TONY BANKS - "GENESIS Has Never Been A Fashionable Band, Never Been The Band Of The Moment, And Tend To Get Slightly Overlooked Sometimes"

Classic Rock spoke with Genesis keyboard player and composer, Tony Banks, to mark the 300th issue of Classic Rock magazine, which launched in 1998. In the following excerpt, Banks discusses his relationship with the music press:

"It’s been alright. The general press has never been very enthusiastic about Genesis, and even less enthusiastic about my solo stuff. That’s what’s most surprising about us getting good reviews at the moment for our live shows. It’s a novel experience. I’m not quite sure why, maybe they feel sorry for us because we’re so old.  I’ve said it many times: Genesis has never been a fashionable band, never been the band of the moment, and tend to get slightly overlooked sometimes, I think. But we’ve had a fantastic career. The press has been up and down, but I can take that."

On Genesis' final tour, Tony reveals, "It’s been great. We’ve had a fantastic response, the audiences have been very enthusiastic. Obviously Phil (Collins) is not able to do what he used to do, but he still puts on a good show. People like the fact that we’ve made that effort. And this is going to be the last time, so I think a lot of people are coming for that reason. The group’s playing well, Nic [Collins, Phil’s son] is a fantastic drummer. It’s a nice way to round it all off."

Read more at Classic Rock.