- Title: Rutherford reinvents Mike + The Mechanics, says open to Genesis reunion
- Date: 15th March 2017
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 14, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOUNDER OF BAND, MIKE RUTHERFORD, ON PEOPLE STILL PLAYING HIS SONGS, SAYING: "It's wonderful. Living Years is one of those songs I mean, at shows they come to, you see people on the front few rows and someone's crying, you know. It sounds wrong to say 'nice to see someone crying' but actually it means it touched them. When it first came out people lost touch with their parents and the song made them reconnect, but now I find a lot of people come to me and say when their mother or father were dying and they were still close you know, the process and the family afterwards, that song kind of became an anthem for them which is wonderful actually that it's touched their lives that much." BAND BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) SINGER, TIM HOWAR, SAYING: "We're keeping it alive somewhat and we are also doing something for ourselves and for the fans and the new legions of fans, because it's kind of a multi-generational Mechanics experience. What used to be the mums and dads and their kids, now it's the mums and dads and their kids and their kids. I think nothing would make them happier than us having another hit and I think that's what this album is full of. It has a lot of different flavours if different songs on it." (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIKE RUTHERFORD, FOUNDER OF BAND, ASKED ABOUT IF THERE WILL BE A GENESIS REUNION, SAYING: "There's no plans but we are still all very good friends and I value that very much, including Peter Gabriel, we have remained very good friends and that's the way to start really, but who knows, you never know! " BAND BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIKE RUTHERFORD, FOUNDER OF BAND, SAYING: "If Genesis started today we wouldn't stand a chance. We wrote songs that were 25 minutes long. It was a different time."
- Embargoed: 29th March 2017 14:39
- Keywords: Mike Rutherford group music Genesis Mike and the Mechanics
- Location: VARIOUS UNKNOWN FILMING LOCATIONS / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: VARIOUS UNKNOWN FILMING LOCATIONS / LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA004682JA6L
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: It started as a side project to rock supergroup Genesis in the mid-1980s, but 32 years on Mike + The Mechanics are still going strong - with the band in the middle of a UK tour and releasing a new album in April.
Founding member Mike Rutherford, writer of hits including Over My Shoulder, has teamed up with two new 'mechanics', vocalists Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar, on the new album Let Me Fly.
He said the band's most famous Ivor Novello-winning song The Living Years, about a man's strained relationship with his recently deceased father, still resonates, even with 'younger' fans, when they perform them today.
"It's wonderful. Living Years is one of those songs I mean, at shows they come to, you see people on the front few rows and someone's crying, you know. It sounds wrong to say 'nice to see someone crying' but actually it means it touched them," he said.
Roachford, who found fame in his eponymous band with hits like Cuddly Toy in 1989, admitted he felt some pressure taking on such iconic tunes in the live shows.
'Obviously I was not sure how it would be received but it's been received really well and I think people understand that me and Tim are singers in our own right and we bring something different to it and we are getting a lot of love from the Mechanics fans,' he said.
Guitarist Rutherford first played in the rock band Genesis throughout its various incarnations alongside vocalists Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel, and echoed Collins' recent comments that he wouldn't rule out a reunion.
'There's no plans but we are still all very good friends and I value that very much, including Peter Gabriel, we have remained very good friends and that's the way to start really, but who knows, you never know,' he said.
Mike + The Mechanics are to support Collins at the British Summer Time concert in London's Hyde Park in June.
Asked if there was any rivalry between the pair, Rutherford joked: 'I am just thrilled the Mechanics did so well and reached so many people with song. So as long as Phil realises we're going on last it'll be ok." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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