The song that Phil Collins still can’t believe he managed to play
Genesis has always been an excellent band. With the musical stylings of Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel contributing to their exciting and unique sound, Genesis has had no trouble gaining fans worldwide. However, the band came under hard times when Peter Gabriel decided to leave, meaning they had to make adjustments to keep things running.
Peter Gabriel’s reasons for leaving were simple: He felt like the band was too restrictive. While the band was happy to hear his ideas, and many of them were used, when you make music in a band like Genesis, there will always be some level of compromise needed. Gabriel wanted better creative control over his work and so decided to embark on a solo career.
While Collins stayed in the band and made adjustments so that Genesis could keep going, he certainly agreed with Gabriel’s sentiments. He took over singing duties in the band and was happy to provide vocals during studio sessions. When it came to performing live, he also wanted to sing, but it was decided that these responsibilities would be handed to Bill Bruford and Chester Thompson.
Collins wasn’t too happy with this decision, but the main thing that frustrated him about the band was how tightly knit everything was. There were strict rules around songs and how they were put together, which made for great music but didn’t make for great songs to perform. As such a prolific drummer, Collins looked forward to improvising, and he couldn’t do this in Genesis.
Rather than leave the band, he started a side project built around organised chaos. Brand X was put together to give Collins space to improvise and really flex his musical muscles without having to leave Genesis. One of the most chaotic songs from this side project was ‘Nuclear Burn’, a track that Collins is still surprised he managed to play on.
“It’s like another person playing that stuff,” he said. “I almost can’t believe I could play that way.” After playing in a band with strict rules for so long, Collins was left wondering what it would sound like if he completely let go, which he finally did when playing with Brand X. The track was influenced by The Mahavishnu Orchestra and their album Inner Mounting Flame, “Billy Cobham played some of the finest drumming I’ve ever heard on that record. All of us in Brand X were influenced by that group,” he said.
Brand X was a very important band for Phil Collins as it meant he could focus his chaotic energy in one place and his more rigid, hit-making songwriting elsewhere. “Brand X was where I went to have fun,” he admitted. “An analogy would be that it was a place where I could go and take off of my clothes and live, to do things I couldn’t do where I did live, which was Genesis.” He concluded, “Genesis was at one end of the spectrum, and Brand X was at the other. Doing both was a perfect combination for me.”
