Simon Collins – Interview 2000

Genesis News Com: Your album All Of Who You Are has been out for a while now. Are you happy with how it’s selling?
Simon: Yes, I’m happy with its success and how the record has been received. The Pride single, for example, has sold really well. But I didn’t necessarily release the album to sell as many copies as possible. I was primarily interested in the reactions. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. Making music is my soul and my passion. There were some cynics and sceptics, but all in all, people were very supportive. So I’m quite happy and am now focusing on my next album. This time, I’m writing the music on the guitar and many of my rock “n” roll and grunge influences will come to the fore. It’s going to be different, interesting…

GNC: Germany seems to be a good place for you. Your record company is here, you recorded the album here, etc. Wouldn’t you have had the same opportunities in your home country or in the USA or England?
Simon: I tried that. For four years, I knocked on doors in Los Angeles once a year with a new demo, but they told me to go to Europe because they couldn’t market something like that. My music isn’t made for the US market. I knew that one day I would have to go to Europe. A few years ago, I came to Switzerland to spend two or three months with my dad. I had recorded a few tracks for an album in my own studio and in other studios in Vancouver.

And I also did a few things in Geneva. I wanted to put it all together and release it on my own. My dad suggested playing it to a few labels first, just to see what the reaction was like. The first company I offered it to was in Germany, and they were interested right from the start and wanted to work with me in the long term. Coincidentally, the producers I wanted to work with also live in Germany. So everything fell into place.

GNC: What are your plans for the future?
Simon: Well, I’m working on the next record. I’m writing at the moment. I’ve only been playing guitar for about eight months – it’s interesting to write music with an instrument you don’t know very well, because you don’t approach it from an intellectual angle, but rather from the perspective of whether something sounds good or bad. I’ll probably go into the studio in the autumn and hopefully the album will be available in February. A big tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland will follow. That’s the plan at the moment.

GNC: Rumour has it that you recorded an album at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios back in 1994, but it was never released. Is there any truth in that?
Simon: It’s true. I just wasn’t ready yet. I also hired the wrong producer. But it’s a great studio, and I’d love to record something there again – now that I have some experience and people working for me who know my interests better. Back then, I was still on the independent scene, and it just didn’t work out. A lot happened on a personal level that I don’t want to talk about. But it was a big and expensive [laughs] experience that I had. Peter would come to the studio sometimes, and he liked the music.

GNC: What musical direction did the album take?
Simon: It was contemporary pop music. I was listening to a lot of Tears For Fears and Sting at the time, so I tried to produce it like their music. It was definitely inspired by that kind of pop, but somehow it didn’t really suit me. I sometimes thought, ‘Is this your music? It sounds like it was made by a 40-year-old.’ But I was on that trip at the time. Then one day I started getting into underground, techno, trance, grunge and punk, and that developed into my own musical style.

GNC: What happened to the recordings from 1994?
Simon: I have them at home, where they’re slowly gathering dust. Every now and then I take them out to have a laugh. [laughs]

GNC: In thirty years, you can release them on a Simon Collins archive box set.
Simon: The songs were good, but not even good enough for that. Well, at the moment I’m working on enough new songs. Maybe I’ll dig out the old ones in twenty or thirty years, if I can’t think of anything new. Who knows …

GNC: Let’s move on to your relationship with Genesis and your dad. How would you describe your relationship with your father?
Simon: First of all, I have to say that I had an extraordinary childhood. I grew up in a musical family and my parents both supported me a lot with my dreams, with my music. It was great growing up with all those tours. Genesis was like a big family to me. All the kids came on tour during the summer holidays, and when we sat there at the edge of the stage, we looked at each other and thought: “Oh, it’s just our dads playing – our fathers, the rock musicians.” [laughs] It was funny – like a family. So I was pretty shocked when my father told me he was leaving the band.

A part of my life ended for me too. My relationship with him is a bit better since I’ve been living in Europe. We see each other more often, but our schedules are pretty full. ‘What are you doing next month, on Saturday the 21st?’ – that’s how it works with us. But when we meet, we have a lot of fun, drink a few beers together and crack jokes. We have the same sense of humour – very dry, Monty Python/John Cleese-esque. We’re on the same wavelength. Considering the distance between us when I was growing up, we had a great relationship back then too. I can’t complain.

GNC: In a report on German television about this year’s Oscar ceremony, the presenter translated your father’s speech. According to him, Phil said that you wrote You’ll Be In My Heart for him …
Simon: [laughs] I got a lot of calls from people congratulating me. I asked, ‘For what?’ The answer was, ‘You just won an Oscar for You’ll Be In My Heart.’ ‘That’s interesting,’ I replied, ‘but I don’t remember writing anything for the Tarzan album with my dad.’ I called him, thanked him for the songwriting credit and asked him where my Oscar was. Of course, he had no idea what I was talking about until I told him what I’d been told. The explanation was that he had simply thanked his children for inspiring the song.

GNC: Have you ever recorded anything with Phil?
Simon: Just for fun – in his home studio. They were just a few simple demos and some of them are really funny. I was twelve or thirteen – if not younger. Apart from that, he’s only sung backing vocals with me on Pride. It was fun, but I don’t think I could handle working with him on a professional level or making an album with him. We have very different influences – he had his Motown and stuff, and I had Nirvana. [laughs] It might be something in the future – maybe not a commercial album, but something like an experimental instrumental album.

Maybe an album with just drums – something neither of us has done before. But that can wait ten years as far as I’m concerned. I want to establish myself first. At the moment, I’m still being introduced as ‘the son of Phil Collins.’ I have a name. I am an artist in my own right. But I expected that, and it will fade a bit with the next album. At some point, people will just like me for who I am.

GNC: During Phil’s Dance Into The Light North American tour, you were on stage as an additional drummer at a few concerts. What was that all about?
Simon: That was cool. I had already played drums at three concerts on the Serious tour – New Jersey, Detroit and Philadelphia. I played on Easy Lover, and it was the first time I’d been on stage with him – in front of 30,000 people. Chester stayed behind me on the drum kit, just in case I had any problems. The first night went perfectly, so I went on stage full of confidence the second night – and everything went wrong.

The third gig went flawlessly again. It was funny. We tried it again on the Dance Into The Light tour. Who knows, maybe he’ll come on stage for a drum solo when I’m on tour. By the way, the drum solo that my drummer and I play during the current show is meant as a tribute to Genesis. Whenever I saw Genesis live, that was the highlight of the show for me.

GNC: Did you always follow the developments with Genesis and your father’s solo career?
Simon: I was always more interested in Genesis than in my dad’s music. Genesis is one of my favourite bands, and not just because I grew up with them. They are incredible songwriters, incredible musicians and great lyricists. Supper’s Ready is amazing. Every time I hear it, it overwhelms me. Genesis has always inspired me more than Phil’s music, which I also like, but it doesn’t touch me as deeply. I always sat at the edge of the stage playing ‘shadow drums’. I broke both my arms doing that, by the way.

During the Duke tour, I fell off the stage with my chair during a show. The fans who saw it started shouting my name to let Phil know what had happened and that I was hurt. So, in the middle of Turn It On Again, Phil suddenly heard ‘Simon – Simon – Simon’ ringing out. He finished the show, but before the encores he came to look for me. [laughs] I have a lot of memories from that time.

GNC: What is your favourite Genesis era?
Simon: Well, to be honest, I’ve never heard Foxtrot or A Trick Of The Tail, for example. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is a great album. The late ’70s to early ’80s is my favourite era. That’s partly because I was personally connected to the music during that time and was able to experience Genesis on tour and in the studio.

GNC: What do you think of the Genesis line-up with Ray Wilson?
Simon: I haven’t seen them live and have only heard a few tracks from the album. Somehow I lost interest since my dad left. [laughs] It’s not the same for me anymore.

GNC: Would you like to see Phil return to Genesis?
Simon: If it doesn’t make him happy and he can’t develop further, then definitely not. I think he made the right decision for his life, and that’s okay. I don’t know if the decision to continue Genesis with a new singer and a new drummer was the right one. For me, they should have drawn a line under it. But that’s just my personal opinion.

GNC: Can you imagine being as successful in a few years as your father is today?
Simon: No… no, [laughs heartily] he’s already extremely successful, and I don’t know if I want to be. I’ve seen what he has to deal with every day, and it’s no fun. Besides, I’m not interested in wealth and fame, I just want to bring my music to people. Of course, you want to be known in some way, but not in the sense of a personality cult. I don’t want to be on the cover of every magazine, I want respect as a musician and songwriter.

GNC: Do you also share your father’s workaholic tendencies?
Simon: My previous girlfriends said I was, but I don’t think that’s true. They don’t know my dad – he’s really hardcore. He works as a musician from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. He just sees it as his job. I’m the opposite. I like working in the early hours of the morning. Sometimes I take a week off. There’s no point in forcing things. But I have the same kind of motivation and drive to make something successful as my dad.

Thanks for the nice chat, Simon! Good luck with your new album!

Interview, photos, transcription + translation: Helmut Janisch