Phil Collins has long been known as someone who is very serious about his work, both solo and with Genesis. As Chester Thompson would learn, he wasn’t afraid to take matters into his own hands.
The drummer, who’d played previously with Frank Zappa and Weather Report, received a phone call from Collins himself. The band was looking to fill the empty slot left by the departure of Bill Bruford. Phil was familiar with Thompson’s work and in fact, had seen Chester’s last gig with Weather Report. There would be no audition necessary, the gig was his if he wanted it.
Once he said yes, he had a short time to get ready for the first show, which was happening on New Year’s Day in 1977 in London at the Rainbow Theatre, where the prog legends were booked to play three nights. The initial gig was “pretty rough,” as Thompson recalled during an interview for an upcoming episode of the UCR Podcast. “The second day wasn’t bad and the third night was really locked in. Between nerves and [how much there was] to remember and just trying not to mess up, [because] you know, you just want to try and get it right, that was the tension.”
READ MORE: All 32 Genesis Music Videos Ranked
Touring in support of 1976’s Wind & Wuthering, which had been released at the end of that year, the group had more than just a new band member to break in. They were also debuting a revolutionary light show and with barely 8,000 tickets available for the trio of gigs, it had been a tough ducat to acquire. The band’s former frontman, Peter Gabriel, was one of the witnesses as they began the tour and had positive feedback regarding Thompson’s performance. “Chester was really driving the band and all of the material was working,” he shared with the Los Angeles Times. “It was really exciting.”
“The third night was very rewarding to listen to,” Thompson remembers now. “The first night, because I’m probably my worst critic, it was not good. I can’t remember which guy, but one of the big rock critics over there….man, I mean, he just shredded me to no end on that first show. He gave me just a horrendous review, so bad to the point that the first time we played L.A. maybe a year later, Phil grabbed the guy by the collar and made him apologize to me.”
Why Phil Was Unique as a Drummer
Though Collins has a distinctive and instantly recognizable sound, Thompson is able to pinpoint what made the drummer stand out. “In my mind, everything he played was really unique, especially the early days when Peter was there. It was like, man, this stuff was just very different than anybody else you hear,” he says. “Well, it turns out, in some cases, it was him trying to play like an American. But because of his background and everything he’s around, it gave it a very unique twist and that explained a lot. We listened to a lot of the [same players], especially the jazzers. We both listened to Elvin Jones and Tony Williams. He was very well-read on all of the jazz players as well as all of the rock heroes over there.”
Thompson, a Nashville resident, has continued to stay busy behind the kit in the years since he stopped playing with Collins in 2010. Fans of progressive music will be happy to learn that he’s part of a new supergroup featuring Neal Morse (Spock’s Beard, Transatlantic), Phil Keaggy (Glass Harp) and Byron House (Robert Plant, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton). The quartet, collectively known as Cosmic Cathedral will release Deep Water, their debut album, on April 25.
The Best Song From Every Genesis Album
As personnel came and went over the decades, Genesis shape-shifted through prog, folk and (more than once) pop.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
