Who wrote the lyrics to "Abacab"?

    Quote from BassAnd12Man

    Having been in 2 of the bands that you cite :), I can tell you that the main reason is that people don't want to hear personal "takes" on Genesis music in a tribute band. They want to hear note-for-note recreation as any of these shows are nostalgia experiences for 99% of the people in the audience. And yes, Martin Levac is incredibly talented and eerily similar to Phil Collins.

    Just to clarify, I quite enjoy each of the bands I mentioned. As for Martin Levac, no doubt he is very talented, but I never understood why he abandoned covering Genesis music. He was spectacular as “Phil” in TMB and I really enjoyed the show I saw his own Genesis band perform in Philly about 12-13 years ago. When he started doing Phil’s solo music instead I emailed his website asking the reason for the change. He was nice enough to respond in person, but his answer made no sense. He said he didn’t feel comfortable as someone in his 40s trying to replicate Phil in his 30s as Genesis singer and drummer. What I didn’t get was why he was comfortable doing solo 30-something Phil? Maybe because the music was less challenging? I dunno.

    Quote from MoonlitKnight

    Just to clarify, I quite enjoy each of the bands I mentioned. As for Martin Levac, no doubt he is very talented, but I never understood why he abandoned covering Genesis music. He was spectacular as “Phil” in TMB and I really enjoyed the show I saw his own Genesis band perform in Philly about 12-13 years ago. When he started doing Phil’s solo music instead I emailed his website asking the reason for the change. He was nice enough to respond in person, but his answer made no sense. He said he didn’t feel comfortable as someone in his 40s trying to replicate Phil in his 30s as Genesis singer and drummer. What I didn’t get was why he was comfortable doing solo 30-something Phil? Maybe because the music was less challenging? I dunno.

    I had a very brief e-mail exchange with him also many years ago (trying to hire him to do a show with us to be frank) and I would guess (purely a guess) that it boils down to the income he can generate under both scenarios. He could technically do both, i.e., a late '70s/early '80s Genesis show AND Phil Collins solo tours but I suspect that might be a bit of overload for him. Again, this is pure conjecture on my part but I know that he does very well with the Collins solo tours (plays sold-out theaters several nights in a row). But at the end of the day, it's tough since you're recreating someone else's work. It's fun to do but as a long term career plan? Not so sure... That comment also goes for TMB. But what do I know lol?

    I think that if you are billing yourself as a tribute band, then audiences are expecting a faithful rendition of that band's catalogue. In fact, you are evaluated on how accurate your recreation is.


    It is different if you are an artist with your own sound and style. Then if you are covering an artist, it is perfectly understandable that you might put your own "stamp" on it - in fact it might be desired. There are many examples where cover versions became the defining version: Aretha Franklin's version of "Respect", Marvin Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", Joan Jett's version of "I Love Rock & Roll", etc.


    And if you are the artist yourself, reinventing your own songs over time is totally fair game. However, Genesis was never really this sort of band. For the most part they stick fairly closely to their original arrangements.