I wish him nothing but the best. Feb 7, 2021 #34 . But the next thing I know, they started having meetings. I checked with the manager. We laughed a lot. I didnt know until later. Theyre just sitting there like, Impress me. It really annoyed them that they reached event status as opposed to just playing to fans. At one point, we discussed it and it was like, If we dont really need to be there, you guys are fine to go and do what youre doing. [Laughs]. I thougfh the consensus was that Collins was not the only reason, but just a small part of Genesis's evolving intoa pop band? I absolutely loved this round table discussion of Zappa's drummers. After a year with him, I spent some time in Boston with a keyboard player named Webster Lewis, who was phenomenal. Chester Thompson Unfiltered:On Drumming With Genesis & Phil Collins Phil Collins had to hire Chester Thompson and Bill Bruford. Does Phil Collins seem a Christmas card kind of guy to you? He was very cool in a clinic I saw with him and saw Genesis a few times live with Chester boogaloon them through. By then, I had heard a lot of the prog-rock stuff and was very interested to play with those guys. Still his guitarplay wasvery important to the music even if his composing didnt reach the albums. I remember doing an arena after doing stadiums and it felt like an intimate club. When I was old enough to get my own transistor radio, that was huge. Its one of those What Will You Be letters. What I can't still understand is the almost in memorian picture of him in Live 73. Phil Collins had to hire Chester Thompson and Bill Bruford. Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948) is an American drummer best known for his tenures with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Weather Report, Santana, the progressive rock band Genesis and Phil Collins as a solo artist. Phil Collins & Genesis Studio Rehearsals for Knebworth in 1978 It wasnt the same kind of luxury and stuff, which is fine., He added that Genesis was very balanced, instead of having a leader, and everybody had their say. But his first experience with Collins as boss was kind of a drag. He only truly related to drums," Thompson explained. JENNINGS: Phil Collins-led Genesis returning to Buffalo Discover what he did to anger Thompson so much they haven't exchanged holiday cards since 2019. Chester Thompson on His Years with Genesis, Frank Zappa, and Weather Report He spent 30 years in Genesis as a touring drummer, but he had a falling out with Phil Collins in 2010 and they haven't spoken since It had been years. Not too many of them sing even backing vocals. He might have been. That was their first tour in 10 years. I like ballads like Lucky Man, Still you Turn me On, Redezvous 6:02, Soon, Lonely Wind, July Morning, Carpet Crawlers, and a lot more. He wasn't the only member of the band, and it wasn't a chnage that happened overnight. And at the end of the show, he just went off. So, he had to be at the front of the stage. Ill get back to you. Sure enough, he got back and said, You were right. But with Phil, youre one of a cast of thousands. But he still had that American stuff; it was a big part of his background, and we just hit it off immediately. Basically, we rehearsed eight hours a day, 40 hours a week. Whens the tour? And Tony Smiths eye lighted up like Id rarely seen. Phil is not one of those artists. The band was really good. They were starting rehearsals the next week for a new tour and that happened to be my favorite band at the time. Zidkyahu was used on the tour.]. Id always wanted to teach myself. It was a lot. The way my life has gone down, I cant say that I planned any of it. Watch Chester Thompson's blistering drumming for Phil Collins Unfortunately, somehow Ike or his people lost the master tape. You have four guys with British accents [Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Steve Hackett], and there was tour management and a couple of other guys, all with British accents. Hes sort of a quiet guy. Listen Renaissance, Marillion, Pendragon Barclay James Harvest, Moody Blues, Procol Harum, The Strawbs, etc are full of ballads, and nobody ever made a problem. Id have to say, I dont think Jaco was too comfortable with that. It was really brilliant. I guess I had clarity of what I hoped to accomplish. No one also seems to mention how great of a drummer he was (I am not sure if he still is). And of course, my mom loved music. Who knows what thats going to look like at this point. I also think he made a very significant positive contribution to Genesis' heyday. Goodness. Its very nice to get that stuff, but at the same time, because Ive moved on, its taking me back and forcing me to deal with it again. Almost a tradition? Chester Thompson on Decade-Long Rift with Crab Apple Phil Collins. You taught for years at the college level. He basically played us these tunes hed come up with. I am a huge Genesis fan, but am only in high school so I never experienced Genesis when they were popular. thxs VB; Black Market split in half drumwise; good stuff. PHIL COLLINS: ON AMERICAN DRUMMER CHESTER THOMPSON DRUMMING - YouTube His work ethic was just phenomenal. There was quite a bit of Louis Jordan. Was that a challenge for you? Who did you see after that? We did most of the tracking up at Caribou Ranch in Colorado. I also think that he is underrated, because he likes ballads, and not many people who likes Prog Music likes ballads. Frank had a blackboard onstage with all the note names on it. Juli 1990 auf der Berliner Waldbhne, kurz nach dem Fall der Berliner Mauer. !-REACTION RisbyDaCreator 10K views 2. Ive done some teaching, not a lot, but at the moment I have a handful of private students at a school. This is the live version of Inside Out, recorded in Berlin in 1990. Oh, my goodness. Steve saw it as a compromise joining the band. This version mainly shows the American drummer Chester Thompson playing on this amazing performance. Oh, boy. What a nice man, Don Van Vliet. I am reminded of this Amazon review of "Dance Into the Light" (which, incidently, has the funniest Phil Collins album cover). But doing it was really fun. None of the other members really knew how to communicate in a funny way with their audiences. Most surely he didn't made s much money as Phil Tony and Mike, but he has a wealthy positiobn and artistic respect, something that Genesis lost. What happened when Jaco Pastorius came in on bass and Alphonso Johnson left? At one point, he toured with us. He could really play. Chester Thompson sheds some light on relationship with Phil Collins Early life [ edit] Did you watch Bobs show a lot? He would have subdivisions within a bar. Every night after the show wed hang out. And the best artists do it without you even realising it. The vibe just changed. It was pretty profitable. I think that he became popular with housewives, and that was his "guilt". During that particular run, there was none, ever. But to a lot of the fans, I guess they feel like it is. Its not as bad as its made to be , Havent exchanged cards since 2019 ?? Phil and I, from the very first rehearsal when he sat down and we started jamming together, we just locked, he said. They said to me, Youre playing it wrong. But the manager had gone out of his way to call me before we took the Christmas break since they were so happy with the tracks wed done. Rolling Stone suspended its policy on Genesis not being cool enough to report on for a long interview with Chester Thompson. Her daughter was this quiet little kid, but shes turned into this monster artist named Judith Hill. Well, he was a little different from me. Part of that was no matter how well I prepared, he always made some pretty intense changes. Long story short: Collins turned up in a bad mood for the 2010 "Going Back" tour and griped at Thompson because Thompson hadn't prepared the Motown drum parts in enough detail. Oh, my goodness! Even though he played with Brand X, he was not comfortable with soloing. Phil Collins open to Genesis reunion with son, Nic, on drums Bruno Primas Forum Resident Location: Wisconsin [Laughs] He figured it out pretty quickly. All three members of the trio Genesis played a part in the decision to simplifiy their sound, with Banks being the most in charge. The guy was brilliant, amazing. Why did you leave? It was the RKO [Proctors Theatre] in Newark, the Arcada Theater in Chicago, the Royal Theatre in Baltimore, and the Howard Theatre in D.C. I didnt find out any of this until later, but the timing was amazing. He knows what he likes Well Steve was recording a couple of other albums and he was wealthy by that moment, his dream was always to make Genesis sound as he wanted to listen them. The first few stadiums, its like, Oh, my goodness! And then it starts feeling normal. He called up and said, Would you be up for doing a tour with these guys? He explained what was going on and stuff. Phil Collins (onion head) <-nickname), is a great drummer and that is where i believed he should have stayed. We went back and forth. If you want the gig, its yours.. Ginger Baker: mainly a composer as soloist. So I continue quite off topic! And then I ended up doing Phils Motown thing and that didnt go well. The amount of music he made in that time is just remarkable. But they set up mics around the stage where he said he was going to be. Chester Thompson sheds some light on relationship with Phil Collins Are there any salient quotes or paragraphs detailing why they fell out? First, a great interview. In this 2014. It was another situation of me not getting any sleep since I was up all night writing charts. It was amazing. We go in the studio with Jaco, and Alphonsos feel and Jacos feel are radically different. I did one of his solo albums and we had been pretty good friends. There was no leader. I knew it was in the works. In the meantime, hed gotten a solo record deal. His work ethic was just phenomenal. Phil Collins - Take me Home (live 1990) - Chester Thompson Drum cam Chester Thompson: Schlagzeug; Leland Sklar: Bass; Brad Cole: Keyboards; Produktion. I dont think that far ahead. At the same time, there are artists Id love to play with as well. It was really cool. I didnt know, but he did step back for quite a while. There were all these conversations going back and forth that Id try to track. Did you take a crash course in Genesis before you went in? Ive heard lots of audiences tapes, but its pouring rain and none of them sound great.