In Genesis we saw ourselves as song-writers. After Peter Gabriel left I was the first to say: ‘It’s OK – we can just do instrumentals.’
I’m not trying necessarily to become a movie star; that wouldn’t be bad but that’s not the aim. I’m just trying to do interesting things and go into areas where I’ve not been before.
I’m writing new songs for a Broadway version of Tarzan, which is very interesting. I think what I learned from the Brother Bear score side of things, I’ve brought into the new Tarzan songs. Thinking outside just guitar, bass, drums and keyboards.
It’s always been easy with Mark, he’s a rock fan and we speak the same language. He’s a big Beatles fan too. We worked a lot via CLI calls, though only meeting up once every couple of months.
Often there’s a BA crew, because half the time we stay at the same hotels, especially in Australia. I can remember spending quite a lot of time with crews around the pool there. They always make themselves known to us.
It’s not often that an English drummer gets an Oscar. So I’m very, very proud of that.
Many people think of me as a perfectionist, someone who polishes and shines each song and performance. I’ve always been bothered by that assumption.
Many of the articles printed over the last few months have ended up painting a picture of me that is more than a little distorted.
My only saving grace is that I actually collect things that nobody else is interested in.
I’ve been a long-distance father.
Beyond a certain point, the music isn’t mine anymore. It’s yours.
I usually hang around the room listening to a bit of last night’s show. If there’s one available, I go to the steam room every day for my voice. I spend half an hour there and then I eat, because I can’t eat later than four o’clock. Then I go for a soundcheck. That’s my day.
Like last night I had a sequence with a gun and, to be honest, for me to be threatening with a gun and not be comical is quite hard.
I joined Genesis when I was 19. I’ve earned the right to actually do nothing. I don’t want to be a shadow of what I was, so I’ve kind of just quite willingly stood back.
All I set out to do was to earn a living playing drums, you know? And as luck would have it, I’ve surpassed that.
And, you know, I never wanted to be a singer.
Another time, we had three days off in Australia, so we went out of our way to fly to Ayres Rock.
I never stopped thinking about the Alamo from that day to this. I’m a huge collector of memorabilia. I’ve got Davy Crockett’s bullet pouch. I’ve got Colonel Travis’s belt.
To be honest, producing records interests me less at the moment and I really don’t want to get involved in album projects that are going to take up a lot of time.
God is a spa-bath of water and we are all individual bubbles.
I suppose Phil Collins offers something for everybody, and in hipdom that’s not cool. But in the real world, there’s no shame in that at all.