GENESIS - SELLING
A LITTLE OF BRITAIN

Probably from NME, January 3, 1974 - by Mark Plummer

Genesis may mean little in America at this point in time. Give them two more tours and they'll be following hard on the heels of Pink Floyd, ELP, Yes, Focus, and the other distinctly European sounding bands who have carved out a niche in the U.S. rock audience's listening habits. It is no exaggeration to say Genesis are selling a little of England for the dollars.

A most peculiar band.

Genesis are a European group, theirs is a highly structured music that follows patterns other than those set by countless riffs and twelvebars. The great European classical writers shine through the music, not copied as in ELP's case, but echoed in notes and timings out of the rock norm.

Instrumentation also alters from the accepted and expected in Genesis' music. It branches away from guitar, bass, drums and keyboard sound, while always retaining a dreamlike quality in both its lighter and dramatic passages.

Tony Banks' keyboard playing flows with liquidescense, his piano and organ merging into patterns with synthesizer and mellotron, out on their own as bridges. In with the overall music they stir and fill the gaps adding a quality that few bands have. Michael Rutherford's bass work, deeply mixed into the music, has a distinct sound of its own while his 12-string often adds a thick texture. Stephen Hackett plays both fast fingered electric guitar runs and classical influenced gut string passages, while Phil Collins' drumming is disciplined with time signatures, yet never too complex in its construction and use of percussion. Each beat is perfectly placed and his style rarely falls into the same egotistical traps that enslave so many drummers.

Yet it is singer, flautist Peter Gabriel who stands out as the character of the group. A centre parting shaved out of the crown of his head. A parting that perhaps allows cosmic vibes into his brain to bring ever increasing fantasies into his lyric and music writing. But no, Peter declares it is little more than a publicity gimmick contrived to catch the ever hungry media and public.

"The shaved head is a very cheap way of getting myself in the papers," said Peter Gabriel after watching old Shindigs, outtakes of "Gunsmoke" and "Startrek" in a cinema laid on by Atlantic records for the night. "Well, yes I could shave a little more. But we'll see what happens. When these latest pictures start dying out perhaps I'll shave more off."

The shaved head and general fantasies of the lyrics Peter writes, exist in a world where anything can happen. The pictures drawn by his songs are not those of everyday, but of strange places and crazy happenings. Anything is possible in Genesis' democratic writing process which utilizes each member of the group. They tour the road like countless other bands, but unlike all but a few, they write of Battles in Epping Forest and other people's wardrobes. Crazy fantasy worlds.

"A lot of honest to good dirt bands produce their fantasies off stage in their real lives. We're quite a sane bunch off stage, we all prefer to do it on stage. Enact happenings that we wouldn't usually come across.

"The music is the same. Rather than play watered down Black American music or whatever, we're trying to put down whatever interests us as writers. As you can hear, we listen to a lot of different kinds of music.

"I try to pull what is me out of myself and project it into the songs. A lot of black music really gets me excited. But when you hear your average rock and roller jamming around a 12 bar that builds into a climax and going nowhere, it adds up to nothing. I saw Alvin Lee and Friend on the Midnight Special programme and really, what was all that about?

"But you do get some like the Who with their Link Wray rip offs and you've got something really exciting, there's a personality coming out that isn't a watered down version of something else. Now the Who are very different kettle of fish."

Genesis got together at school and started writing songs with the intention of becoming songwriters. Forming a group to play their own music was something they had no intention of doing. Bad luck and complex music forced it upon them and they haven't looked back.

As writers, they worked for British Bubble gum brain, Jonathan King but found little interest in their songs. A&R producers did not like what they were doing. Slowly as their verse chorus verse chorus chorus chorus end songs began to change into pieces of meandering vocals supported by ever intriguing musical patterns, they began to realize the only way to ever get it heard was to start performing their own music.

More bad luck. They found themselves rarely gigging at first, making an occasional trip down Britain's M1 and little else. Then a break. Tony Stratton Smith took an interest in their music and signed Genesis to his Charisma label. A new beginning that generated audience curiosity in Britain and Europe which has been building since their debut album. Now they are among the top British bands and set on repeating the same here.

But getting America to listen is as hard as it was finding the breaks in Britain. Their stage show involves the use of scenery, a lot of electricity, slides and costumes. Being second on the bill does not work for them. Instead they have to play smaller halls where they can be assured of an audience and consequently have lost a small fortune on both their two trips to the States.

It's not easy being out of the ordinary. "The audience reaction we've been getting on this tour has been really great, but last time wasn't so good. We played a few gigs on the Lou Reed tour and quite honestly his audience didn't fall overboard about us.

"We make a lot of demands on a promoter and as a support band they won't wear it. Most tell us where to go, so we're left with the option of playing gigs to small audiences or not playing at all. In fact, playing small halls here is good for us, because at least the audience has come to see us."

Genesis have just had their latest album released in America, an album that goes further than any of their previous works in establishing the band's individual sound. Unlike their other albums, it has a simpler sound with the instrumentation kept down to nearly that of a live show. Rather than being overdubbed until it's fat and completely filled. "Selling England By The Pound" is a less complex album.

It catches snatches of other bands and blends each influence into a sound that is unique and immediately identifiable. "Selling England By The Pound" overcomes previous problems with their recorded material and works with more of an individual sound than anything they've recorded before.

Peter Gabriel agrees and expands: "We'd go in the studio and be adding all night to backtracks. Decorating and decorating.

"It's great to do because you get new shapes to songs you hadn't noticed before. But you can also lose sight and forget what it was originally meant to be, without realizing you're doing so. Recording is a very tricky business. But I think this time we've got as near as possible to the sound we want.

"The thing with us is we're not the world's most productive group, one album a year is good enough for us."

In Los Angeles for the first time, Peter found the city somewhat bizarre. It could well have fitted into a song, yet all the same, he found a character that worried him slightly. Llke the Roxy, where they played a showcase gig.

"Where else in the world," he asked, "could you see Frank Zappa, Neil Young, Anne Murray or Sha Na Na playing to an audience of five hundred? It's very elitist. L.A. really has that kind of feeling to it."

The Roxy in L.A. was their last gig before returning to Britain and a drastic power shortage. With every type of power rationed, it won't be long before Genesis return to the States.

It's going to take time, but watch out - Genesis intends to put themselves on the map.

Next time they play the Roxy, it won't be as a showcase, but as a part of the elitism Peter finds so disturbing.

Thanks to Jeff Kaa for providing this article for The Path