Over the last year, Consequence of Sound contributor Kyle Meredith, host of the Kyle Meredith With… podcast, has had a chance to speak to several members of Genesis, and he’s asked each of them the same question: Would they be interested in reuniting Genesis?
Keyboardist Tony Banks said “it’d be fun to try,” while guitarist Steve Hackett told his former bandmates to “call me if they need me.” Meanwhile, bassist Mike Rutherford commented that the band’s members remain “very good friends,” but “never wanted to go on” without singer/drummer Phil Collins.
For his part, Collins is certainly entertaining the idea and has even gone as far to consider how the touring lineup might look.
“I wouldn’t say there isn’t not a possibility,” Collins said when asked about another possible Genesis reunion in an interview with Rolling Stone. “Me, Mike [Rutherford] and Tony [Banks] are pretty close still. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I didn’t play the drums, but anything is possible.”
Collins, of course, lost his ability to drum after suffering extensive nerve damage during Genesis’ last reunion tour in 2007. For his recent solo tour, he enlisted his son, Nicholas, to play drums, which could also be an option for Genesis’ lineup.
“They both were raving about Nic,” Collins said of a conversation he had with Banks and Rutherford last summer. “Mike made the appropriate comment of, ‘He just gets it. He just gets what is needed and what is required and why you’re doing this for that song.’ I thought that was a wonderful thing to say. He was 16 at that point.”
“I think that, yeah, if we did anything I think it would have to be with Nic on drums because I don’t think I’m capable of it,” Collins added. “I think their opinion of Nic is high enough for them to take him onboard as part of the band.”
In the meantime, Collins is set to embark on the US leg of his “Not Dead Yet Tour” in October. The tour’s launch will coincide with the release of a new anthology record, Plays Well With Others, due out September 28th.