Phil's Fills

 

I seem to be paying tribute to drummers on the way out... So maybe it would be good to honour Phil Collins while he's still performing – although not on the drums.

He is now literally incapable of picking up the sticks as a result of health problems. So he will be concentrating on singing on what looks like the last tour by Genesis.

Collins seems to provoke a Marmite-ish reaction, although it's not an even split – more people appear to dislike him than to like him.

I'm not clear why he arouses such animosity. I have little interest in his personal life or behaviour... and I hear him only as a man who has spoken with such a clear voice through his drums.

If he has come over as arrogant at times, he probably has some right to do so. Not only did he play one of the most monstrously good breaks of all time on In The Air Tonight but he came up with his own original sound for the drums.

The fact that he now cannot play at all is a real tragedy – whatever one thinks of him.

A Pain In The Back

Phil Collins has announced that he's coming out of "retirement" but it doesn't sound as if he'll be playing the drums much, sticking instead to piano and vocals.

A truly individual drummer, he was forced to stop playing a few years ago because of physical health problems.

Though some folk seem to find it difficult to believe, playing drums is very much a mental exercise.

There are physical demands, of course... but drummers' injuries tend not to be of the blood-on-the-snare variety, as featured in the movie Whiplash, but ones incurred from years of moving heavy drums and drum bags around.

I've recently encountered two veteran players, both with back problems, who just don't want to carry their gear anywhere anymore.

Unless they have the luxury of a roadie, drummers are always first to have to start setting up for a gig and last to finish taking down. They also have the most awkward gear for loading in and out of cars or vans.

They keep their drums pristine and in perfect order... but it's not always easy to do the same for themselves.