The Living Years
Mike Rutherford has no intention of slowing down, having just released a new album with Mike + The Mechanics. We join him on the road to talk Genesis, touring today and what’s ahead…
“It’s a long tour that we’re someone said to me the other day that it’s a young man’s schedule,” smiles Mike Rutherford in that unflappable manner of his. “And they were right! It’s been great so far actually, the UK was great a few weeks ago and we were doing two sets, and I always enjoy breaking the show into two sets. I’d previously avoided that but this is the fourth time that we’ve done a tour in England so it’d be good to do something different and break the show into two parts, and starting the second set acoustically really gave the show a different feel, which worked.”
We’re in Stuttgart and it’s mid-April. Mike has been on the road with his Mechanics since February. The band still have another two weeks to go on the Looking Back (Over My Shoulder) tour, in support of their Out Of The
Blue album, a set of three new songs and reworking of the many Mike + The Mechanics hits, of which there are far more than you might at first think.
Do you still enjoy touring? You had a hiatus for a while… Does modern technology make it easier, especially being away from home?
“I think I do, I’m not really sure. You know, basically when we stopped touring 10 years ago, I thought that was it after Paul Young [Sad Café vocalist] passed away. I spoke to Paul Carrack and we thought that was a good time to stop, you know, an end of an era. And for a good while we didn’t do anything. But then I had some songs that sounded
like they were Mechanics songs, so I kind of went back to how we first started. So basically, I wrote a bunch of songs with no singers in mind, went into the studio and went about working how we’d worked when the Mechanics first started. And it worked!”
As far as bassists go, who do you admire, from your early days to now? “Well, Pino [Palladino] has to be one of the most amazing players of all time, a lovely guy and the fastest learner I’ve ever known. Play him a song twice and it’s there… I’m working my way around it and he already has it down pat. The McCartneys of this world are still great… they’re musical bass players. Jack Bruce as well, again, a very unique sound and a very melodic player.”
You always came across as a bass player who was trying to play what was right for the song, and not being flash for flash’s sake or trying to be a virtuoso.
“Yeah, I think you’re right but it’s a process of learning when it’s
“I always thought Chris Squire was an amazing bass player. I went to see Yes years ago and I came away thinking how different they were to us, in a nice way, and how they were all virtuoso players whereas we were more songwriters and that was okay.”
applicable and when it’s not. As you get older, you get wiser to these things.”
When Genesis were hitting their stride in the early to mid-70s, were you aware of what was going on in the prog rock scene and what your contemporaries such as Yes and
Rush were doing?
“I never really knew much about
Rush… and I still don’t! I really don’t know much of their material and I should investigate some of it sometime when I can get round to it, but Yes I was very aware of and I always thought Chris Squire was an amazing bass player. I went to see Yes years ago and I came away thinking how different they were to us, in a nice way, and how they were all virtuoso players whereas we were more songwriters and that was okay.”
When you were writing the legendary stuff with Genesis, were the bass lines ever a starting point? “I don’t think a bass line was ever a starting point for the band; it was far more likely to be a drum machine thing between Phil and I.”
When Daryl Stuermer took over the live bass playing duties, he had his own way of playing. Was there ever a point where the bass player in you wanted to swap roles?
“Well, basically, it was half and half for a long time, maybe a little less on the last few tours but it was very much split duties. I think he always understood how to play the right part for the song.”
Do you still keep in touch with all the Genesis guys?
“Yes, I saw Daryl playing with Phil of course back in November on the west coast of America, and I saw Chester [Thompson, drums] in March and he looked very good, and I see Tony quite regularly as he lives quite close to me.”
Do you miss the Genesis machine, and are the cogs still turning?
“We’ve got a whole bunch of live sets that we discuss occasionally but I’m not sure we could face the hard work to go through it all. There are no plans for Genesis at the moment but then three years ago, I wouldn’t have thought Phil would be doing what he’s doing now. The Mechanics are supporting him on some stadium shows in Europe during the summer; and his son is great, too… who would have thought Phil would be on the road with his son drumming and enjoying it as much as he is… so never say never!”