Genesis – Interview with Ray Wilson – Berlin 1997

After interviewing Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks, we also spoke with Nir Z. Last but not least, we had the opportunity for a short interview with the new Genesis vocalist, Ray Wilson.

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Ray: (to Nir, who is leaving the room) Meet me downstairs at the bar at eight o’clock for a few beers?
Nir: Okay.

it: You’ve earned it.
Ray: I hope so. I’m Scottish. We have to drink. It’s a duty.

it: Being the successor to two very popular frontmen must be difficult for you. What do you think long-time Genesis fans expect from you?
Ray: Hard to say. I’d say they want the band to continue. Phil left the band himself, he wasn’t kicked out. Mike and Tony had to decide whether they wanted to continue or not. Finding someone new they were happy with so quickly was good for them. If the search had taken a long time, they might have lost patience. That would have been a shame for Genesis fans. What we have now are two of the original Genesis songwriters. I know, of course, that Peter Gabriel also co-wrote. Was Anthony Phillips also involved in the writing at that time?

it: Yes.
Ray: Phil Collins wasn’t involved in the writing at the very beginning, that came later. I think the new music contains elements from every era. I hear the 70s in the arrangements, the late 80s in a song like Congo, for example. Songs like The Dividing Line, on the other hand, sound more like early Genesis. The band kind of went through the 70s and 80s and took bits from everywhere. Then you add my voice, which sounds a bit more like Peter than Phil. I sing in a slightly lower register and a bit darker, rockier and harder. I know Peter’s voice wasn’t quite like that. He wasn’t a rock singer back then, was he?

it: His voice probably got better and better over the years.
Ray: Yes, I agree. He’s better now than he was back then. He has a great voice. His voice has a very natural depth and warmth. That suited the moods that Tony and Mike created. On the new album, they often tried to create expressive, dark atmospheres. My voice suits that better than, say, something like Invisible Touch. A pop song is less suited to my style of singing than a rock song. The way we’ve done it now is better. The album sounds good. In my opinion, it won’t be better received than the last one. I’m not expecting miracles. But I would be happy if some fans who found the last album too poppy came back to Genesis.

That would be the only thing I could achieve for the band that they haven’t already achieved themselves. I have a lot of respect for the lads. Mike and Tony are two great people and excellent songwriters. At my age, it’s a good experience for me to work with people like that. In a way, I’m jumping on the bandwagon, because they already had success and a name for themselves. I’m aware of that. It’s easy to do something wrong, but difficult to do it right. I think we’ve done everything right so far. Our next chance is the tour.

it: How will you behave on stage, given that Peter had his masks and Phil was the great entertainer?
Ray: That’s hard to say. Both of them came across visually. Phil has a strong personality, and I think I have a little bit of that, though not as much. The music sometimes dictates the way you behave on stage. I’m not going to wear a mask or do anything that either of them did.

it: No? But that’s what we expected (just kidding)!
Ray: You expected that? Oh, bloody hell! (laughs) No, I’m going to be myself and hope that people like it. If not, then I’m sorry. That’s all I can do. I’m a singer. If I were an actor, I’d be in films. My main interest is that the music is good. People will hear the old songs, and they will sound different. But if I can make them sound good, I’ll have the fans on my side, and from then on it will be easy for me on stage. If you stand there and it sounds bad, everything goes down the drain. So far, though, everything is going well.

Many songs like The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway sound good, and I enjoy them. Tomorrow we’ll play a small part of Supper’s Ready. Some of the songs I sing don’t work. Land Of Confusion, for example, is not my kind of song. Those are Phil’s songs. That’s what he embodied, not me. I have to do some of them. We’ll be playing Invisible Touch and I Can’t Dance live – the big hits that you just can’t leave out. But if I had the choice, I’d sing Mama, Domino and Home By The Sea and leave out I Can’t Dance (with a dismissive wave of his hand). Those songs came across great with Phil. It’s not really my thing, but I can sing them.

I would go back to the 70s because I love the material, it’s so good. I’m looking forward to singing certain older songs, not necessarily just from the Peter Gabriel era. The material from 1976 up to the Mama album was very good. After that, it became a bit too pop for my taste. I’m a rock fan, not a pop fan. But apart from that, I think Domino and No Son Of Mine are great songs too – typical Genesis arrangements. That’s where they’re strong. Something like Invisible Touch is a pop song. For me, that’s not what Genesis is all about. The guys probably disagree.

Interview: Helmut Janisch, Bernd Zindler and Peter Schütz
Transcription + translation: Helmut Janisch
Photos: Peter Schütz and Helmut Janisch

Many thanks to Tony, Mike, Nir and Ray for talking to us. Also many thanks to Jon Webster; Carol Willis Impey and the incredibly helpful ‘Virgins’ from Munich for arranging this interview for us.

Further interviews we conducted in Berlin: Tony Banks & Mike Rutherford | Nir Z.