Neil Peart on Phil Collins: “He applied a jazz drummer’s sense of dynamics”
For Rush drummer Neil Peart, influences weren’t hard to come by. Coming of age just as the 1960s were coming to an end, Peart had an endless array of amazing drummers who were making their best work just as Peart was starting to follow his own dream of becoming a rock musician. From Keith Moon to John Bonham, Peart took in anyone who was playing at the time, and one of his most surprising favourites turned out to be Phil Collins during his Genesis years.
“Phil Collins was an enormous influence on my drumming in the ’70s,” Peart told Modern Drummer in 1980. “Thus remains a part of my playing even today. His recorded drum parts with Genesis and Brand X in those years were technically accomplished, yet so musical – even lyrical. His rhythmic patterns were woven into the intricacy of the music. While lending a smooth, fluid pulse to the songs and extended instrumentals.”
Collins first joined Genesis in 1970, replacing a series of temporary drummers who appeared on the band’s first two albums. By the time Peter Gabriel left the group while touring behind The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Collins had appeared on four studio albums and established himself as one of the most exciting drummers in the upstart genre of progressive rock.
“His fills were imaginative and exciting, alive with energy and variety,” Peart observed. “While the refined technique was always in the service of the music. Even within those fills, Phil applied a jazz drummer’s sense of dynamics. Which also guided his ensemble playing, and inspired me to try to incorporate that sensibility into my own triple-f approach.”
“Plus, his drums sounded so good. Good-sounding drums are always the result of a good-sounding drummer, and speak of the player’s touch,” Peart added. “Phil’s combination of that quality and the natural drive of his playing produced truly melodic-sounding drum parts. Flowing and musical. One outstanding piece of work that reflected all of those qualities was the Genesis album ‘Selling England By The Pound’, from ’73,” Neil Peart said.
Peart actually got to see Collins play on what was Peter Gabriel’s final tour with Genesis at the Century Theater in Buffalo, New York, just across the border from Toronto in 1974. “It was simply a galvanising performance, by him and all of that excellent band,” Peart claimed. “The music from that night’s show echoed in my head long after. While Phil’s vocal performance on ‘More Fool Me’, was a harbinger of a whole other career to come.”
Apart from a few near misses over the years, Peart never actually met Collins man-to-man to discuss drums. In fact, in Peart’s mind, Collins might not even know who he is. Check out ‘Supper’s Ready’ down below.
