CHESTER THOMPSON FULL INTERVIEW : HOW HE WENT FROM ZAPPA TO DRUMMING WITH GENESIS & PHIL COLLINS 

**If this video is of interest to you PLEASE CONSIDER HITTING THE "$ SUPERTHANKS $" button ! (It's under the video. ) Any small donation helps with my work - retrieving, editing & uploading my unique and original content. ** Thank you for your support ! John

What a talented, honest and modest guy, such a pleasure to listen to. Great interview and do hope he’s doing well 10 years later🙏

Such a gentleman and professional. To have that level of skill and experience, yet to recognize and express awe in another musician's genius and be eager to learn from them speaks volumes. What a treasure. I for one will always be grateful to have experienced what Chester added and made possible. Great interview.

I met chester when Genesis played at the Birmingham Odeon UK 1980. We waited outside on the day of the gig in the afternoon, he was first to arrive for the sound check.. signed my note book 😊. To get tickets we queued for over 24 hrs weeks before. Great gig in a small venue.

One of the most grounded and humble, amazingly talented gentleman in music.

Since day one I ‘ve always been a major fan of Mr. Thompson. When and Phil and Chester join forces in the drum cage there’s nothing like it. I remember I was working at Leslie’s pool mart in north Hollywood in 1992 (all ready a fan) Chester writes a check for pool equipment. Already looking very familiar as he walked out of the store. I looked at the name on the check…. It was thee Chester Thompson!!! I yelled Chester, he stopped the car we talk and he said good luck with drumming. I will never forget get that day. God bless Mr. Thompson. Ben Cole.

Thoroughly enjoyed. what an absolute legend of a person thx for the memories Chester

More gold! Thanking you, sir! …and in the unlikely event of Phil seeing this: call Chester, please.

Would love a new interview! He is an absolute legend. Thank you.

Chester is such a gentleman and accomplished drummer. It's really impressive to see him play songs like for example Take me home. The way he sits on top of this huge kit and is in full physical command of it, it is something you rarely see in drummers. Just from looking at it with the sound on mute you can tell he must be a great drummer. I think Chester brought a lot of swing and rock to the band and that benefited a lot of the older material. It gave a weight to many of the songs and kind of grounded them. Supper's ready, Fountain of Salmacis, In the cage, that stuff sounded really fantastic with Chester on drums (but I know others disagree on that). It's funny that he references "Who Dunnit?", and he's right on it. Genesis always had a sense of humour in their music since the early days and they never lost that. It made really serious and complex music light and down to earth. His observation about their songwriting is also spot on and I've commented on that a lot in the past too. 80ies/90ies Genesis is just as complex as 70ies Genesis, just as brilliant. Many of their songs still hit pretty long lengths, at least to the point that many still had to be cut and shortened to indeed qualify for radio play. Regarding Man on the corner: the challenge in that song is the drummachine pattern. There are two things to it: first it doesn't start on the first beat of the bar. Normally you start something off and that is considered to be the "1". But MOTC anticipates the bar so it actually starts on the 4.5 of the previous bar (it's called a "pick up"). Another song from Genesis where the drummachine starts on a pickup is Mama. The first beat you hear belongs to the previous bar, it is the second sound on the drummachine that is actually the 1. But what makes Mama much easier than MOTC is that with Mama, the pattern is continuous: you can always hear sounds because there is a steady pulse of 16ths going. You can easily hear where the 4 main beats are in the pattern of Mama. The second thing which makes it challenging: MOTC has a lot of space at the end of the pattern where only a quarter note shaker is heard (and it's not loud either). Tony Banks apparently really hated playing it live because he was always afraid to come in with his keyboard at the wrong spot (and Chester used to need to count him in). I only did it once with my Genesis tribute at the time and for me it was easy as I had a clicktrack on my in-ear to properly count me off. But that stuff didn't really exist back then in the way I was able to do it nowadays. Also loved his comments about Phil, and he's very right about Phil's sense of orchestration. It is what makes him such a good jazz drummer: the orchestration adds a layer of adventure and melody to his playing. It really suits jazz and is totally different from what rock players do. It's why he was always regarded highly in jazz circles. And what not many seem to know is that he was approached by Joe Zawinul of Weather Report to join his Syndicate group after Weather Report split up and called it a day in the late 80ies.

Sir Chester and Sir Daryl were significant in the life of my fave band. Thanks Chester !

I spent a bit of time with Chester un the late 90's. What a beautiful soul he is. I learnt so much from Chester. A true beautiful human.❤

Chester is the best drummer I’ve seen in my life. It was back in 1990. My family and I attended the Phil Collins “Serious” concert held at the Spectrum in Philadelphia around my brother’s 6th birthday.

Love Chester! Such a cool and humble guy! Thank you John for the interview. ❤️

Brilliant. Such a great interview. Thanks.

Outstanding interview. Thank you for sharing your deep dive into each of the players of this monumental band.

Loved this... Good to hear what was in the mind of Chester!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️🥳🥳🥳🥳

What a team Chester and Phil my drum hero’s

A great humble drummer.

Huge fan of Chester Thompson. Saw him many times live with Genesis, Phil Collins and other Genesis offshoots. Always totally amazing. Never saw better drummers than him and Phil

Chester you are awesome! I loved the double drums and the one video I’ve seen of triple drums. Genesis was the best, Phil Collins was /is legend. A wonderful part of my young adult years. In my 60’s now and still turn up the music and fan out.

fantastica persona e fantastico musicista!!!!!!!

My inspiration for my drumming for as long as I can remember. So solid, very very musical ! Love him ! Thank you Chester for all you have taught me . Sending much love and Prayers … Legendary Player ..

Chester is very suitable to duet with Phil Collins and Chester can enjoy Genesis songs. Really very professional

John, without your videos, this unsung heroes wouldn't have their 30 minutes of fame, you truly are a beacon of life

Truly, one of the most amazing drummers full admiration

Legend in the game....! Drum cam "Inside Out" 1990...have a look ❤❤

Live video of drum cam for Take Me Home is one I go back to all the time. Very solid drumming. Everything exactly where it should be

Never listen to overblown single opinions, Zappa had it right, they're not worth the paper.

CT lays out exactly how the fans see Genesis. What a conscientious and aware man he is

✨🥁✨🥁✨🥁✨Chester's top

I'm surprised with Chester's remarks about "Throwing it all away" it seems so simple but I think I understand. I've played in brass bands and sometimes the magic hits and everything just works. No matter what, Chester's contribution has made me happy, many many many many many times, Thank you Sir.

Such a great drummer. He's played with some of the best musicians in the world of music. It's such a pity that Phil Collins hasn't spoken to him since 2010?

What a joy listening to you both talking! Thank you for sharing this with us 🧡

Oh I wish I could have those days back 🤩🥳

My favorite drummer Mr. SIR THOMAS.

I've been waiting for that out of the blue call all my life! What a blessing. It helps to be talented and wanted. Being talented is one thing, to be wanted is another! Always enjoyed Chester's collaboration with Phil Collins and Genesis.

Qué gran baterista!!!! he aprendido muchísimo tocando sobre las pistas que él tocaba con Génesis o con Phil Collins. A la distancia y desde los LPs ha sido un gran maestro para mi. M A E S T R O!!!!!

Just discovered this great drummer! WOW WHAT A CARREER HE HAS HAD❤

I played one of his Sabian signature ride cymbal for 10 years. He's one of my favorite drummers in the world,

This is another one of your great interviews John!

Awesome.

What a brilliant cat

I was never into drum solos but when I saw Chester and Phil playing together, juices started to flow.

Phil is a genius songwriter and musician. That said, one has to wonder how anyone could fall out with a gentleman like Chester. Especially at this late stage in Phil's life, taking into account Chester being Phil's right hand man for decades. Holding grudge's for nothing in the sunset of ones life can make one physically ill.

This is so cool

What a fantastic video have a wonderful day John also what is your favorite year from the 2010s in general ❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊

❤👏👏👏👏

I still have Chester’s vhs lesson vid. Total pro.

My favorite drummer.

Amazing guy xxx

Just watched this for the second time & it’s even better the second time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The camera person needs to balance the camera better.

Fantastic guy and player!

Terrible interviewers though!!!

I am guessing that Collins like most of those huge stars have monster egos even if the public generally love them,. Behind closed doors a lot of them are ruthless. Chester is a phenomenal musician. Appreciate his honesty here.

wow it seems i've ruffled the feathers of some real devout fans of ten chin phil ! i'll make it easy for the simpletons! compare one of phil's tired compositions to zappa's , that SHOULD do it ! unless of course your hearing is that flawed.

"phil collins" is no doubt the single most over rated drummer that ever lived !! chester thompson has a drumming pedigree so far beyond this stiff, that i'm shocked he even collaborated with him !!!!

thank you for so many memories,my hero chester thompson🙏❤️