“Looking Back...” - Not over my shoulder but at some of the most memorable moments in the history of TWR...And The Pavilion by Alan Hewitt.

Without wanting to sound egotistical (egotistical? Moi? NEVER!) I don't honestly think that anyone else in the Genesis community has started off as a fan, progressed to helping with a fanzine which they didn't want to do in the first place and end up not only curating that one for nearly forty years, but also creating and curating an official fan club for one of the band members for ten years! Oh, and writing a handful of books on the subject of the band into the bargain.

This year will see me celebrate my 50th anniversary as a Genesis fan. Next year will see the 40th anniversary of TWR. Two life sentences if you like! Cruel and unnatural punishment? Oh, at times it has felt exactly like that – the early morning transcription service provided, the frantic scramble through the cutting archive looking for cuttings when your only remit was... “Anything that says the band, Mike and Phil were boring” I still don't know what those cuttings were used for! In between those extremes however, there have been innumerable moments of a much more pleasurable nature, a few of which I wish to share here.

I guess I should start with the first direct contact(s) we had with band members. Technically Anthony Phillips was the first to agree to an interview in January 1988 but Steve Hackett pipped him to the post and so May 1988 was an eventful month for TWR as we conducted our first interviews with them both on 14th (Steve) and 31st (Ant). Both ingrained on my memory. Nervous? Of course we were but both Steve and Ant were the perfect interview subjects and have remained so ever since. I guess my most lasting memory was chatting to Steve and having the accompaniment of his brother John in the next dressing room practising his flute scales! Our next big scoop was when we were granted an interview with Mike during his first UK tour with the Mechanics. Short and sweet but we did get to meet the rest of the band who were absolutely lovely especially the late Paul Young and Adrian Lee.

The “Ant Day” also became a memorable feature of first The Waiting Room and latterly The Pavilion. “Ant Day?” I hear you ask. Well, as a result of the increasing volume of correspondence I was receiving at TWR HQ about Anthony I had this crazy notion that wouldn't it be a lovely idea if a select group of fans who won a competition could have the opportunuty to meet Ant at his home and studio. I thought it was a perfect idea but then again, it wasn't my home that a group of strangers would be invading! I put the idea to Anthony expecting him to laugh but instead he agreed to it and the first “Ant Day” took place in June 1990 with a group of lovely fans who had a wonderful time with their hero. It was so successful that the competition continued for ten years and was taken up by The Pavilion once that was established. The Pavilion? Yes, in addition to TWR I soon found myself occupied with The Pavilion which was Anthony's official fan club. This too had sprung out of the increasing amount of corrspondence I was receiving about Anthony and his career. We had subscribers from such exotic places as Brighton and Bora Bora (true!) and I was lucky to have the help of one of the Ant Day winners, Jonathan Dann whose expertise has since gone on to create and curate the Anthony Phillips web site which took over from The Pavilion in 2001. Jonathan has also gone on to become Anthony's archivist and it is thanks to his efforts that so much previously unheard music from Ant's archives has been rescued and made available to us.

So, by the early 1990's both The Waiting Room and The Pavilion were established and running successfully. And with the careers of the band and the solo members in full swing there was always something to write about. By this time we had also established contact with the band's management and a few words need to be said about these august people. Managing a band and acting as their personal assistant sounds like a glamorous job doesn't it? And I guess some of the aspects of it may well fit that description but these people work VERY hard on behalf of the people whose careers they are looking after. Most of the time we have dealt with the band's Personal Assistants or P As as they are more usually known. They act as the gatekeepers for the band, ensuring that the crazy element are kept at more than arms length – and there are some crazy fans out there folks believe me! Funnily enough, they didn't seem to look upon us as that crazy (mad fools!) and so its time to say a big thank you to the following individuals who over the years have helped TWR to so many memorable moments so, take a bow: Annie Callingham, Carol Willis, Mary Lane and latterly Joanne Greenwood AKA: “She Who Must Be Obeyed” you have all borne our constant pestering for information and interviews with remarkabke degrees of stoicism and patience! The same goes for all the record company representatives who have kept us liberally supplied with competition items and review copies, these are the unsung people who make our lives so much easier and without whom, things would be a LOT harder!

Another person who made life easier for us in the early days of TWR was the late Geoff Parkyn who ran the official Genesis fan club, Genesis Information until its demise in 1993. Geoff has to be particularly thanked for not only encouraging our fledgling efforts but for enabling us to be part of one of the press playbacks for what was to prove to be Genesis's last album with Phil. This wonderful event took place in October 1991 at a place called Manto in Manchester. Amusingly enough it was situated right in the heart of the “Gay Village”. What the locals thought as all these hairy Prog fans invaded their club for the evening is beyond me but my most lasting memory of that evening was getting to hear Fading Lights for the first time. I knew immediately that this was a farewell and of course, we all know that Phil did subsequently leave the band.

The mid 1990's were a blur of activity for both us and the band members. Our next major breakthrough was when we were granted an interview with Tony Banks. This remains the only interview for which I actually prepared a question sheet. Tony's reputation demanded it. I needn't have worried, once we were settled in Tony was an absolute goldmine of information and, as I recall it lasted for almost three hours making it one of the longest interiews we have ever done. Amusingly enough, there was a Test cricket match on and Tony had one of the studio roadies come in every so often with the latest score! A few months later one of those surreal moments which sticks in the mind took place. I was with a friend at a Mike & The Mechanics gig in Nottingham clad in my green satin Wind & Wuthering tour jacket (How I miss it!) for some reason. Anyway, at the end of the gig, a lady approached us whom I had never met before. She looked me up and down and said”you must be Alan Hewitt” anyway, she introduced herself as Carol Willis (Genesis's then P A) and said she had something she wanted us to hear. Cue both of us rather sheepishly following her to a car park behind the venue ...almost like something out of a spy story... and she put a cassette in her car stereo and there we were listening to An Island In The Darkness from what would be Tony's Strictly Inc album a few months later! Of course, we subsequently also spent another memorable afternoon chatting to Tony about that album as well!

Of course, the BIG news of the mid '90's was Phil's departure from the band. Thankfully we didn't write a eulogy as it would have been premature as the band were to continue with new singer Ray Wilson for Calling All Stations. That album and tour generated several memorable moments for both me personally and for TWR beginning with the invitation to attennd the final dress rehearsal for the tour at Bray Film Studios. Bray... ahh yes as a massive Hammer Films buff the idea of being there was exciting enough but seeing Genesis there as well! Oh, and being told that I could take twenty people with me to the event was even more memorable. A great day was had by all and I was delighted to see the new look band performing so well.

The UK tour duly followed and that was another adventure for another day but it was preceded by one of my moments of madness. The band happened to be playing a gig on my birthday. Only problem was...it was in Lyon in France! Mind you, given some of my previous jaunts thos one was not that daunting. Tickets duly arranged through the band's management, myself and an equally crazy fan (more of him in a moment) set off for France and arrived early. To my shock and delight, my offer to pay for the tickets was declined and we discovered that not only were there tickets for us but also after show passes! A truly memorable birthday that was!

The chap who accompanied me and also was insane enough to drive myself and five other mad fans around the UK and over to Ireland was none other than Martin Dean, who also has the honour of being the person responsible for getting The Waiting Room established with an online presence some several months before there was even an official website - something else we are quite proud of here at TWR!

The new century/millennium has also seen some quite eventful moments in the TWR story, not least your editor's branching out into writing books about the band. The story of how the first one came about has already been told in a previous edition of TWR but perhaps the one which took me by surprise was Steve Hackett's official biography. This all began as what I viewed as a joke...I had heard that several other equally dedicated Hackett fans had already approach Steve with the view of telling his story. By all accounts, they were all met with a negative response. What persuaded me to write to Steve's then manager to offer my services in the same cause is beyond me, especially when at the same time I was deeply involved in updating my first book for republication. Anyway, I decided to chance it and I can still remmber the exact words of the response I got from Steve's manager... “Steve is very amenable to your suggestion, after all you do have some history...” Needless to say I was both thrilled and slightly nervous at the prospect but I persevered with it even through the difficulties of Steve's divorce and Sketches of Hackett was published in 2009.

We cant have this look at some of the weird and wacky things TWR has been involved in without referring to The Genesis Songbook now, can we? I still don't know whose idea was to suggest me for this project but I will be eternally grateful for it! Having the chance to visit the band's archives and rummage through material for the project was a thrill but that was only the half of it. I had no idea that I was to be an interview subject as well until the final day of my work on the project when I was asked … “Are you ready for your interview?” “What interview?!” was my somewhat startled reply. I did have to laugh when we arrived at the location however, as this was already familiar to me as it was was MAP Studios, the recording studio where Steve recorded several of his albums and which was still under construction at the time. So, there's me, being asked about all these albums for an audience of potentially millions … I don't think I looked nervous on screen but I can assure you that I was petrified! Speaking of emails... another slightly odd request came through from the Hackett camp in the wee small hours of a morning in 2000. The message simply asked... “Do you have the lyrics to all of Steve's albums?” Strange request to receive at 1AM in the morning eh? Anyway I replied that yes I did. That led me to spending the next three hours physically transcribing the lyrics for every Hackett album to date and when I blearily pressed the “Send” button at 4AM I went to bed. What was all this effort for? Apparently there was a Japanese edition of the Live Archive set which was also to include the recently released Feedback '86 album and the record company wanted the lyrics so they could be transcribed into Japanese. Long story short, I was asked if I would like a credit in the booklet accompanying the set. Naturally I said yes and the amusing result you can see for yourselves in this picture...

Working in a voluntary capacity for Steve on the merch at his gigs became a regular occurrence when he was on tour in the UK throughout the early 2000's as well but what I wasn't expecting was to be asked to do so on the German tour in 2005 and the Italian tour in 2009. Both of which were highly enjoyable – especially the final gig of the 2005 tour which took place on a glorious summer's day at the magnificent Loreley Amphitheatre in St Goarshausen on the banks of the Rhine.

A massive highlight for TWR was our 100th edition which was celebrated in 2017 with both an online edition and a printed special edition limited to 100 copies. These were signed by both Steve and Ant and are now collector's items. Will there be a bicentennial edition? Well, stranger things have happened! Bringing this feature to a close, I can't help but mention the longest serving member (other than myself) of TWR. Since 2003 Mr Stuart Barnes has guided the site through its evolutions with a steady hand and a stoicisim in the face of my insanity which is admirable. Neither TWR or The Pavilion have been done solo and without the help of these equally crazy wonderful people none of this would have been possible so please, take a bow... The original Founding Fathers: Ted Sayers, Peter Mortin and Iain Buckle.

The Graphic designers (and so much more): Jonathan Dann, Matt Skelland.

Those techy web site people: Martin Dean, Tony Burton, Jeremy Brown and Stuart Barnes.

And to the multitude of fans out there who have contributed articles, photographs, and so much more to us. A fanzine without fans is a pointless exercise and you guys are the best, so thank YOU!