Phil Collins: Drumeo video “Drummer First” & uncut interview available

A good two years ago, Drumeo interviewed Phil and Nic Collins in detail as part of a drummer special. Now the video Drummer First is available on YouTube.

Background

In October 2022, Nic and Phil Collins were in Switzerland for a drummer special organized by the industry network Drumeo. We reported on this here. Drumeo presented Phil Collins with the Lifetime Achievement Award shortly afterwards (see here). After that, things went quiet and it was only a few weeks ago that there were signs that we might see something from this project after all.

A few days ago, Brandon Toews, who was instrumental in coordinating this special, announced the premiere on December 18. The special Drummer First and will run exclusively on the Drumeo YouTube channel. This video will be freely available (as well as other, longer films on the channel)!

Drumeo members were able to attend a kind of live premiere with Brandon and Nic Collins on December 12th already, where they had the chance to win something and ask questions. In addition, a 100-page PDF entitled The Genesis Of Phil Collins has been made available to Drumeo members in advance. It contains background information on the songs discussed, sheet music and photos from the interview session. It is also available for everybody right now.

The tracks selected for the interview:

Genesis: The Peter Gabriel Years
The Musical Box, Supper’s Ready, Watcher Of The Skies, Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, Firth Of Fifth, The Cinema Show, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, In The Cage
Genesis: The Phil Collins Years:
Dance On A Volcano, Robbery Assault And Battery, Los Endos, Nuclear Burn, Wot Gorilla?, …In That Quiet Earth, Afterglow, Follow You Follow Me, Duke’s Intro, Turn It On Again, Duke’s Travels, Home By The Sea, Invisible Touch, Fading Lights
Phil Collins: The Solo Years
In The Air Tonight, Hand In Hand, I Don’t Care Anymore, Easy Lover, Take Me Home, Sussudio, You’ll Be In My Heart

By the way, Phil calls Wot Gorilla? his favorite from the Genesis catalog. He also said that Genesis were at their musical peak with Wind & Wuthering. We’ll find out more when we’ve seen the video.

Not only Nic and Phil Collins have their say in the feature, but also numerous musicians such as companions Leland Sklar, Luis Conte and Daryl Stuermer. They are joined by musicians such as Chad Smith, Mike Portnoy, Tommy Aldridge, Eloy Casagrande, Billy Cobham, Matt Cameron, Dom Famularo, Simon Phillips, Todd Sucherman, Jonathan Moffett, Jordan Rudess, Brann Dailor, Liberty DeVitto and Chad Wackerman.

The 100-page PDF is now available as a free downloaded here.

UPDATE: The two hrs feature is now online:

UPDATE 7 January 2025: The uncut Interview with Phil is now availabe as well: