Why did Ant Phillips and Mike Rutherford stop collaborating?

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Being a huge fan of both Smallcreep's Day and The Geese and The Ghost, l wonder if anyone knows why they Ant and Mike didn't collaborate further into the 80s. I know Ant got further into keyboards and drum machines with 1984 and lnvisible Men, and Mike did his 80s Genesis stuff and M&TM.
Did their tastes drift apart so much that they had no desire to work together, or was the climate of music at the time such that a acoustic-type collaboration would have been dead in the water? Or some personal reason? Is there a concrete reason or likely one of these theories?

[GuitarGeek]

Ant was asked about whether he and Mike would ever do anything together again, and he said something like "I think our tastes have grown apart so much, it'd be unlikely". I think they're still mates, but they're just not the same page the way you need to be, musically, if you're gonna work together.

[Koreabruce]

Ant was asked about whether he and Mike would ever do anything together again, and he said something like "I think our tastes have grown apart so much, it'd be unlikely". I think they're still mates, but they're just not the same page the way you need to be, musically, if you're gonna work together.

Yes, that's what he said in the most recent interview, the link to which can be found on his website. The divergence in their tastes seems to have been pretty wide. Ant said the Mike & the Mechanics-style of writing that typifies Mike's more recent bent is totally not his thing. But I think the lack of collaboration even before that time was largely down to how busy Genesis had become.

Nice to see you back on PE, Chris! You've definitely been missed.

[Dave (in MA)]

Ant was asked about whether he and Mike would ever do anything together again, and he said something like "I think our tastes have grown apart so much, it'd be unlikely". I think they're still mates, but they're just not the same page the way you need to be, musically, if you're gonna work together.

I guess I don't need to start a rumor that it was about a woman, then.

[Dave (in MA)]

Nice to see you back on PE, Chris! You've definitely been missed.

+1

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Ant was asked about whether he and Mike would ever do anything together again, and he said something like "I think our tastes have grown apart so much, it'd be unlikely". I think they're still mates, but they're just not the same page the way you need to be, musically, if you're gonna work together.

Thanks. I never saw that interview. That seems to be the answer. I always wondered. That is too bad.

[Trane]

I guess I don't need to start a rumor that it was about a woman, then.

That was with Peter, though.

If I remember well, Ant's lyrics for Vision Of Angels were about The Gabe's then-GF and having Peter singing his words must've been somewhat kinky for Ant.

[Splicer]

I know nothing of the specifics, but just listening to Rutherford over the years tells me that he was keen to move away from anything that might be considered Prog ("Smallcreep's Day) and would rather simply do poppy Rock.

[Interstellar]

I guess the collaborative albums by Rutherford/Phillips and Banks/Hackett will be made by AIs.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

What happened to the Hackett/Rothery collaboration, which l can only hope will be called "Hackery"?

[Steve983]

What happened to the Hackett/Rothery collaboration, which l can only hope will be called "Hackery"?

I think I saw Hackett or Rothery refer to it in a recent interview, its still in the works - maybe this year or next?

[pb2015]

I seem to remember Ant saying it wasn't easy to get Mike to work on Geese/Ghost. Hard to blame him since that was a busy time for Genesis too.

[rich]

I guess the collaborative albums by Rutherford/Phillips and Banks/Hackett will be made by AIs.

I had often wished for a Banks/Hackett collaboration. It could have been a gem. I seem to remember Tony in an interview somewhat recently, saying something like Steve left just when he was getting most interessting as writer. Anyone remeber a quote like that?

Another collaboration I thought would have been possible and interesting, particularly considering their backgrounds, Daryl and Chester. A little Weather Report, a little Luc Ponty.... I would have loved to have hear that.