G2 Definitive Genesis

How much time does it takes up
Loads! We all sacrifice an enormous amount of personal time and effort to get it right and to ensure we deliver to a very high standard. This was never going to be a half-way-house, bang-it-out sound. We set out from the start to deliver Genesis live musically as closely as possible. We then layered this with a big light and stage effects rig to ensure we recreated the visual atmospherics of a Genesis show. The last element was the plastic surgery but we pressed the stop button there - we are mad about Genesis not obsessed by them. A labour of love and pain, everything goes under the surgeon's knife except our ugly mugs!

The 80% Rule
80% is the requirement to recreate the real deal. 10% is the need for cross collaboration where for example the guitar takes the counter melody in the closing stage of Cinema Show as the keys are already at capacity, or the keys takes one of the three guitar parts in Entangled. The remaining 10% is the human condition as we are all a product of our influences, competence and ability.

The general running of the band
Everyone in the project plays a part in running the band, from straight forward input and ideas to taking charge and owning certain areas, we all contribute.

David Wilk (me) designs and codes the web site, replies to most emails and maintains the mailing lists. I also track the member's availability and communicates to all on show dates and detail.
Terry Day sources postering, flyers, T-Shirts and advertising. He provides promotional material and detail to the theatres and music venues, occasionally he appears on local radio stations and newspapers discussing G2 - what a star #:o)
Chris Cawte produces the G2 Live CD, including all the inlays, labels and packaging. He also designed the G2 poster from pictures supplied from various image sources (gratefully acknowledged) and manages long-haul transport and overnight accommodation
Jeff Walker works with Terry on courier delivery of advertising in the greater London area. He also follows up on all potential show opportunities, enquiries and contacts made with G2 on live appearances.
Paolo Picone Formally mixed, recorded, produced, engineered and provided all mastered recordings and sound bites for the Live CD, Promotional CD and Web Site Samples. We hope that Paolo will be able to bring his skills to the fore again when we record in the future.
Piers de Lavison is in the wonderful position of being so new to the band that no one has asked him to do anything yet (given the workload and volume of just learning the keyboards that is unlikely to change). He is however inflicting his own brand of quality control on the rest of G2. 80% rule??? better make that 95%!
Dave Austin provides Wine, Curry and the occasional Zed-Bed when an early start is required. Apart from the fantastic lights Dave is also working on a G2 Programme with similar detail and content as the web site and a, "Day in the Life of G2" video for promotional advertising of the G2 monster!
Dave Grove Ah Mr Grove, such sensitivity, a true understander of what the music needs visually. Dave has the magic eye mentality and snaps the wide-angle lens too. It was his pictures from the Genesis Convention on Friday March 30th 2001 which supplemented the old G2 web site for so long!

David Wilk Manages the Information Technology department of a small financial markets company. Mad fool!
Terry Day Manages a small, all style fishing outlet - but don't bait him on it #:o)
Chris Cawte Is a professional musician, composer and musical producer. More a man of notes than note.
Jeff Walker Is a semi-professional musician and exists between medical support and musical rapport.
Paolo Picone Manages the Information Technology department of a large firm of Solicitors. Legally Insane!
Piers de Lavison is Programme Co-ordinator for the Centre for Acoustics & Ionising Radiation at the National Physical Laboratory. What a swat!
Dave Austin Is the Audio Manager of a Digital Video and Audio production company. He has a few fingers in a lot of pies!
Dave Grove Is a professional freelance photographer and reprographics technician. The all seeing Oracle.

Once everything is in place we do an on-stage and off-stage sound check. The former is to ensure we are all comfortable with the amount of level we are getting of each other. The latter is to ensure you, the audience, get a great sound and to also check that the slap-back sound that we get from front-of-house doesn't wreck our on-stage sound. Next the Lighting Crew drop the house lights so they can fine tune the visuals before you lot stampede in for the main event - and a big, Big, BIG thank you, to all of you for that!

We are now phasing out all but a select few recognised live clubs in favour of the theatres. With theatres the audience listen intensely, you don't get the loud talking element spoiling it for the majority. We start no later than 8pm, so we finish at a reasonable time to accommodate our waiting beds and sleep. The facilities and resource are of an exceptionally high standard. There really are so many advantages compared to where we have climbed from - it's a chalk and cheese scenario.

Musical challenges of a G2 show
Some of you have asked whether we are trying to reproduce the exact sound of the live recordings, or work harder at reproducing the exact sound of the studio recordings? We tend to use the commercially available Live recordings, "Genesis Live" & "Seconds Out" and recreate those versions. Any other songs are honoured, as physically possible, from the studio albums. This can be difficult as the studio tracks are often layered with multi-tracks, this is where the "80% Rule", mentioned earlier, plays its part. We do listen to bootlegs but these aren't readily available, so the customer's expectation, (you pay to see us and we want to ensure you get your monies worth) will nearly always be expecting something very close to the albums. We don't hypothesise on "how Genesis might play the same pieces today" we just try to get as close as possible.

Another big question is how do we learn the material. Neale used to use manuscript, then supplement with midi files before really sussing it out with his ears. There are a lot of MIDI files out there on the Internet and you can use a tool like "MIDI Notate" to convert them into manuscript (don't mention MIDI files to Piers or you'll have him spitting blood - he's an ears only man). In reality we are more comfortable just getting inside the pieces and reverse engineering them, (lots of practise helps). Our perception follows, but you may know better. Genesis wrote or arranged a great many of their pieces with simple three note chords. Hackett would play high patterns while Rutherford worked the middle and on occasion Bank's played low, all of them often on the top three of four strings. This was then under-pinned by bass pedal and keyboards. So when working them out, we listen on headphones and try to isolate the positions. It creates the most beautiful choral and harmonic interactions.

Which pieces/passages do you particularly enjoy playing? Each member of the team was asked this question in isolation to be sure they weren't influenced by another's suggestion.

David Wilk "Entangled, the unity of the three guitar pieces, I have drifted off to that a few times and missed my bass pedals as a result. Cinema Show is great, I use the Twin-Neck and there is a lot of swapping between, but all the songs have something at some point."
Terry Day "As for favourite pieces or passages that we do, probably the instrumental section in Cinema Show and Blood On The Rooftops."
Chris Cawte "All of it, but I suppose - Watcher, Cinema, Firth, Supper, Wot Gorilla. Blood & Entangled especially, for the acoustic delicacy."
Jeff Walker "I enjoy playing 'Watcher' and Apocalypse in 9/8 (Seconds Out version)."
Paolo Picone "For me it has to be the Blood suite - from a mix point of view it has everything, from a single nylon string to the full on orchestration of Afterglow."
Piers de Lavison "Cinema Show and Supper's Ready, of course, Fly on a Windshield and at the moment I'm enjoying the new stuff (for me) like In That Quiet Earth and Dance on a Volcano."
Dave Austin "Afterglow is the one that gets the lighting pulses racing. Building chords, signature white downlights, smoke, end of first half climax ...fab!"

David Wilk "Entangled, it hurts! The play-out is a single, mega-stretch chord barred on the 7th fret. Los Endos, I'm not a natural plectrum player and I find it difficult to get the arpeggio consistently linear."
Terry Day "From a personal point of view, Squonk it's physically quite tough and it's always the first song we do, so I don't get the luxury of warming up to it. Also getting the timing and phrasing right during 9/8 and Dance On A Volcano, can be a bit tricky."
Chris Cawte "Blood because I'm on me own! Entangled because it gives you cramp. Supper because there's soooo much to remember."
Jeff Walker "Again playing 'Watcher' and Apocalypse in 9/8 (Seconds Out version) because, I find them most challenging."
Paolo Picone "Still has to be the Blood suite - The challenge is making the first part with Chris and Terry sound intimate and building to Afterglow's huge sound without making it uncomfortably loud for the audience."
Piers de Lavison "The Firth and Lamb intros aren't actually that hard, but they require a combination of intense concentration and complete calm to play. Some of the fast solos in Cinema Show are tricky and the Lamb makes my arms ache!"
Dave Austin "They are all easy cause I didn't respond to this question so the webmaster is going to make me sound arrogant - Ha!"

How is the band funded? The band is purely funded through live shows and merchandise revenue, it's a slog and we aren't getting rich on it. Probably fittingly as we didn't write the material - we just love the music and don't want it to be lost too soon. But if there are any investors out there, looking to write-off some money from the taxman let us know!

What is the Ultimate Aim? To give you the real deal. To deliver the music as accurately as possible, but with live energy. To recreate the visual atmospherics - the goose pimple effect. To deliver a magical evening of Genesis music that levels the floor for all of us. If we can achieve that, then we might, just might, consider the plastic surgery!