there will be lots of surprises".
I commented that the boxes probably not will be millionsellers, and he answered that "we are NOT doing this for the sales or the money, but for ourselves". And for people like me?, I said. "...and for people like you, yes", he replied.
I think is was very nice to hear his enthusiasm for the project. I don't think he believed that the first box will be released before christmas...
LAMB LYRICS:
Concerning the thread we had a week ago, I asked him about the Lamb lyrics. He was a bit vague: "The Lamb was a Peter thing. This is HIS album".
ME: Yeah, but there are rumours that he didn't finish his lyrics in time, so some of you had to help him out? What about The Light Dies Down?
MR: "Wasn't it Phil who wrote that... I'm not sure... I can't remember. But it was NOT a problem of getting finished in time or anything. We were all involved, but it was Peter..."
THE FUTURE OF GENESIS:
I opened with referring to himself, Phil and Tony saying that We Can't Dance was easy and pleasureable to write.
ME: That sounds promising for a future album. Have you decided anything yet?
MR: No.
I told him about the rumours of Phil leaving, and he said that these kind of rumours have always appeared between the albums, because of the long breaks, the solo projects... "Tony has his album out now, but we'll keep in touch."
ME: Have you spoken to Phil lately?
MR: Yeah, yesterday... or the day before..
ME: Is he back in England now?
MR: No, he's in Geneva
ME: Is he doing well
MR: YEAHH, really [MR REALLY meant that] He was doing fine, and we had a very nice conversation on the phone... I look forward to see him.
Now his manager had started to hang around, signalising it was time to stop. I gave Mike some of my CD sleeves (4-5 Genesis CDs and Smallcreep and Beggar), and while he signed them (To Thomas from Genesis - Mike Rutherford) he told me that he had contact with Ant one or two times a year, that he LOVES the music of Sting, and "YEAH [quite surprised], we were in contact with a norwegian singer after Peter left, Jahn Teigen, was it? [one of the few competitors receiving ZERO points in European Song Contest in its history, I think it was in 78 or 79] But he never got audition... yes I remember him". I asked him if he had listened to the new album Wild Seed by Morten Harket? "Morten...who? Oh yeah, the singer in A-ha?! No, but Chris [Neil, producer of both Beggar and Wild Seed] mentioned it. Is it good". I told him it was, and if he liked Sting and his own music, he should give it a try.
Then our hands met again. I thanked him for having this conversation with me. And he left for the show...and played the heck out of the in general elderly audience.
I am sure I have forgotten bits and pieces, but if anything important comes to mind, I'll post it.
FELLOW PAPERLATERS: I think it is impossible to tell you HOW goodlooking, how nice, how friendly the man was... He smiled and his eyes met mine sevaral times... He was not in a hurry, Actually HE WAS, at the end, but he did't seem to. For me it was a great moment.
Actually, we met again after the show, but didn't pick up the conversation, only some comments on the show. Paul Young was really a nice man. He was joking a lot. Carrack was more quiet.
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After all was over, my drumming friend and me had a couple of beers downtown. He enjoined playing with Mike. Suddenly my friend was a POP star...
I went home, switched off all electric lights, listened to Say It's Alright Joe and Stagnation...
...and cried a little bit..
Thomas