The Players
News and happenings from the world of your favourite guitarists
Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks have responded to ongoing fan demand for a reunion of Genesis’s early era line-up. “I think a reunion with Steve and Pete would be uphill,” Phil said when asked by Mojo. “Playing with Mike and Tony is the easy option.” Rutherford added: “I know people love the idea that the five of us will get together again, but the songs most people know and love are from the last 40 years. Peter left so long ago. I really don’t know what we could do with him now.” Tony Banks weighed in, too: “As much as I love those early albums, it would be weird to just do songs from that period.” The trio plan to begin their reunion tour in the UK this November. Collins’ 18-year-old son Nicholas will play drums.
US singer-songwriter Dion DiMucci’s new album, Blues With Friends, features a stellar roster of guests including Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Beck, Billy Gibbons, Brian Setzer, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Joe Bonamassa and Samantha Fish. “I needed to round up the best guitarists and musicians alive and pick them from every generation, every variation of blues,” Dion said. The album is set for release on Bonamassa’s KTBA label on 5 June (see p40 for our review).
In other Jeff Beck news, the guitarist has been working on an album with Johnny Depp. The first fruit of their collaboration was a cover of John Lennon’s Isolation, released last month. “Johnny and I have been working on music together for a while now and we recorded this track during our time in the studio last year,” said Beck. “We weren’t expecting to release it so soon, but given all the hard days and true ‘isolation’ that people are going through in these challenging times, we decided now might be the right time to let you all hear it. You’ll be hearing more from Johnny and me in a little while, but until then we hope you find some comfort and solidarity in our take on this Lennon classic.” As a result of the pandemic, the 75-year-old guitarist has been forced to postpone his 2020 UK tour until April and May 2021.
Joe Bonamassa has launched a new initiative to provide artists with help to get them back to touring. The Fueling Musicians Program aims to provide players with cash and vouchers for fuel in an emergency relief program to run alongside Bonamassa’s Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation. It will make immediate cash payments of $1,000 for essential living expenses, in addition to pre-paid fuel vouchers of $500. “Right now, the music industry has been brought to its knees,” Bonamassa said. “We are in a critical time in the music business and I want to see as many bands and artists survive and flourish going forward when they are given the green light to tour again.”