Phil Collins: 5 Things We Learned From The New Documentary

When you think of Phil Collins, you might first think of a hitmaker who was ubiquitous in the 1980s and early ’90s, who sang on a ton of hits, both as a solo artist, as the frontman of Genesis and as an occasional duet partner. But as Phil points out in the new documentary, Phil Collins: Drummer First, he thinks of himself as “a drummer who sings a bit.” Per the doc’s title, he considers himself to be a drummer first, even though he can’t play anymore due to various health issues and injuries.

The documentary, which is free to watch on YouTube, was produced by Drumeo, an online paid subscription resource for drummers. As you might guess, the documentary is told from the drum stool (or throne, as Phil’s son Nic Collins refers to it).

This isn’t a tell-all documentary: you’ll learn a lot more about Phil’s personal life in his very honest memoir, 2016’s Not Dead Yet. And you’ll probably learn more about the ins and outs of Genesis in the BBC documentary Genesis: Together and Apart.

I was fortunate enough to do a pretty lengthy interview with Phil in 2016; I remember at the beginning he was laughing about someone who’d reached out to his team to ask a few questions about the 1976 Genesis album Wind & Wuthering for its 30th annniversary. He laughed, and indicted that he tends not to do those kinds of interviews. I hope whoever requested that inteview watched this doc. Phil’s son, Nic (who played drums on Phil’s recent solo tours and the Genesis reunion tour) asked him very drummer-centric questions about some Genesis deep cuts. From that perspective, it was an interesting documentary.

It was a bit weird that no Genesis or Phil Collins music was included: Drumeo mentioned that “Concord Music, the rights holder for Phil Collins and Genesis recordings, has declined to participate in this documentary and has not granted Drumeo permission to feature any music or past video footage of Phil Collins or Genesis.” Collins and Genesis sold their catalogs to Concord in 2022 for a reported $300 million; perhaps Concord didn’t want to give away that music for free. It seemed that this was a somewhat low-budget doc: most of the images used are from Wikipedia Commons. Most of the interviews other than the ones with Phil, were conducted via Zoom. Another way to look at it: director Brandon Towes put together a two hour doc that fans of Phil’s drumming will love.

• Phil Almost Joined Yes

  The progressive rock scene in England in the ’70s was a pretty small circle. After Peter Gabriel quit Genesis, Phil went from being the drummer to being the drummer and the singer. But they decided that he needed to be a frontman in concert, so they needed a touring drummer. The first guy to get that gig was Bill Bruford, formerly of Yes. You can hear him on the live album, Seconds Out. Phil pointed out that he was once considered to be Bruford’s replacement. “I almost joined Yes, actually. I went to see them loads of times at the Marquee.” At one of those shows, he ended up backstage. “[Yes singer] Jon Anderson gave me his number and said, ‘Sure man, call me,’ in his squeaky voice. And I never did! And I often wonder, what would have happened if I had… I probably wouldn’t be here doing this.”

  On playing with Bruford, Collins recalled, “Bill was constantly putting tripwires in front of us. I tried to convince him that sometimes it’s OK to do something that’s a little bit predictable.” Soon enough, Bruford left Genesis for King Crimson, and he was replaced by Chester Thompson, who ended up playing drums on tour for Genesis (and Phil’s solo tours) for decades to come. Thompson’s absence from the documentary is pretty notable — what drummer knows Phil’s playing better than him? But he tells his story, including how his relationship with Phil ended, in this Rolling Stone interview. (Also, it’s weird that none of the other members of Genesis are interviewed here).

• Two of Phil's favorite Genesis songs are not the ones you might expect.

  One of the songs that Phil noted that he really likes is the instrumental track “Wot Gorilla?” from 1976’s Wind & Withering, Genesis’ eight album, and their second with Phil as the lead singer. The song was composed by Phil and Tony Banks, and he noted that some of his jazz influences are present there. He also mentioned “Apocalyse in 9/8” the sixth movement of the 23 minute epic “Supper’s Ready” from 1972’s Foxtrot. He also mentioned “Follow You Follow Me” from …and Then There Were Three, telling the story of Chester Thompson playing the song around his bandmates in jazz fusion group Weather Report. Keyboardist Joe Zawinul, a musician who Collins respects immensely, heard it and ask Thompson who it was, saying, “That’s hip.” Collins, of course, was delighted when Thompson shared the story with him. Collins also is very fond of the band’s sole #1 hit single, “Inivisble Touch.”

• Phil's least favorite Genesis song

  Phil says in the doc that his isn’t the biggest Genesis fan. But his least favorite song isn’t one that he had to play too much: it’s “Down and Out,” the opening track from …and Then There Were Three. “I’m not particualry fond of” the album, he says. “‘Down and Out,’ I haven’t heard it for ages… it’s a period piece.” He doesn’t mention it in the doc but on the band’s two reunion tours since he split in 1991, they have never played “Abacab,” supposedly because Phil doesn’t like that one either.

• Electronic drums caused injuries

  As you might expect, there’s a lot of talk about drums in the doc, including his use of drum machine technology. He talked about using some of the early Roland drum machines (after initially resisting the technology. But he also started using the electronic drums (the flat drums that were very in style in the ’80s) which you can see in the “Invisible Touch” video. But today, Collins “Now, I may be paying the price” for using those drums. The drums are likened to formica in the documentary; whereas a traditional drum absorbs some of the shock of the drumstick, the Simmons drums don’t, and that shock ends up being absorbed by the player’s hands, wrists and elbows.

• A LOT of Drummers Love Phil Collins

  The trailer for the documentary shows just two of the drummers interviewed: Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (and Smith quoted his friend, the late Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters in the doc) and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater. But the doc also features Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, Daru Jones of Jack White’s band, Tony Palmero of Papa Roach, Jonathan Moffett who played in Michael Jackson’s band, Liberty DeVito, formerly of Billy Joel’s band, Glenn Kotche of Wilco, Brandon Pertzborn of the Offspring, Tanner Wayne of In Flames, Gil Sharone of Marilyn Manson and formerly of Dillinger Escape Plan, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Brendan Buckley of Shakira’s band, John Tempesta, formerly of White Zombie (among many other bands), jazz drummer Billy Cobham, Linda Tsoungui of the Mars Volta, Tommy Aldridge formerly of Ozzy’s band, Simon Phillips formerly of Toto, Charlie Benante of Anthrax and Jimmy Chamberlin of Smashing Pumpkins, among many others.