Armando Gallo – One Love: Long live it

When I was preparing my Genesis book in the summer of 1977, I imagined the ultimate Genesis fan sitting next to me. I needed his or her presence to extract the essence of Genesis' story from the many hours of recorded interviews. I knew that I wasn't writing the book for the band, but for all the die-hard Genesis fans around the world. I wanted to reach everyone who had experienced the raw magic of Genesis through albums like Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot. And then discovered Trespass and From Genesis To Revelation. Selling England By The Pound confirmed their affection for a great band, and then came the feast: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. A Trick Of The Tail was a pleasant surprise.

And when Tony Smith, the manager of Genesis, visited me at home in Los Angeles to see how the book was coming along and played me an advance copy of And Then There Were Three… Well, that was a special treat for me, because we both realized that Genesis was going to be a major force in the music world even without Peter. The book was also ready for the new fans.

Genesis fans have always been important to me. The book was for them. When I released a limited edition of 1,000 numbered leather-bound copies of the book, Genesis got numbers 1,000, 999, 998, 997, and 996. Tony Smith got No. 995 (his wife took it with her when they divorced in the late 80s). Numbers 1 and 2 went to Greg Krug in Vancouver and Ken Rubin in Los Angeles, two big Genesis fans: "If you make a leather-bound edition," they told me, "you'll get $100 from me."

When I updated the book and published it myself in the US in 1980 as Genesis – I Know What I Like, I added the names and addresses of the first two fan clubs that had been formed in England and Montreal, Canada.

A few years later, I heard about it in Germany and about Dusk in Italy. And then one day, out of the blue, I received a very kind invitation from Helmut to come to Germany as a guest at the annual fan club meeting. So I made a stopover in Frankfurt when I flew from L.A. to Rome for the Rome Film Festival in 2006 (I've been reporting on the film industry for a good 20 years). Helmut picked me up at the airport and told me the great news that John Mayhew would also be there as a guest.

John was the drummer for Genesis on Trespass. When I was gathering material for the book, he was nowhere to be found. So this is where we first met. It was very nice to meet John that weekend. He was a very modest man, and his life had not been easy after he left Genesis and the music world in general. He was a carpenter at heart, and after living in Norway and Australia, he returned to England and then lived in Scotland.

It was only the year before we met that he received his first check for the royalties he was owed from worldwide sales of Trespass. "They couldn't find me," he said tactfully. Anthony Phillips had seen him again for the first time in years a few months earlier at a Genesis convention in London. "I gave him my address, and he spoke to Mike Rutherford," John recounted. "And a few weeks later, I received a letter from Genesis management with a check for £72,000. Hopefully, that's my pension," he added with a smile. It made me very sad to hear of his death just a few years later.

We talked about the time at the cottage in the winter of 1969/70, when Genesis were trying to become a real band and find their own sound. "I don't remember much from that time," John said. "I remember Peter was constantly on the phone trying to organize a gig for us. The cottage didn't have its own phone line, so he had to go down the street to a phone booth; he was always looking for coins. It was cold, we had very little money, and I always cooked stew; I also remember building benches to put in the van we always used to drive to the concerts. It was very hard, and in the end I gave up music altogether. "

Helmut and the other guys from the fan club were very kind and hospitable. We were in the community center in a village called Welkers. The hotel was behind it and we were all eating at a nearby restaurant. The beer was good and the company even better. The next day, fans from all over arrived. I shook hands, signed books, photos, even a few T-shirts. The energy level rose. Try shaking hands with a dozen people who are expressing their admiration for you: that's pure energy!

Before I came to Germany, I went to Genesis' management in London to pick up some slides that I wanted to show the fans. Over the years, I had either taken photos on behalf of the band or left copies of my slides with them (although I don't know why they didn't use them for the box sets…). I put the slides in a round slide magazine and then put on a good old-fashioned slide show, commenting on each picture. Did anyone film it? It went so well that after the half-hour presentation, incredible applause filled the hall.

The applause was so loud and so obviously heartfelt that I got goose bumps. And these lovely people didn't stop applauding, they applauded so much and for so long that I ran to the front to thank everyone. Wonderful people, friendly smiles, cameras rolling and flashes going off, capturing me (!). John Mayhew also applauded from his seat in the front row. And then it was time for the Q&A with Christian. The interview is still online, and I've reread it a few times since then. It's a nice reminder of a wonderful weekend with a bunch of nice people who still do what they do with love.

Long live it! And thank you for keeping the fire burning!

One Love,
Armando Gallo

www.armandogallo.com

(on board United Airlines flight 309 from London to Los Angeles, on October 24, 2011)