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Photo by Frédéric Loridant
The concept of ReGenesis began as far back as 1987, when Doug Melbourne went to see Genesis at Wembley Stadium. There, while listening to fans calling for "In the Air Tonight", he realised that Genesis would probably never again play the whole of "Supper's Ready", one of the greatest pieces of rock music ever to be performed live by a band.
Some years later, Andy, Nigel and Doug were playing with the infamous Ivor Biggun (author of the notorious "Wankers Song" which had been a chart success in the UK in the late 1970s), and discovered a common love of early Genesis. Over a bar one evening, we lamented the fact that Genesis had ditched this material and we agreed it would be fun to have a go at playing it. So the first Genesis tribute band in the UK was born.
In February Andy Hyam met Steve Marsh in a guitar shop and recruited him. The 4 piece band started rehearsing in April. In May, we held auditions for a singer. Glyn Protheroe was duly appointed due to his excellent singing ability, and his desire to wear make up and funny hats. Plus, he was the only one who turned up!
The line up was now complete. We decided to call the band Geneside.
In July, we played our first gig at the Crown in Morden. More gigs in pubs followed, and the year finished on a high note with a gig at the Marquee - our first major London gig.
During this year we played countless gigs in small venues and backs of pubs (including nearly every Sunday night at the Swan, Fulham or the Grey Horse in Kingston), slowly building an audience. We renamed the band ReGenesis to avoid being confused with Death Metal Bands. By the end of this year we had a small but faithful following.
This started off like the previous year - constant gigging and rehearsing. However, by the summer, after 2 years of very hard work, things started to happen. We began to get noticed, and appeared in magazines and newspapers in the UK. Steve Hackett came to see us for the first time and was very complimentary about our efforts. This was a major boost to our morale.
In the Autumn, we were approached by Mystic Records to record a live album and signed a deal with them. MOJO magazine listed us as one of the UKs top 10 tribute bands, and we played to a huge crowd at the prestigious London Astoria 2. We had arrived!
A VERY busy year! In January, we released our first album 'ReGenesis Live' and launched it with a headlining gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire, one of Londons major venues.
In the Spring, we played our first dates outside the UK in Holland and Belgium.
In the Autumn we played our first proper UK tour, culminating in a triumphant return to the Empire. Then we had a few months rest after nearly 50 gigs in 9 months!
In the Spring, we reconvened to play a set of UK dates and recorded a packed gig at the Robin Hood in Dudley for a second live album. 'Here it Comes Again' was released to much acclaim on the Autumn. Both albums have done surprisingly well both at gigs and in shops.
Towards the end of the year Glyn, under pressure with work and domestic commitments, decided he'd had enough and announced his intention to leave at the end of the year. The rest of us decided to carry on. So in November we auditioned Tony Patterson, who stunned us with his singing and flute playing. We offered him the job, and he accepted.
The farewell gigs with Glyn were emotional gigs for the band and the fans, but we were already moving ahead and making plans, excited about the next phase.
The year started off with a huge amount of rehearsing. This, combined with Tony's great performances and some new equipment (including an original circa 1973 ARP Pro Soloist synthesiser) resulted in the band sounding better than ever when we premiered the new line-up at the Orange in West Kensington.
More gigs around the country followed, plus a second trip to the continent. A 3rd flying visit to Holland and Belgium, plus more UK gigs are planned for the closing months of 1999.
The year ended on a low note with the vacating of the drum stool by Nigel who was one of the founder members. But despair ye not, because he has been replaced by Mr. Jamie Fisher.
The year starts off with a three month break during which various members of the work on their solo projects or arrange and record bits and pieces for the forthcoming ReGenesis CD; or, like me, do nothing except vegetate or play computer games.
The first rehearsals of the year occur towards the end of March. The first rehearsal day is punctuated by mutterings such as: "How does that one go?", "We're supposed to be playing in the same key I think." and "Ouch, my fingers hurt!" The second day, everything clicks into place and it seems as though we had never been away. Jamie excels himself and ReGenesis sound even better than before.
In June, ReGenesis are asked to a full rendition of "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" album for next year's "G2" convention. After much thought, we thought we could do an excellent job and accepted the challenge. Unfortunately, work on our next CD has now to put on hold until after the convention.
The Autumn saw ReGenesis touring with the new line-up. The gigs and Jamie were very well received. ReGenesis were better than ever.
With the tour over, it was time to start learning The Lamb.
The first three months of this year had ReGenesis rehearsing the Lamb. From the word go everything fell into place pretty quickly. So much so, that we had time to rehearse and play a "Vintage keyboards" gig in February at the Half Moon in Putney.
Yes, this was no ordinary ReGenesis gig. We played the usual classics as before except that Doug's keyboard rig consisted of "original" keyboards which were: an ARP Pro-soloist, a Hohner Pianet, a Hammond organ with a Leslie cabinet and a Mellotron 400. Needless to say but this gig was extremely popular - all of the tickets were sold well in advance and, the venue had to turn many people away who hadn't bought tickets. (A funny observation from this gig is that normally Doug could move his usual keyboard rig by himself, but in this case it took FIVE people just to move the Hammond organ!)
Rehearsals for The Lamb continued, and finally the G2 weekend was upon us. For a review of the two days from our point of view, click here.
Bad news followed later in the year - Doug decided to quit the band after our Autumn "Lamb" tour to concentrate on his solo career and the search was on for a replacement, which would be no mean feat. Auditions were held just before Doug's final tour, and the auditionees ranged from the average to the bloody excellent. Needless to say we opted for the best - and he is Piers de Lavison of fellow Genesis tribute band "In The Cage".
The Lamb tour was unusual for us because the gigs were played exclusively in Theatre venues. The atmosphere is quite different - instead of the audience being loud, raucous, drunk and "In yer face", they were all seated and relatively reserved. The final gig of the tour at The Astoria was very special. For Doug's final gig we had his other band "Melbourne" as a support act, our new CD "Lamb for Supper" for sale and a reprise of the G2 drum duet with Nigel Appleton occupying the spare drum kit.
Once the tour was over and we had said our goodbyes to Doug, our thoughts turned to the future. Firstly we appointed a manager to look after our interests and secondly decided on the set for next year's gigs.
The year started with rehearsals with Piers de Lavison occupying the keyboard stool recently vacated by Doug. The music sounded different - Piers' approach to the material was quite different.
Early in the Spring, we toured the new line up. The gigs were extremely successful and it still surprises me that year after year our audience numbers increase quite dramatically.
Once the tour was over, the work continued - in the Summer we had been booked to do a short "Lamb" tour. This presented a problem in that Piers had an awful lot material to learn in a short space of time. Our faith in him was well founded and the rehearsals went well and sounded good.
After the "Lamb" tour, there were two pieces of bad news - both Jamie and Steve decided to quit the band after the Autumn tour. Replacements had to be found.
For the Autumn theatre tour, we had decided to produce another show. This time around we decided to a full rendition of the "Selling England by the Pound" album, including songs that Genesis had never played live. This tour was the most successful yet with us playing to theatres throughout the U.K. packed to the rafters with enthusiastic fans. This tour also saw our first gig in Scotland and the first gig with "new" drummer Nigel.
The new year started with us with a vacant spot for the Lead guitar position, so the hunt was on for a replacement for Steve Marsh. In the Spring advertisements went out and eventually auditions were arranged. All of the guitarists who made it to the final stage all performed exceptionally well, and after much deliberation (and alcoholic beverages) we found our new guitarist. He is a young man by the name of Andy Gray who showed not only exceptional playing skills but also he had worked out the right sounds .
Now it was time to start thinking about getting him trained up and arranging a set for the upcoming tour. We had decided that we weren't going to do a show and do a "Best of" tour. A set list was decided upon and we all went our separate ways to relearn (and in the case of Andy Gray, learn) the material.
The time for full band rehearsals was soon upon us, and once again Andy Gray surprised us by having learnt the songs perfectly, both with the score and the sounds - I think we'd made the right choice in choosing him.
The tour, once again, took us around the UK where we played to packed houses. The response we received was absolutely fantastic, and the crowds certainly gave Andy Gray a rapturous welcome to the band.
Once the fantastic tour was over, we decided it was time to bring the "Lamb" show out of retirement for 2004 on the occasion of it's 30th anniversary......
A full decade after the first fateful gig at The Crown in Morden, 2004 saw members of the band working on other projects. This included Tony Patterson working on albums for John Hackett and Nick Magnus. ( A bit of name dropping there don't ya think Tony?)
However, in November the band did a short tour of the UK presenting an improved "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" show, which played to packed houses everywhere and once again received great acclaim. The tour finished with a headline slot at Progeny, a 3 day progressive rock event at the Astoria featuring such luminaries as Man, Carl Palmer and Fish.
The band are already planning 2005, which will see them producing their most ambitious show yet, details to be announced!
ReGenesis are now the best known and most successful Genesis tribute band in the UK, and we hope to continue as long as it's fun for us and the fans. Keep an eye on the Web page for future developments!
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