GENESIS - AND
THEIR REVELATIONS

From The Drummer - March 12, 1974 - by Mike McGrath with Neil Glass

IN THE BEGINNING

The year was 1969. And if that short sentence doesn't raise some pleasant waves of nostalgia, you don't have any business reading our paper. '69 was a magic time. Among the many discoveries made that year was something called "the import record" - albums from England that were either different from those released here, or just plain never released here.

I remember pulling together a stack of domestic promotional albums and heading to a downtown secret rendezvous where they were traded for a decidedly smaller stack of imports. One of them was a little item that had a black cover with gold lettering proclaiming FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION. It was the first effort of a British group that couldn't decide on their name, although the music was much more decisive - I immediately vowed to become a fan once they figured out what to call themselves.

Now jump with me to '74. Tower Theatre. GENESIS is on stage. And few groups can take a stage like GENESIS. Lead singer Peter Gabriel cavorts, entrancing the crowd with his music and his staging - appearing as the Bat-Winged "Watcher From the Skies," as a stocking-masked back-alley lurker, a stumbling, glaring old man, and whatever other characters are called for that night.

Their musicianship is superb and their stage presence holds the audience riveted with attention. When GENESIS plays the Tower, the crowd sits up and gets into the music; and the music? Pretty much on the spaced side, but not nearly so spaced as one would imagine the group to be. So, if you're sufficiently interested, let's jump ahead about 16 hours and have breakfast with them the following day.

Michael Rutherford - who had overwhelmed the audience with his double guitar (No, not double-necked, double guitar - two-in-one) and bass playing joined us first. It was promised that Peter Gabriel, aforementioned lead singer and dramatist, would be along shortly.

TD: How do you feel about the stage visuals that go along with your music?

MR: I'm very happy with the act. There was an era a while back in which we felt that there was a friction between the visuals and the music. We felt too much attention was going to the visuals and the music was being left behind. But on the last American tour, our lights (black lights used to illuminate the stage and costumes, including Peter's glowing eye makeup - at one point the only thing visible on a darkened stage) gave out and we had nothing - just a couple of lights in the hall and Peter's costumes. It was an amazing gig. Partly I think because ... wow, our show was even more complex then we suddenly felt like: Well, we haven't got this, and what's it going to be like? We were very nervous, and we got on and we played really well. And there was suddenly a feeling: It's just us and we're not relying on anything else.

Which I think is what it really is all the time. There was a while, back around six months ago, that psychologically we felt we were being a bit dwarfed by the visuals. At the moment I'm very pleased because I know that anything that happens on stage usually is there to enhance the music.

TD: But the visuals are an important part of the show...

MR: The visuals are a very important part of it, you know. I find that out when I listen to the records ... I can almost sort of feel the lighting effects within the section, which is great.

TD: How does Peter put together the visuals; which begins to take shape first, his act or the music?

MR: The stage act? We don't even begin to think about it until the music is written. The things Peter does - his costumes and movements - are entirely his; his creations. But the lighting effects and other things are something very much about all of us really. The band tries to contribute to everything that goes on on stage.

Everyone has a feel for what there should be visually. Everybody has different ideas, but luckily we seem to be in the same direction.

TD: The first album, "From Genesis to Revelation," how long did the band call itself Revelation?

MR: That was just for the first American tour because there was already a band in America called Genesis ... I don't want to spend a lot of time on our history, so I'll be brief about it. There was myself, Pete and Tony Banks in school; and we used to do a lot of writing together. Just composing. We got in at an era when most bands had stopped doing other people's songs, so there was no one to do our material. The only way to get it done was to form a band - and that's really what happened. That's basically why we got together.

TD: How old were you at the time of the first LP?

MR: (casually) Oh, we were about 16 or 17 then (Meaning, of course, that the present age of the members of one of the fastest rising British groups is around 22.)

MR: He's an imposter! Let me see your pass!

(On the way down into the restaurant, Peter passed an older gentleman who noticed his partially shaved head. The man remarked, "That's all right lad, they took some of my brains out too!" When Peter finally convinced him that the odd haircut was because of a stage act, the old man replied, "Show Business? Well, it's almost the same thing." True story. Swear on my grandmother.)

TD: How exactly did the stage act evolve?

PG: It happened slowly really ... I began just fiddling with my hands - and then a costume ... and then acting out more parts with more costumes. Then a white curtain, rear projection and screens - finally evolving to what you'll see tonight. There s a lot of things we'd like to do but haven't been able to, using film and cartoons and trying to surround ourselves with it on stage.

TD: Did you ever consider doing anything like a rock opera?

PG: (lightly) If it's fashionable next year, we'll probably do it.

TD: OK - Is there anything in your background that lends itself to the theatrics on stage?

PG: (deadpan) Well, my mother was Gypsy Rose Lee...

TD: ... You do seem to enjoy being melodramatic on stage...

PG: It's not nearly as interesting as it is offstage (continuing, laughing). I have an Aunt and Grandmother who sang opera, but that's about it.

On the Tower Audience:

PG: We didn't find them very rowdy at all. Actually I thought they were rather restrained last night (Agreed, except for the leather-throat who kept time by screaming out "ALL RIGHT!" every 45 seconds). It's better for us if we do have a bit ot earthiness coming out of the audience - because you can get stuck with a rather boring sort of airy-fairy crowd.

On American audiences:

MR: Actually, American audiences are usually more understanding than Europeans. We don't like to do encores, because there's really no way to follow "Supper's Ready" (the 20 minute long wrap-up for the act). We've said it all and that's it - and Americans are very good about it. But some European audiences just want to hear more.

TD: Is a lot of your material based on actual happenings; you use a bit of newspaper, every day stuff, right?

PG: I just had a new clipping and when I tried to find it again it was gone. I just used what I could remember from that one. There was another story I found about a guy on top of a crane. In Birmingham, someone rang up the police station and said, "There's someone at a building site on the square and they're on top of the crane, holding on to the end of it. Can you get him down?"

And the policeman said, "Just tap him on the fingers with a rubber mallet.

And the guy was killed - the police had thought it was a joke. Ha, ha, ha (extremely facetious ha's). Makes great material...

TD: Peter, how about going into some detail on your costumes - do you think it could ever detract from the music on stage?

PG: I don't think it could detract because ... it's derived purely and simply out of the music and lyrics. It's not, "Hey, I've got a great idea for a costume, where can we rub it in?"

I go around to the maskmaker and discuss with him which characters I can pull out, and then bring them on. A lot of people don't hear the lyrics anyway - it's very difficult in a rock situation to get the lyrics across. And there are also a lot of visual IDEAS that go into writing this stuff. I still think we think of everything as writers, and we play at being musicians; and then we play at being performers. And we use any mediums we need to get the writing across.

TD: Because of the unique nature of television, you never did get to see yourself on the MIDNIGHT SPECIAL. How do you feel about performing on TV?

PG: It's a crucial thing. It's the most powerful medium you have access to, and you can't control it. We did some video tape things in France that were incredibly effective, but they had no understanding of what we were trying to do. There was no cohesion. It was just a series of images - spaceships taking off, tits, and all the rest. They just stuck them in at random pretty much.

TD: How much preparation do you do for an album?

PG: A lot. Two months. And then we've got various ideas either formed or half formed before we even start that. The main melody and the lyrical side should be fixed for about two weeks before you even begin to try and record it. We also have a very high rejection rate.

You see, if anybody really doesn't like a bit, they can kill it. I'd say only about 30 percent gets through the other end. But we're all songwriters; and a fifth of an album a year for a writer is no outlet at all. So we try and take our rejected material outside the band.

MR: lt's very difficult - you see, we spend about three-quarters of the year on the road - touring. It isn't that we prefer it that way, actually it's a poor balance - but there are just so many places to visit. So many places to play.

TD: What musicians influence you, if any?

PG: Initially people like Nina Simone and Otis Redding - just because there seems to be a lot of emotion and intensity there. I remember seeing Otis Redding - it was probably the best gig I've ever seen.

TD: What about British artists?

PG: Beatles obviously ... the first King Crimson album, I think that influenced us. The Beatles did a lot with Sgt. Pepper and "I am the Walrus" for the pop scene, and then Crimson came along and took the thing that the Beatles had developed and took it even further...

But I think people aren't aware who we rip off from. We rip off from a much wider range of people than they suspect. Everyone does really. But I believe that when it all comes together with the band, it is presenting something different...

You collect styles along with everything else. Most bands rip off pretty well from Chuck Berry and a few others like him.

TD: Like The Beatles did in the beginning, and the Stones?

PG: And the Stones are still doing it.

So, that's what they had to say. I feel compelled to add that, as people, GENESIS are top-rank. Down to earth, easy to talk to, and even easier to listen to. It was a pleasure.

0h, just one more thing. Mike Rutherford tells me that some changes are in the wind for the band. Previously they had lived apart and met at prescribed times in the studio to record. They decided there was a better way.

The next album will have been composed by the band members living together in their own house - with a mobile studio located outside. This not only serves as convenient for getting immediate inspirations down on tape, but will afford the group more time to work things out together and a lot more time to play things out together.

So, look for a new direction on the next Genesis album. It all works out as planned - the move could prove to be a giant step.

Thanks to Jeff Kaa for providing this article for The Path

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