“The Band That Got Away” – A brief history of Brand X. Memorabilia: TWR archive.

Long before Mike had his Mechanics, Phil decided to scratch his musical itch in a totally different way. Brand X morphed out of several scratch (pun intended) bands, assembled at short notice from amongst Phil's musical mates. Originally given the somewhat unusual moniker of Zox And The Radar Boys the “band” would go on to perform a handful of gigs in 1975 after the conclusion of the Lamb... tour and before the band reconvened to begin work on A Trick Of The Tail. These gigs are poorly documented but eventually that loose assembly of talents solidified into something more tangible and called Brand X.

Brand X were to begin life in 1974 and were to continue until relatively recently. Phil signalled his intentions to begin extramural activities during a Radio One interview prior to the Lamb...tour:

“Well, I mentioned it to Bill Bruford and he said he wouldn't mind having a bash. Steve (Hackett) has mentioned it to Jon Lord and he said he wouldn't mind having a bash, so people are from different kinds of bands and it’s a very loose thing and the idea behind it is to just go on stage and basically start from scratch and not knowing what you are going to play. It wasn't a formal band. We've stopped playing pubs and clubs and if I can get anybody that's in the same frame of mind to just keep it very loose and have a good time … because I'm at home with the arranged things that we do but sometimes I get a yearning to get on stage and not know what's going to happen … even the stuff on the new (Genesis) album a lot of it is heading that way, towards having a very loose theme to work with and keeping lot more for whatever happens on the night especially when you are touring night after night with some very dense passages. Nine weeks in America and playing every night, the freer you can keep It the better really...”

The line-up for the Zox And The Radar Boys gigs is unknown as is what stuff they played but the “band” did perform a handful of gigs in the summer of 1975.

Our story however is only concerned with Phil's active participation with the band. The ethos of the band appears to have been as mentioned above, to avoid the more structured style of music which the incumbents were more used to playing in their full time bands and what emerged was effectively a jazz-fusion styled band not unlike Bill Bruford's Earthworks . In fact, Bruford should have been the drummer in the band. The original trio included John Goodsall (Guitar), Percy Jones (Bass) and Robin Lumley (Keyboards). After several initial line ups the band tried to recruit Bill Bruford and it is uncertain if it was he who introduced them to Phil, as he was at the time working with him as part of the A Trick Of The Tail live band. The then nameless band took the name Brand X after someone wrote “Brand X” on their calendar of studio activities. Initial reaction to their music from their management at Island Records was less than enthusiastic and the new quartet including Phil began rehearsing as an instrumental four piece.

It was recordings from these sessions that formed the basis of what would become the band's debut album; Unorthodox Behaviour which was recorded at Trident Studios during September and October of 1975. With Collins' connections the band secured Tony Smith as manager and a publishing deal with Hit & Run Music. Charisma bought out their Island records contract and placed them under the same ambit as the rest of the Charisma roster of artists. Under the new set up the original trio were the legal members of the band with Phil and others being most likely under the less salubrious title of Session musicians. The band's first gigs were a series of low key shows in November and December of 1975 where they were joined by Geoff Seopardi on percussion. A full scale UK tour mainly of the University/College circuit began in February 1976 and they were most often a support act for other artists. The shows were generally well received and several bootleg recordings from this period exist to document the band's performances.

The band then recorded their second album; Moroccan Roll with the addition of Morris Pert and it was released in April 1977 and managed to get to a respectable #37 in the UK charts – not bad for a band of their style given the turbulent nature of the UK music scene at that time. Phil's commitments to Genesis meant that he was unavailable for their US tour and so Kenwood Dennard took his place. Phil did briefly reappear for a string of UK dates in the summer which included a slot at the 10 th Crystal Palace Garden Party as well as the Fete De L'Humanite in Paris which was on the same day and the band chartered a plane in order to attend that gig (I seem to recall Phil doing something similar a few years later...). The result of these shows was the band's live album; Livestock which was released in November 1977.

Following the tour the band parted company with Robin Lumley who wanted to pursue his work in the field of record production and as the band was now aiming to make music squarely targeting the Jazz-Fusion US market. His replacement was Peter Robinson who would go on to be part of Phil's first solo touring and recording band. New drummer Chuck Burgi was also enlisted at this time.

This line up recorded Masques which was released in 1978 and was to be the original band's only album not to feature Phil due once again to his increasingly heavy commitments to Genesis. Of course, Brand X appeared on the same bill as Genesis at the Knebworth Festival in 1978 but Phil did not perform with them on that occasion. The following year saw what was to be effectively two line ups of the band. Disappointing record sales led to pressure from both their UK and US record labels who pressed for the band to add songs and a horn section to their music to make it more commercially acceptable. Divisions within the ranks soon became apparent with Percy Jones determined that the band should produce music “without pandering”. Bassist John Giblin was drafted in and so the result was a daytime line up of Lumley/Goodsall/Collins and Giblin recording the more rocky and vocally orientated music and a night time line up of Goodsall/Jones/Peter Robinson and drummer Mike Clark to record the more traditional Brand X fare.

The sessions produced two albums: 1979's Product and 1980's Do They Hurt? Product also generated a single; Don't Make Waves, ostensibly a reference to the attempts to keep the record companies happy. It was moderately successful achieving chart positions in both the UK and US. A tour followed which was to feature Phil with the band for the final time and that is where our story ends.

But not the story of Brand X which effectively ended in 1981 before a spate of reunions which began in 1992 and was to continue sporadically until the death of John Goodsall in 2021 at which point Jones and Lumley confirmed that the Brand X name was now officially retired, a sad end to what had been an adventurous and fun band.