A History – The fan club from 1991 to today

It's only knock and knowall, but I like it …

… was the title of the report published in December 1996 in issue #21 of the club magazine on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of it. Some of you, but also us in the editorial office, don't feel as if so many years … yes, decades … have passed since then. Further anniversaries followed – our 10th and 15th anniversaries, then the Silver Jubilee in 2016, and at some point we reached 30. We still can't imagine stopping, because we still enjoy working for and with Genesis fans so much. In the following, we would like to look back on the past years.

Preface

Genesis fan clubs emerged quite early in Germany. The first club probably existed as early as the mid-1970s. In the 1980s, there were also fans who wanted to share their enthusiasm with other followers of the band and founded clubs and/or published self-produced magazines. Our direct predecessor was 'Der Genesis Fan', which existed from 1984 to 1993. For a while, this club's publications appeared alongside our magazines. At the beginning of 1991, Helmut Janisch had the firm intention of contributing to Der Genesis Fan in a productive, innovative and energetic manner. However, he may have wanted to 'overhaul' too much at that point, which ultimately led to a rift between the magazine's creator and Helmut.

1991

Where to put all that energy and enthusiasm? Well, Helmut didn't want to give up everything at that point. The idea of starting something of his own began to take shape. In mid-1991, Helmut came into contact with Peter Schütz and Bernd Zindler. We had written articles that were originally supposed to appear in Genesis Fan in the new layout designed by Helmut. However, for the reasons mentioned above, nothing came of this intention. In November 1991, Helmut asked Peter, whom he had known for some time as a 'supplier' of rare CD singles, if he would like to collaborate on a new fan club. Helmut and Peter took the next steps together.

This also included finding a name for the club. They finally agreed on 'Invisible Touch' and a logo that left no doubt as to whether they would also cover the older history of Genesis. The first issue appeared in December 1991. It was largely created on a computer, had 26 pages, had a print run of 30 copies, and, like the following four issues, was produced entirely by hand (photocopied, stapled, folded, etc.). Shortly after the publication of this first issue, Bernd joined the team, completing the editorial staff, which then remained unchanged for several years.

1992

From then on, a magazine was to be published every three months. In addition to the publication itself, we began offering T-shirts, buttons and stickers for members. By June 1992, we had already welcomed our hundredth member. The reason for the rapid increase in membership during this phase was certainly the then-new Genesis album We Can't Dance and the subsequent tour, which we used to distribute flyers (approx. 50,000!) advertising the club before and after concerts in Germany. From September 1992, all members received a 'starter kit', which included a laminated membership card. In addition, the cover page of the magazine was now professionally offset printed, which resulted in a more successful appearance.

The club was becoming more and more visible… Inspired by the UK tour that Genesis completed in November 1992 following the We Can't Dance tour, Helmut and Bernd decided to travel to England to see the band live once again. It was a successful trip, featuring great concerts and the first interview with a former member of the group, Anthony Phillips. One year after the founding of 'Invisible Touch', the 250th member was welcomed.

1993

Starting with issue #6, which appeared in March 1993, the entire magazine was now printed using offset printing. In addition, the 'Invisible Touch' lettering was given a new layout. The letters from the albums Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot and Live, which Genesis fans were already familiar with and which were created by Paul Whitehead, were used. The magazine's circulation was now 700 copies. In addition to reports on current topics (new albums, etc.), the content of the magazine was supplemented by independent sections. For example, there were series dealing with past tours ('On Tour') by Genesis (and later also Peter Gabriel) or collecting mania ("Collectomania", initially titled 'Genesis on Vinyl').

The December 1993 issue (#9) was translated entirely into English. This service was intended as a supplement to the 'normal' magazines for our foreign members. For various reasons, however, we had to discontinue this service with issue #17. In August 1993, we were invited to Frankfurt by Hessischer Rundfunk. Bernd and Helmut travelled to Frankfurt, and on 22 August 1993, we made our first public appearance and gave a short presentation about the club. And then there was the first fan club day, which took place in Aschaffenburg. We had no idea what to expect. We were only moderately prepared and were, so to speak, 'overrun' by visitors at the collectors' market. Nevertheless, it was a great experience. The day ended at the 'Colos-Saal'. There, the Genesis cover band Seconds Out, with whom we had a close relationship for many years, gave a great concert.

1994

Changes were on the horizon. As early as the beginning of 1994, we were racking our brains over how to restructure the club. In order to better distribute the work involved, Bernd took over membership administration and the dispatch/production of starter kits from Helmut, while Peter took care of dispatching club merchandise and other items we sold through the club – the 'Shop of it-snips' was born. In addition to organisational matters, we also discussed a new layout and, above all, a new name for the club.

Members were given a preview of both changes in March 1994. 'Invisible Touch' became "it". We were bothered by the connection that was repeatedly made with the successful, pop-oriented phase of Genesis that 'Invisible Touch' represents. We had repeatedly reported on the band's past, and so we simply liked it better. Besides, it could also be interpreted as an abbreviation for 'Invisible Touch'.

In June of the same year, fans were able to get their first glimpse of the magazine's new look. Issue #11 literally shone thanks to its different, higher-quality paper. The icing on the cake was a new club logo, which remains unchanged to this day. In April 1994, Helmut and Bernd went on the club's second 'business trip' to England. This time, interviews with Anthony Phillips, Steve Hackett, Kim Poor, Peter Cross and Richard Macphail were on the agenda.

It had become important for us to not only focus on the 'stars' but also to highlight the people in the band's immediate circle and introduce them in our magazines, which we managed to do quite well. The first fan club day that wasn't held at Whitsun took place in October 1994 in Nuremberg. We combined it again with a Seconds Out concert, which took place after the event. We were much better prepared for the situation than we had been the year before, and despite the video projector breaking down completely, it was a successful club day.

1995

The Mike + The Mechanics tour and the various interviews we conducted in 1994, which have now been gradually printed in our magazines, shaped the year 1995. We also had the opportunity to interview Mike Rutherford twice and Paul Young from the Mechanics once. So we had loads of material at our disposal, which meant that the September issue of the magazine had 36 pages instead of 32. The cover of issue #14 featured Richard Macphail, a lesser-known figure from the Genesis circle. This time, Braunschweig was the venue for the fan club meeting. For the first time, we had the opportunity to present the exhibits in an appropriate manner (new display cases and stand-up showcases).

In addition, several programme items such as an auction and a quiz were included. The visitors' satisfaction was palpable (despite the abrupt end to the event brought about by the resolute hostess). In October 1995, another opportunity arose to travel to England. Since 1994, contact with management and record companies had improved, so that some doors that had been closed in the early days of the club were now open to us. The highlight of the trip was an interview with Tony Banks, which Helmut and Bernd were allowed to conduct in the band's own studio, 'The Farm'. They also met Glen Colson, David Rhodes and Dale Newman.

1996

It was a year of meetings. This does not only refer to the meeting with Paul Carrack in June of this year, which was of course used for an interview. For the first time in the club's history, the premises of the community centre in Welkers were used twice for it-events. In May, the club meeting took place there, which again attracted a large number of members from all over Germany. However, something very special was on the agenda in September. In collaboration with Serge Morissette, we organised the Selling England By The Pound event on 21 September 1996. Serge had made the long journey from Canada to bring along and show rare slide and video material from the Selling tour. He also had a video of a concert by the well-known cover band The Musical Box and slides of this band in his luggage, which he presented to the enthusiastic audience.

On 29 March 1996, Peter Schütz appeared on television during the club's first presentation. As part of a report on Phil Collins' departure from Genesis on the programme heute nacht on ZDF, Peter skilfully answered the questions he was asked. All in all, 1996 was a very successful year, and it came to a great end with the release of Club Magazine issue #21, whose cover featured a unique collage of personalities who played a role in the history of Genesis. In addition to many interesting interviews, this issue included a 'special' on the club's fifth anniversary, which took an in-depth look at the history of the first half-decade of our 'association'.

1997

This year, the club's story continued. However, some changes were in store. Massive time pressure and growing commitments made it necessary to change the publication schedule of our magazine, which now looked as follows: From then on, there would only be two issues per year, published in March and September (later we set spring and autumn as the dates) and comprising at least 44 pages. A little colour was also to be added to the magazines. Each issue had two pages printed entirely in colour and a two-colour cover. In between, so to speak, in June and December (or summer and winter), so-called 'it-Infos' were sent to all members, containing all the news about Genesis in printed form.

As if all this were not already enough of an 'imposition' on our members, we also had to raise the membership fee from DM 30 to DM 40, as otherwise we would have driven the club into financial ruin. We hoped that these measures would not only secure the club's financial future, but also free us from the time pressure that regularly overwhelmed us in the past before the completion of an issue. Well, Phil Collins' departure from Genesis in March 1996 and the measures that had become necessary in 1997 made us quite skeptical as to whether all this would have a negative effect on membership numbers.

There were indeed losses, but at no point did the lack of membership fees threaten the club's existence. At the end of 1997, however, we realised that both Genesis (a new singer and drummer had been found and a tour was planned for 1998) and our club could look forward to a bright future. In August, we even had the opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with the 'new' Genesis in Berlin, which was of course also published. Not to be forgotten, by the way, was the fanclub meeting, which was held almost routinely in May and was described as a success by most visitors.

1998

Genesis and Phil Collins (with big band sound) were on tour at almost the same time. This was a special feature of that year. We used the Genesis concerts to promote the club again with flyer campaigns. The two club magazines, which appeared in the spring and autumn of that year, were packed with over fifty pages of articles, series, specials and interviews, some of which had already been conducted in 1997. Prominent interviewees included Nathan East, Daryl Stuermer and Ronnie Carryl (interviewed during the Dance Into The Light tour in Leipzig in 1997), Richie Havens, Ayub Ogada and Horst Königstein (also in 'chat' in 1997), as well as Anthony Drennan, Mark Fisher, David Costa, Nick Davis, Dale Newman, Geoff Callingham, Mike Bowen, Anthony Phillips and Armando Gallo.

Helmut conducted most of these interviews during his first 'solo trip' to England. A Genesis rehearsal gig in Bray was the reason for this trip to the island. The 'pilgrimage site' village community centre in Welkers was, of course, also the venue for this year's annual meeting. A highlight of this event, which was once again well attended, was a live telephone link to England. Steve Hackett was on the line, and some of those present had the opportunity to ask the former member of Genesis a question in person. These questions and Steve's answers were then broadcast via loudspeaker to the hall. The interview was also published in it magazine.

1999

'There's a lot going on at Genesis & Co. Spring brings several new albums from our heroes… as well as some interesting re-releases.' These are the words from the editorial of issue #26, which was published in the spring of 1999. Well, this is also reflected in the content of the magazines we published in '99. In addition to record reviews, concert reports and great articles, there were also interviews with Paul Carrack and Paul Young, Ray and Steve Wilson, Paul Whitehead and Steve Hackett, among others.

As always, the fanclub meeting took place in Welkers. Despite concerns, there was no drop in visitor numbers, and thanks to dedicated club members who put on two impressive live performances, everyone who attended was able to spend a few very enjoyable hours in the company of like-minded people. This harmony of a successful 1999 was disrupted by two pieces of negative news. First, there were reports in the press predicting the end of Genesis. At the end of 1999, many statements on this subject were still based on pure rumours, but some time later, these assumptions became bitterly serious. Genesis would probably never record another album in the studio!

Well, the existence of this group is certainly more important than the existence of any fan club in Germany. But as if the devil had a hand in it, there was also an important historical event with far-reaching consequences for it. In October of that year, the bombshell dropped. With a statement entitled 'There must be some other way', all members were informed of the plan that was to be implemented from the year 2000 onwards. Due to health and professional problems with Helmut, it was no longer possible for us to continue as before. From now on, the internet would play an important role. The idea was to publish articles, reports, interviews, etc. on our own website, 'www.genesis-fanclub.de', without any time pressure. News would be sent to all members promptly by email.

Alternatively, all 'non-surfers' could have the news sent to their homes by post once a month. The website had a 'club area' intended for all paying members and an 'open area' that was available to the world without restriction, so to speak. The 'club area' was password-protected. Only upon payment of a membership fee did one receive a user ID and a personal password, which enabled access to this area.

There would no longer be two magazines per year, but only one, a so-called 'it-Archive', which would be published at the beginning of each year and contain all the reports, news, editorials, etc. that had been available on our website in the previous year. This magazine would be offered for sale separately and independently of membership. This decision was not an easy one for us, especially since all members without an internet connection were at a significant disadvantage with this concept. Therefore, we felt a little wistful when we produced the last club magazine in late autumn 1999. Issue #27 was the only one to appear with a full-colour cover.

2000

The deadline for launching the new website was initially set for early January 2000, but was then postponed to 1 March 2000. We were able to meet this deadline. Thanks to André Fedorow, who supported us in the initial phase of setting up the website, all interested parties were already able to view the first content on our homepage. Over the course of 2000, we learned more and more about websites. It was really fun to work with this medium. Peter became the webmaster and eventually replaced André in this role. From then on, Matthias Täubrich was there to help us with difficult technical issues. We made regular updates and the website grew from month to month. The concept seemed to be working.

The millennium year was anything but boring. This is evident from the numerous articles, specials and interviews that we posted online. One of the highlights of the 'reading material' was the interview we conducted with Chester Thompson in 1999. But there were other events too. The 'Genesis Reunion' on 21 September 2000 in London and interviews with Noel McCalla, Daryl Stuermer and Simon Collins were also published. A highlight for Helmut and Bernd were the concerts by Steve Hackett in July of that year, which were covered in a detailed special including a report and interviews with all the musicians involved. And then there was the annual meeting in Welkers.

We were very curious to see how the restructuring of the club would affect the response to such an event. In fact, noticeably fewer members attended this time than in previous years. Had we simply upset too many members? Whether this was the reason for the lower attendance figures is anyone's guess. What was certain was that in 2000 we lost more members than ever before in the club's history.

2001

Big things happened this year. Members (especially those without internet access) eagerly awaited the it-Archive 2000. In March, the time had come. An 84-page 'tome' fluttered into the homes of everyone who had ordered it. Not only we in the editorial office, but also many members were pleasantly surprised by the result. The quality was hardly inferior to the magazines of previous years, even though a different printing process (which had a positive effect on production costs) was used. The other highlight of the year was the The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway event, which we had already been heavily promoting the year before.

This event was similar in concept to the Selling England By The Pound event in 1996. Once again, we invited Serge Morissette, without whom this spectacle would not have been possible. The idea grew out of The Musical Box concerts, which fulfilled the heart's desire of thousands of fans: The Lamb… live! One show was filmed in its entirety and Serge brought this material with him to Germany. He had also compiled a complete film from rare 8 mm films, TV, slide and photo material, which would give every visitor the experience of a Genesis concert in 1974/1975. The response to our project was so overwhelming that we had to schedule an additional date shortly after ticket sales began in order to meet the demand.

Both events in June this year were great successes and will remain in the memories of many visitors for a long time to come. At the beginning of August, we were finally able to launch the forum that many visitors to the website had been requesting. Since then, it has enjoyed very lively participation. However, we would not have been able to realise this project without the help of Matthias Täubrich.

Unfortunately, we were not spared bad news in 2001 either. For personal reasons, Helmut was no longer available to the club in his usual capacity from autumn onwards. As a result, the it Archive series was not continued as planned, and the usual monthly newsletter was discontinued. In addition, from 2002 onwards, the club was to be present only on the internet. However, there was also some positive news to report for 2002: the email newsletter continued, membership was now free of charge, and the website was 'opened to the world', so to speak – i.e. the password-protected area, which had previously been reserved for club members only, became accessible to everyone without restriction.

2002

This year, the club meeting took place in the spring. The reason for this was to combine the meeting with the release party for the first it fan club CD, which included familiar material and exclusive greetings from the band members, as well as the previously unreleased Rutherford track Compression.

A website also involves a lot of work – work that we continued to do in our spare time. In order to remain up to date and informative, the editorial team decided in the spring to bring in a fourth member. The aim was to relieve the three founding members of the editorial team and at the same time bring a breath of fresh air to the team for new ideas. The choice fell on Christian Gerhardts, who had already written numerous articles and had offered to work more closely with the editorial team back when the magazine was still in print. So now there were four of us 'on board'.

In August, Virgin invited us to Munich for a concert event celebrating Virgin Germany's anniversary, where we had the opportunity to attend Peter Gabriel's press conference. At the same time, we were able to present one of our first new projects, the Up microsite. It had its own design and provided information about everything related to Gabriel's then newly released album Up. However, the rest of the website was becoming increasingly confusing, so we decided to change it.

2003

During the first half of the year, we tidied up the homepage and introduced several new sections to make it easier to find specific articles. In the summer, our brand new forum went online, which has been used intensively by you ever since. Highlights of 2003 included interviews with Steve Hackett, Ray Wilson, Tony Levin and reports on the Gabriel tour. Gabriel released his SACDs, which of course deserved a special feature. We were able to offer members numerous prize draws, which were received with growing interest by you.

The 2003 meeting took place again at Welkers over Whitsun. This time, John Morell performed live and left the audience thoroughly impressed. In autumn, planning began for Club Day 2004, which was once again set to be something special. Shortly before Christmas, we let the cat out of the bag: Ray Wilson – live and exclusively for the fan club at 'RayVent 2004'. In autumn, The Musical Box and Steve Hackett toured Germany for the first time in a long time, and both promised further concerts for 2004. In November, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel also announced that they would be touring Europe again in 2004. So we had an interesting year ahead of us.

But first, we had to solve a problem facing the club in order to secure our future work: the switch to an open site structure without a members' area meant that the club had lost all its income to cover its running costs. We found the solution in partner programmes with Amazon and GetGo/Eventim. By participating in orders placed via our links, the financial situation was no longer quite so precarious.

2004

The first few months were clearly dominated by the upcoming RayVent. The event sold out within half a day, so we had to schedule a second date. Tickets for the second date were also soon sold out, and we were relieved, as planning such an event involves costs that are easily underestimated. After the advance ticket sales, however, we were able to continue planning at our leisure. New albums by Mike & The Mechanics and Tony Banks were released in the spring. We were able to interview Mike. In the summer, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins toured Germany and Europe with Mike & The Mechanics, and The Musical Box announced their The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway tour for 2005.

In Berlin, after years of waiting, the club was finally able to conduct an interview with Phil Collins. After an intense first half of the year, it was time for another break for the club. After intensive discussions, we came to the conclusion that a comprehensive redesign of the website was necessary, especially from a technical point of view. The distribution of tasks within the editorial team was also a topic of discussion and was restructured in the autumn. The club took a very long summer break. Apart from a set list service (we were usually able to present the set lists of Peter and Phil's concerts immediately after the show), the site could hardly be maintained due to the work involved in the changeover, and news items were also left 'on hold' for a long time.

At least we were able to offer a few competitions in the autumn, and our new news section went online before the launch of the new website. At the end of 2004, the long-awaited changeover to the new design and concept of the it website took place. In particular, the latest news was now always posted on the homepage, and all members received the e-mail newsletter once a month in the form of a summary of all the news. It also became a little easier to find specific articles by an artist on our site. Gradually, all sections were 'well filled' again.

2005

In 2005, the first weeks and months were again dominated by work on Event 2005 – the Early Years Event. Richard Macphail had agreed to be our star guest, and we had set ourselves the goal of presenting an ambitious exhibition. This required significantly more work than in the previous year. The Early Years Event, including the Q&A session with Richard, was very well received. Over the course of the year, numerous new articles went online, the website archive was filled, and an online shop was set up. For the first time, we were able to offer downloads.

In addition, our English-speaking readers were given their own homepage at www.genesis-news.com. By the end of the year, the number of visitors had grown steadily, reaching almost 600,000 for the entire year. One small downside was the technical struggle to set up a new newsletter system. Bernd Zindler also decided to take a step back, as changes in his professional and personal life meant he had less time to devote to the club.

2006

The English content of the website was expanded without neglecting the German 'core version'. A forum was also launched on genesis-news.com. The question of the 2006 event became somewhat tedious. It was actually supposed to take place at Pentecost, and the plans had been in the works for a long time. For various reasons, we had to completely rethink our plans and decided to celebrate the 15th anniversary of it in autumn 2006. Guests at the event were Armando Gallo and – at short notice – John Mayhew. Once again, the event was a success (it was sold out). At the same time as the 2006 event, information leaked out that Genesis wanted to go on tour in 2007. It became known that the band met with Daryl and Chester in October to rehearse something.

A new Genesis hype developed in autumn 2006 – during the weekend of the Evolution of … event alone, we registered an increase of 700 newsletter subscribers. After the event, we were forced to rent our own server to cope with the rush of website visitors. On 6 November, the Genesis press conference took place in London. The German Genesis Fan Club was also represented by Christian. On the day of the press conference, 40,000 visitors checked out the latest news on our homepage – a record that stood unbroken until then! By the end of the year, the number of newsletter subscribers had grown to over 5,000. At the turn of the year, we converted our forum – from now on, we will be using vBulletin software to have more technical options and to ensure the stability of the system due to the increasing number of users in the forum.

2007

The beginning of the year was dominated by preparations for the 2007 tour. We worked feverishly on ideas and possibilities to make this tour something special for us and for you. The announcement of an official paid fan club by Genesis Management had a somewhat counterproductive effect. This was officially announced at the press conference on 6 March in New York, along with a North American tour.

At the same time, we continued to expand the website – our English-language forum was also converted to vBulletin. During the spring, the number of visitors to our website increased to up to 15,000 per day. Just in time for the tour in June, we moved to a more powerful server. Within just nine months, the fixed costs of the website had increased by a factor of 20. However, thanks to you, this was offset by our partner programmes due to the increased visitor numbers. In May, the tour blog also went online. The blog was intended to help report on the concerts in a timely manner and also to get you more involved.

During the tour, we conducted interviews with Chester Thompson, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford. We had already interviewed Daryl Stuermer in detail before the tour. On 22 June, we organised an international fanmeeting at The Wild Geese Irish Pub in Braunschweig, where Ray Wilson performed a solo show, making him a guest at an it event for the second time. In addition to the interviews and the it blog, our photo gallery became a central point of contact during the tour – with your fantastic help, we were able to offer pictures from every (!) concert. In total, we received around 10,000 pictures. There was another record as well – on 28 June, we had over 50,000 visitors to our website. Throughout the entire tour, there was not a single day with fewer than 28,000 visitors to our website.

After the tour is before the tour – we are using the summer break between the European and North American concert legs to redesign our website and plan another highlight. We have managed to get The Musical Box to play an exclusive Nursery Cryme concert for you in the autumn (31 October) – a thank you to our German fans…

2008

After a busy 2007, 2008 was a comparatively quiet year. In addition to the release of When In Rome 2007, for which we were able to offer you various free tickets as part of the cinema broadcast, the When In Welkers Event was initially the main focus. Dale Newman was the special guest at this event, and we presented selected songs from the SACD box sets in 5.1 surround sound. Unfortunately, the event was very poorly attended, with only about 40 guests, which gave us pause for thought and demotivated us when it came to organising further events.

Instead, we concentrated on relaunching the website, which finally took place on 3 August 2008. The website was now database-driven and all content was embedded in the same design.

At the end of the year, we were finally able to let the cat out of the bag: Steve Hackett had said 'yes' – and so we were able to announce the Steve Hackett Event for 2009.

We conducted an interview with Nick D'Virgilio about his Rewiring Genesis project.

2009

The beginning of the year was dominated by preparations for the event. Tickets for the 'concert day' sold out quickly, and for the 'interview day' we were able to secure Nick Magnus & John Hackett as well as The Watch as live acts. In the end, both days were virtually sold out and our gamble to go one better with such an event paid off. This time we were guests in Remscheid – in the venerable monastery church in the old town district of Lennep. We had the concert hall and two other halls at our disposal for exhibitions and a market. Steve himself was in a great mood, relaxed and patiently fulfilled every autograph request. The Steve Hackett event was certainly the biggest we had ever organised, in terms of all aspects of such an event.

It was an organisational, but also interpersonal and emotional feat that pushed us to the limits of what can be achieved within the scope of a hobby. Nevertheless, we enjoyed doing it and still feel flattered today in view of the incredibly positive feedback from all over Europe and especially from Hackett. The exhibition alone made a huge impression not only on you, but above all on our star guests. Once again, we were the first to persuade someone from the Genesis circle to attend an event. We had already succeeded in doing so with Ray Wilson, Richard Macphail, The Musical Box and Armando Gallo. Hackett had appeared at events before, but he had not previously made himself available for such an extensive programme. The on-stage interview for this event is available at this link.

After the event, we fell into a kind of post-event stupor. For us, this event was also a turning point; from here on, things could only get much bigger, which would also be much more difficult to achieve, or else smaller again.

New albums were announced in the Genesis camp in 2009: Peter Gabriel completed his orchestral project and Phil Collins was in the studio with the Funk Brothers. Steve Hackett released his album Out Of The Tunnel's Mouth in the autumn, but the biggest surprise came from Mike Rutherford. Out of the blue, he confirmed that Andrew Roachford would be the new singer for Mike + The Mechanics. For the fan club, it was once again clear that things were moving forward.

Für die anstehenden beiden Konzerte der New Blood Tour von Peter Gabriel organisierten wir in Kooperation mit dem Veranstalter Top-Tickets für euch. Der lokale Veranstalter erklärte sich sogar bereit, den organisatorischen Mehraufwand zu übernehmen – die Platzzuweisungen übernahmen wir selbst.

2010

The year began with a highlight. Peter Gabriel released Scratch My Back, came to Paris, Berlin and London for two concerts each, and our ticket promotion received extremely positive feedback. Genesis members began celebrating their 60th birthdays – reason enough for us to poke fun at them, sometimes gently, sometimes less so (see news items on Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford).

During the course of the year, we were busy with Phil Collins' new album Going Back, another ticket promotion for another New Blood tour, and a new, in-depth interview with Ray Wilson in Dresden. In addition, the mystery surrounding the new Mechanics was finally revealed – alongside Andrew Roachford, Tim Howar became one of the new singers. For the Mechanics Tour 2011, we were able to block front row tickets for you in five of seven German cities at the end of the year. Last but not least, it was announced shortly before Christmas that The Musical Box would return to Europe with the Lamb show in 2012.

During the course of the year, we decided not to hold a club day in 2010 – we simply needed a breather.

For the first time, we held a Christmas quiz during Advent, in which 24 tricky questions were asked and had to be answered in the forum using a multiple-choice system.

2011

Our birthday specials continued with Phil Collins' 60th birthday (see here). In London, we conducted an interview with Mike + The Mechanics, who were back on tour in Germany shortly afterwards and made a very positive impression. Ray Wilson made a new attempt to get back into the charts in the second half of the year and was supported in this endeavour by the fan club – there is a detailed interview about his Genesis vs. Stiltskin set, which reached number 21 in the German album charts – the highest position ever achieved by a Ray Wilson album in this country! Peter Gabriel was also busy and released New Blood in October, a few weeks after Steve Hackett had released his new work Beyond The Shrouded Horizon. Competitions in 2011 included Ray Wilson's Genesis vs. Stiltskin set, Peter Gabriel's 3D cinema screening and The Mechanics tour.

Behind the scenes, work on the databases and a new edition of the album league continued, but there was little time available for this due to the plans for the 20th anniversary. Several concepts were floating around in our heads and some things were planned in parallel, but in the end we decided to keep our feet on the ground, especially financially, and not to compulsively organise an event in 2011. In September, we announced a new edition of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Event for March 2012. There was also a highlight for the 20th anniversary: a fan club CD entitled Pennsylvania Flickhouse by Anon (the first release of this track!).

2012

The second Lamb event, which was also part of our 20th anniversary celebrations, took place at Welkers, and once again Serge Morissette was our star guest, presenting the latest version of his Lamb film. As part of Peter Gabriel's New Blood tour, we were once again able to offer you exclusive front row tickets, and the intimate shows in Wollsburg, each attended by fewer than 1,000 spectators, were certainly a highlight.

In July, the management of Mike + The Mechanics granted us extensive access to the show in Dresden. This allowed us to be backstage before the band arrived and also to breathe the backstage air after the show. We conducted several interviews and summarised everything in a big website special. We also conducted another interview with Tony Banks on the occasion of his second classical album, SIX.

Steve Hackett released Genesis Revisited II, a double album featuring new recordings, for which we included three opinions in our review.

2013

After the Lamb event, things quietened down temporarily in the editorial office, but we already had plans for the next event, which would not take place until 2014: Anthony Phillips had actually agreed to come to Welkers. The subsequent preparations for the event took almost a year.

In autumn 2013, Peter Gabriel continued his Back To Front tour in Europe after a sabbatical. We managed to reserve a final batch of tickets for you and even secured early admission to the standing room areas inside the venues. We conducted a telephone interview with Steve Hackett about his album Genesis Revisited II and his tour plans.

We conducted an interview with David Myers, who is known to many for his Genesis piano projects and who also played with The Musical Box for a while.

2014

The year began with an it event, which we once again held over two days in Welkers. Anthony Phillips was our guest, making him the fourth member of the band (or fifth, if you count Richard Macphail) who came to our events. As expected, Ant did not play live, but there were a number of club members who performed Ant's music and whose performances he commented on critically. There was also a stage interview with him. In the autumn, we looked for a new format for a Christmas quiz and introduced the Christmas prediction game. At the time, we had no idea how successful this format would become over the years.

There were two controversial releases from Genesis in 2014. The documentary Sum Of The Parts (aired on TV under the title Together And Apart) and the 3CD set R-Kive, which included Genesis songs as well as solo pieces. All of this was announced as 'exciting news,' but in the end, only Gabriel and Hackett's participation in the promotional campaigns was interesting. We were able to conduct an interview with Mike Rutherford and learned that the idea for the title R-Kive came from Peter Gabriel.

2015

In March, the fan club and InsideOut hosted two events in Dortmund and Berlin to promote Steve Hackett's album Wolflight. A new music video was shown, Steve answered questions about the album, played a few songs on his guitar, and a special cream-coloured vinyl edition of the album was produced especially for the two events. Later in the year, we launched a new section, the Recording Compendium. We started with Peter Gabriel, and the Compendium lists in several parts which songs Peter has been involved in over the years outside of Genesis.

Later in the year, we were also able to conduct a longer interview with Steve Hackett about his new album. Meanwhile, Tony Banks released an extensive box set, A Chord Too Far, and we had another opportunity for an interview.

2016

The fan club celebrated its 25th anniversary, and we marked the occasion with a website special. We added more pictures to our Family Snapshots photo gallery, and the editorial team wrote articles with their own reflections. There were also a few greetings from the Genesis community. In autumn, Phil Collins announced a surprise comeback tour alongside his autobiography Not Dead Yet (German: Da kommt noch was).

We also conducted an interview with Brian Cummins (The Carpet Crawlers, Be Gabriel) about his projects. And we asked Dave Kerzner for a chat about his projects after Sound of Contact.

2017

Phil Collins went on tour again, and naturally his five German shows in Cologne, as well as his other concerts in Europe, were a topic of discussion, especially since his then 15-year-old son Nicholas was on drums. In Cologne, we conducted an interview with Daryl Stuermer and Leland Sklar.

Mike + The Mechanics were also on tour in 2017 and made another guest appearance in Dresden. This was a good opportunity to conduct another interview with Mike Rutherford, which we included in an interview/tour article.

Internally, we were of course busy with the Silver Jubilee Event, which took place in October in the largely newly built community centre in Welkers. This time, the fan club itself was the theme and we had a great cover band, Carpet Crawlers, on site. After a three-year break, it was great to welcome so many of you back to Welkers.

Mike Kidson, former roadie and Genesis tour manager, was actually scheduled to be a special guest in Welkers, but was unable to attend for family reasons. Nevertheless, we conducted an interview with him.

2018

The international forum Turn It On Again: A Genesis Forum found a new home on our English site after being unceremoniously kicked out by its old provider. Although the content could not be saved, many users moved with it and the forum has been filling up again ever since. The forum went online on 10 April, a few weeks before the German forum was updated.

The it forum was migrated to new software (WoltLab) on 24 May 2018, which went relatively smoothly for you, but was a lengthy process. This was also the harbinger of a major website relaunch, which, however, would still be a few years in the making.

There was also a different kind of inventory in 2018. We finally found the time to reorganise, sort through and clear out our warehouse in Welkers. In addition to equipment and materials we need for club days, this also included sorting through it magazines and other items.

Meanwhile, Tony Banks released his next classical album, FIVE, and we asked him for another interview. Elsewhere on the website, Steffen created a three-part special on the entire history of Band X – An Unorthodox History.

There was a first in Aschaffenburg. On the sidelines of the IQ shows, Helmut conducted an interview with singer Peter Nicholls, who is also an avowed Genesis fan.

For Ray Wilson's 50th birthday, numerous German fans made a pilgrimage to Poznan, where Ray played two special concerts and invited his travelling fans to a backstage party.

Due to time constraints, there was no Christmas prediction game in 2018. This can also be considered a special exception in the overall history.

2019

In the spring, we had another opportunity to interview Mike + The Mechanics, during which Mike Rutherford basically teased the upcoming Genesis tour. And our question as to whether he would join Phil on stage during the Collins shows actually came true a little later. Phil Collins came to Germany once again as part of his (Still) Not Dead Yet tour, and we conclude our extensive coverage with further articles on the tour, including the show in Berlin with Mike Rutherford as a guest.

We conducted another telephone interview with Steve Hackett (about his new album At The Edge Of Light) and we also had to interview Tony Banks again, as all his solo albums were re-released in the box set Banks Vaults. Anthony Phillips' new album was also a reason to talk to him again. In 2019, Steve Hackett published one of his regular blog entries not on his website, but exclusively with us.

A special project was the Anthony Phillips tribute album Which Way The Wind Blows by the American band Rocking Horse Music Club, for which Helmut did some creative work (cover & artwork). And a delegation from the fan club also travelled to Sussex to Trading Boundaries to attend the show by Rocking Horse Music Club with special guest Noel McCalla.

2020

The year began with the announcement of the Genesis The Last Domino? tour, but was dominated by COVID and lockdowns. Everyone had to postpone their concert plans, and some even resorted to special activities on YouTube to keep their fans happy.

This also had an impact on the club. Plans for another event proved difficult, and we didn't make any progress at all this year, so we put them on hold for the time being.

2021

Over the course of the year, we used our new Zoom licence for interviews with Ray Wilson, Steve Hackett and Amanda Lehmann. We also spoke with Adam Kromelow from the Genesis Piano Project. We published a three-part special on David Rhodes' former band, Random Hold. And from the it archive, we dug up Richard Macphail's Private Tales & Stories (exclusive to the German site). This series can also be described as a blueprint for his book and was originally published in several instalments in it-magazines.

In September, Genesis actually kicked off their The Last Domino? tour. Later, shows in Germany, France and the Netherlands were also announced for early 2022, but they were to take place under strict conditions (masks, proof of vaccination). During rehearsals in August, we had the opportunity to talk to Michel Colin (sound).

Meanwhile, the fan club celebrated its 30th anniversary. This time, we only acknowledged this in an editorial and added more photos to the Family Snapshots photo gallery.

At the end of the year, we congratulated Anthony Phillips with the help of the Ant Band. This is an Anthony Phillips tribute band project that emerged from the Anthony Phillips Event. Their album A Light On The Hill was completed just in time for Ant's birthday on 23 December.

2022

The Ant Band's album A Light On The Hill was released on 3 January and even received international attention. We also launched the second part of this series with the Anthony Phillips Recording Compendium. Peter and Alex Sturm began a series of articles entitled 'Release Date Mystery', in which they (sometimes together with international experts) research release dates.

Genesis performed in Germany, the Netherlands, France and London for the last time. The entire it editorial team was in Cologne, and Christian flew to London for the final show on 26 March, where he met 'half the fan club'. Our ongoing article The Genesis Of A Reunion was not updated after that.

In autumn, it was announced that Genesis had sold the rights to their songs to Concord.

Meanwhile, Peter Gabriel was busy. In autumn, he announced his first concerts in Europe since 2014 with i/o The Tour. And there was also clarity about the title of the new album. The tour announcement also included an excerpt from a new song.

In the background, we were mulling over ideas and possibilities for the website relaunch. Initial graphic ideas were developed and a structure was designed. But progress was slow.

2023

Peter Gabriel's i/o tour and the unusual release policy for the new album dominated the year. In January, Peter launched the release of the new album with Vollmond – releasing each song individually until the end of November, which we honoured with an extensive special feature. The album i/o itself was not released until 1 December. The tour began when only five new songs were known, but Peter played eleven new tracks. So there was plenty to discuss for the fan club. It was also the year in which we completed the 20-year-old and repeatedly updated article The Making Of I/O.

The third Recording Compendium (this time on Phil Collins) went online. Peter Schütz and Paul Herlitschka started a new series called 'Genesis en francaise', in which old French articles are translated into German (a service for the German fans).

The sale of their song rights seemed to finally get things moving on the subject of archive releases. BBC Broadcasts was certainly an unexpected box set, which we reviewed in detail.

2024

In January, a delegation from the fan club and a Christmas prediction game winner visited msm Studios Berlin to listen to Peter Gabriel's new album i/o in a professional Dolby Atmos studio. Hans Martin-Buff had invited us, and you can read a report on this event here. Later in the year, we were able to treat two more forum members to a similar presentation. Hans-Martin Buff also gave an interview on the same topic.

At the beginning of the year, we intensified our work on the new website. The existing website was no longer updated, and for about five months, news and new articles were posted in the blog section of the forum – also a first. The new WordPress-based website finally went live on 1 June. In the weeks that followed (and in principle until 2025), we optimised the layout and individual articles, but all content could be transferred. We also began to transfer older articles to the website.

Another special feature by the Peter/Alex research team went online in March: Looking For Someone (Else) dealt with details of the personnel changes at Genesis from mid-1970 onwards.

2025

On 1 January, we also relaunched the English site, incorporating much of the experience we gained from the German relaunch. We have now differentiated the English site from the German site in terms of colour. We have also continued to work on the website itself (over 150 articles have been graphically optimised since the beginning of the year) and retrieved further articles from the archive, which are now online for the first time. We will be presenting much of this in the forum throughout the year to draw attention to it.

The 'Fan Club' section had been somewhat confusing and incomplete for some time. Even after the relaunch, we left it out for the time being. However, for the 25th online anniversary on 1 March, it was sorted, supplemented and optimised, and many updates were made. The anniversary was also reason enough to take a technical and personal look back and forward. You can find the online anniversary special here (will be added in English shortly).

We also celebrated the 20th anniversary of Phil Collins' guest appearance during a The Musical Box Show in Geneva 2005 with a 3-part website special, available here.

Another research article went online in early 2025 – this time about the legendary tour of Brazil in 1977.

On Steve Hackett's 75th birthday, we launched the Steve Hackett Recording Compendium. Interviews were conducted with Dave Kerzner, Felix Lehrmann, Mike Rutherford, Tim Howar, Paul Howling and Steve Carr (Mechanics FOH Crew) and our colleague from Italy, Mario Giammetti. Steve Hackett was on tour this year (report here), so were Mike + The Mechanics (report here).

We also worked on plans for another it event and issued a save-the-date towards the end of the year.

2026

In the beginning of 2026 we were busy with yet another lunar release plan by Peter Gabriel – but also with preparations for the Event in May.

…to be continued

Die Zukunft

Over the years, there have been several occasions when the club's continued existence hung in the balance. However, giving up everything and dissolving the club always seemed too easy to us. We therefore always tried to find solutions that would enable us to continue. These included technical and personnel changes. For a website like ours, standing still would mean going backwards. And so we and countless helpers have always invested a lot of time and energy in this project. The latest website relaunch and the integration of social media presences were essential developments. Nevertheless, at its core, the site will remain what it is: a source of information and an archive for you.

R.I.P.

That's part of it too. Unfortunately, some of them have passed away over the years. Losses were not only mourned in the Genesis community (for example, John Mayhew or Richard Macphail from the band's inner circle). There were also losses in the fan club. Many of these reports reached us quietly, for example because a forum account or newsletter subscription had to be deleted at the request of the bereaved. In some cases, we were also explicitly asked not to make it public.

But of course there were also losses that have special significance for the fan club. Thomas Waltner, part of the Ant Band, passed away on 13 February 2017 at the age of just 52. And Karin Woywod, who not only wrote articles for us but also lent a helping hand at many club days and was a dear friend, passed away after an illness on 29 September 2023.

Many Thanks

Well, it's difficult to mention individual names here, as we would inevitably run the risk of forgetting someone. So we would like to express our gratitude to all the enthusiastic people who have supported the club over the years, whether by writing articles, helping out at club days/events, distributing flyers or promoting the club. We really appreciate what you have done for the club and hope that your enthusiasm will continue for many years to come.

However, there is one man we would like to single out: Helmut Janisch. Thanks to his commitment, his great ideas and his willingness to invest a lot of time and energy in his hobby, the club has become what it is today.

Even without the support of our families, who have always helped us in their own way with our time-consuming leisure activities, many things would not have run so smoothly. The whole thing would also not be possible without a healthy tension between different areas of focus within the team. This is not always easy, but the results have always spoken for themselves.

Our thanks also go to the record companies, in particular the entire team at Virgin & EMI Germany, Inside Out, Eagle Vision, Warner Germany and Warner Vision, the concert agencies Karsten Jahnke and Peter Rieger, as well as WiV Entertainment and some well-disposed ladies and gentlemen from the management of Genesis & Co. and their record companies (Carol Willis, Jo Greenwood, Annie Callingham, Billy Budis, Ralf Hermersdorfer, Dirk Jacob, Thomas Waber, Freddy Palmer, Oliver Kirchner, Gert Gliniorz, Matt Osbourne), who have made so much possible that would never have worked without their help. Special thanks also go to our contacts at CherryRed and RealWorld.

Last but not least, the artists: without Messrs Banks, Collins, Gabriel, Hackett, Phillips, Rutherford, Wilson & Co., neither one of the most brilliant bands in history nor this club would have come into being. We thank them for the great music they have created and for their willingness to make themselves available to the fan club for interviews, etc., on occasion. Thanks guys, without you all this wouldn't have been possible!

Authors: Bernd Zindler and Christian Gerhardts (from 2003 onwards)
Last update: 7 January 2026