20 years of it: Thru the eyes of … Helmut Janisch

Anniversary review by Helmut Janisch

Where do you start when you want to summarise twenty eventful years of a multifaceted hobby in a manageable article? I'll tie the beginning of the red thread to the year 1991 and throw the ball of yarn from there towards the present – let's see how many twists and knots the thread gets or whether it even breaks…

In 1991, there was a Genesis fan club in Germany called 'Der Genesis-Fan'. It was one of several in a row that had been providing German-speaking fans with information since the mid-1970s. I had offered to help this club with the layout of its simply produced club magazine, and at the beginning of 1991, the first issue appeared with a new look. The layout was created on my first Mac, an Apple Macintosh Classic, at a time when Apple was still something exotic and elitist. InDesign was still called Pagemaker back then and did not yet belong to the Adobe Group, and scanners for home use weighed ten kilos and cost 2,000 marks. Thanks to my brother, who had discovered the Mac a few years earlier, I was able to put most of my ideas into practice, and I became increasingly interested in layout, image editing and desktop publishing.

So I worked on 'Der Genesis-Fan' from 1991 to 1993, until the editor, like me, lost interest in the project and it was discontinued. Since then, there has been no Genesis fan club in Germany…

Well, that's how it could have turned out. The fact is, however, that soon after my brief interlude at 'Genesis-Fan', I fell out with the person in charge and suddenly found myself alone with my ideas for a functioning Genesis fan club with a sophisticated club magazine. I didn't know any other fans, but I learned that a certain Peter Schütz from Ding-Dong-Records (where I used to order CDs) also liked Genesis. In November 1991, we spoke on the phone and I asked him if he would be interested in working with me on a new fan club… that's how it all started.

In December 1991, the first club magazine was published in a print run of 30 copies, hand-copied, folded and stapled. Shortly afterwards, Bernd Zindler joined the editorial team, and we met for the first time. It quickly became apparent that this trio could work together very effectively. We all wrote articles, later Peter took over the fan shop and Bernd the membership administration, and I established and maintained contact with artists and record companies, coordinated, designed, produced and distributed the magazine. A small, inconspicuous group slowly developed into a real club, and the booklet became a magazine. Gradually, more and more members joined the club, and we also found fans who wanted to actively participate and could write articles or contribute in other ways. Things were moving forward.

Hardly anyone today can imagine how we worked back then. The Mac Classic had a monitor that was barely bigger than a postcard. That's where we created the first (already A4-sized) club magazines! The internet had not yet found its way into private homes. We researched our articles in various lists, magazine articles and books about Genesis! There was no email yet – if we wanted to exchange ideas or material, we sent it by letter! Telephoning was still a monopoly of the telecommunications company and cost a lot of money if, like us, you often had to talk to each other for a long time – flat rates had not yet been invented! Once I had finished designing a magazine, I went with several

1.4 MB floppy disks, later replaced by a Syquest removable disk with an impressive 44 MB capacity, to the DTP studio, picked up the printing films there a few days later and drove them to the printer… burning a CD, transferring a few hundred MB to a USB stick or even moving files from A to B via FTP upload was as utopian as time travel back then. But it worked. And sooner or later, all the innovations of modern technology found their way into the offices of the IT editorial team.

I admit that I often considered the visual appearance of an article or the entire magazine to be somewhat more important than the actual content. And since no one interfered with the layout and graphics, I took advantage of all the possibilities offered by my limited, self-taught skills in Pagemaker and Photoshop. Sometimes the result was even quite usable. Ultimately, however, I was helplessly at the mercy of the printer, and the moment when I examined a freshly printed magazine for the first time was always very

Exciting. Most of the time, there was little cause for complaint, but every now and then, an article I had carefully designed or even several pages of a magazine were simply ruined by the printer. Quite a few printing errors also crept in. All in all, however, each magazine was successful in its own way and, at least in my view, a small work of art. Incidentally, most of them are still available for purchase from us!

In addition to producing the magazine, the most interesting part of the association's work for me was meeting most of the Genesis (former) band members and various artists from their circle in person during interviews. Bernd and Peter usually accompanied me on appointments within Germany, but on trips abroad – usually to England – we had to do without Peter, except for one tour. At the time, Bernd and I simply did not have the same family commitments as he did. So we met them one by one, and it was always a very special moment, regardless of whether it was one of the big names or someone whose name was very small and very far down in the credits on the record cover. They all had interesting stories to tell about their lives and their involvement in Genesis (solo) projects. Everyone welcomed us very warmly and took time for us. We even met some of them several times, and we are still friends with one or two of them today. Others were perhaps only available for a short interview. But I will always have fond memories of all these encounters.

But we weren't just on the road for interviews. The various tours also gave us plenty of opportunities to travel across Germany, and sometimes across Europe. Looking back, it's hard to understand how we were able to attend so many concerts in places so far apart in such a short space of time. It's certainly a great advantage to be very young and a bit crazy. As you get older, you tend to become a bit calmer and more level-headed. Every now and then, we also enjoyed one or two perks at concerts thanks to our 'job'. Legendary is the VW VIP pass for the German concerts of Genesis in 1992, which saved us hours of waiting and queuing at some stadiums and helped us to snacks and bargains in the sponsor's VIP area. The only thing that topped that was Steve Hackett's 2000 tour of Italy, where Bernd and I were almost part of the crew (including selling Hackett merchandise together with John Wood). Some people in the Genesis circle really meant well by us…

By the mid-1990s, I had achieved what I had set out to do and could have been happy and content. But two character traits stood in my way: the urge to do everything I do as perfectly as possible and the desire to maintain as much control as possible over the things around me. So I pushed myself in particular, but also Peter and Bernd, further and further, proposing innovations and expansions to our club work. Fan club meetings, fan merchandise sales, ever-changing sections and specials in the magazine, a constant stream of new interview partners – the whole thing gradually took on a dimension that far exceeded the scope of a hobby.

Besides my job and family, this was supposed to fill up a little bit of my free time. For me, it was the other way around: my job and family filled the little time I didn't spend on the club. My life was completely and radically organised around the publication cycle of the club magazines, club days, concert or interview trips. I became driven, constantly under time pressure between two issues of it magazine and with a healthy dose of perfectionism breathing down my neck. A change was necessary. But how do you manage the balancing act between 'preserving the club' and 'shifting priorities'? The half-hearted 'two thicker magazines plus two newsletters' solution between 1997 and 1999 brought little relief, as the work was only postponed or piled up. In the autumn of 1999, Peter, Bernd and I therefore decided to discontinue the magazine and launch the website. My hobbyhorse, the printed magazine, was history.

After a few wrong turns and a short but intense learning process, we managed to gain a foothold in the new world of the internet. After wearing out two webmasters, who were turning grey from dealing with our requests, the job fell to Peter. I was completely out of the layout business and only did the necessary graphics. Quite apart from the fact that web design was not my thing (and never would be), I simply wanted to spend less time on the club. But that didn't work out either, because especially in the beginning, new graphics were constantly needed for the website. At this point, I was close to leaving the editorial team. That was in 2002, and Christian Gerhardts came to the rescue. He had already offered to play an active role in the editorial team or to continue the club if we ever thought about stopping. So we chose him to give the it editorial team a 'fresh start'. I remained in the team, but handed over virtually all my previous tasks (except for creating graphics for the website and planning club days) to Christian. This laid the foundation for version 2.0 of the German Genesis Fan Club it, as it still exists today. Christian had completely different ideas about what a website should offer fans. In particular, the forum, but also the English version of our website, would never have been developed to the same extent under our leadership as it was under Christian's direction. With the introduction of the All-My-Web interface for the administration of the site, the club's internet presence regained importance for me as well – simply because it made layout almost as easy to implement as in print. But Christian also gave the club new impetus in other ways and ensured that we overcame the stagnation that had crept in after the end of magazine production, a lukewarm start with the website and declining interest among fans in fan club meetings. A fresh wind blew (at that time from the west, now from the east) and brought optimism and a new feeling of 'We are somebody again'.

A word about the club's events. Our offer to fans to meet in person as part of a club day began quite unspectacularly and almost completely improvised in Aschaffenburg in 1993, was further tested in Nuremberg and Braunschweig, and was finally organised to perfection and celebrated year after year in Eichenzell-Welkers. Not only did many of you meet each other for the first time, but we also had the chance to get to know some club members personally. Friendships were formed or deepened, there was a lot of laughter and 'culting', and we tried to give you a few entertaining hours with rare videos, interesting live acts and all kinds of supporting programmes.

I have many fond memories, whether it's Eddy's 'Wackelblumen' (wobbly flowers), Bernd and Steffen's version of Congo with audience accompaniment, John Morell's great shows, or numerous other unforgettable moments from the past 20 years. In 1996, we established the "it" event alongside the 'normal' club day, which we envisioned would always revolve around something very specific. In this case, it was the album Selling England by The Pound, but other events followed on different albums or themes, where we always had special guests in the programme. For example, Serge Morissette, who brought Genesis from the 70s to Welkers for the fans with his fantastic videos.

In 2004, Ray Wilson became the first (former) Genesis band member to take to the fan club stage. Richard Macphail, Armando Gallo, John Mayhew and Dale Newman were other high-profile guests at Welkers. In 2007, TMB played a concert in Duisburg especially for us, which we then promptly declared a Nursery Cryme event. In 2009, Steve Hackett finally accepted our invitation to an event – however, for capacity reasons, we had to change the location and ended up in Remscheid, where we offered everything a fan's heart could desire for two days.

In terms of organisation, it was certainly the most significant thing we have ever achieved as a club. In my estimation, however, all stage interviews and live performances at a club day or it event are equally important. Everyone who played music or answered questions there contributed to making our events something special. We as editors could have offered so many other entertainments, but it wouldn't have been the same as having the big and small stars on our stage.

I had decided to conclude my review by listing what I personally consider to be the highlights from twenty years of the German Genesis Fan Club. As I pondered this, countless moments immediately came to mind, some of which I have already mentioned. But what really matters to me are not the 27 fan club magazines, the 19 fan club events or the 25 groupies backstage at Welkers (uh, no, there weren't any!), but the interpersonal relationships, the friendships that have developed over the past twenty years. This applies not only to my editorial colleagues, but of course especially to them…

It all started with Peter Schütz. Without him by my side, this fan club would probably never have existed. I admire his constant dedication over the years and through all the ups and downs, especially since he was already as committed to his family in 1991 as Bernd and I were a good ten years later – hats off to him! We share the same sense of humour, the same taste, a love of historical trinkets and Scottish whisky, and much more. Thank you for 20 years of friendship, my dear Peter!

My friendship with Bernd Zindler has grown just as long as the one with Peter, and I have had more fun with him on our trips together and heard and seen more interesting things about Genesis than you can imagine. With his articles and his work, he helped shape the face of the club for ten years and kept the 'machine' running. That was a long time ago, and while I fully understand that his professional and family situation meant he could hardly do anything for the club anymore… I miss him as an active member of the editorial team. What remains are memories of a very iconic time in the '90s – thank you, dear Bernd!

Well, last but not least, I cannot help but thank Christian Gerhardts for what has now been a long time working together. In the past, we often had different opinions, which usually resulted in a brief period of silence between us. But I think that he and I have such different approaches to many issues that it is often not easy to find common ground. My world is optics, design, print, the old-fashioned. Christian's priority is more on facts, content, the virtual, the modern, the networked community. Fortunately, however, there are still enough points of intersection that I consider him to be no less a very good friend than Peter and Bernd. So, dear Christian, thank you very much!

A lot has happened around Genesis since 1991. Over the last twenty years, the band, or at least one of its (former) members, has always released a new album or been on tour. Even with a great deal of optimism, however, it is difficult to imagine that this will be repeated over the next two decades. In just a few years, all of our idols will be at the prime retirement age, and whether we will still see a 70-year-old Phil Collins on stage or whether Peter Gabriel will actually release Son of OVO or I/O in September (perhaps in 2018 or 2024) remains to be seen. I think we have to prepare ourselves for significantly fewer new albums and tours from Genesis + Co. After more or less successful careers and fulfilled lives, the guys have slowly earned their retirement. The fan club will have to take this into account. Perhaps fewer new fans will find their way to our website. And at some point, the day will come when the editorial team will have to decide whether the effort and costs are still worthwhile. Nevertheless, I hope that this day is still a long way off.

In November 1991, I drilled a spring. Together with Peter and Bernd, I captured the spring and let the small trickle splash away, which soon became a river. Christian added new currents to it. Since then, many Genesis fans have drawn water from the river, and others have added water to it. Floods and droughts changed the course of the river. It was constantly changing, but always found its way to the sea. May it continue to be so, and above all, may it never dry up, this 'river of constant change'.