Former Genesis guitarist is enjoying his new lease of life. Tim Hughes reports

As a founding member of Genesis, Mike Rutherford built a career as one of the world’s most successful musicians, playing flamboyant rock to packed arenas.

But while he still loves the idea of playing to tens of thousands of fans, he is equally happy playing heartfelt songs in small theatres with his current band, Mike + The Mechanics.

“Having 80,000 people cheering is a bit of a lift,” he says, with typical understatement, in a patrician cut-glass accent. “It gives a really good buzz of pleasure. I can’t compare what I am doing now with that time in the 1980s when I was playing big arenas, but it’s still exciting. And now I can see the audience, which I couldn’t before.

He laughs: “Now I can see people nodding off!”

Mike admits to having been a lifelong rebel. His father was a Royal Navy captain and Mike was destined to follow in his footsteps. But, sent to top public school Charterhouse, he fell into music, joining school band The Anon. Despite being forced out of the band and having his guitar confiscated by his house master, Mike’s love of playing live had been ignited.

Along with band member Anthony Phillips, he teamed up with schoolmates Peter Gabriel, keyboardist Tony Banks and drummer Chris Stewart and formed Genesis.

The band, with Mike providing bass, rhythm guitar and backing vocals, went on to become one of the biggest acts of all time, selling 130 million records worldwide and being at the vanguard of progressive rock, pioneering new techniques in production, live performance and video making.

While the band went through numerous line-up changes, Mike remained, penning some of its biggest hits, such as Follow You Follow Me, Land of Confusion and Turn it On Again.

“They were exciting times, because there were no set precedents,” he says. “It was all about trying it and seeing. There was no formula and record labels were owned by individuals, not shareholders. Now it’s become a big business, which it wasn’t in the early days. It was an adventure and people usually had a good time.

“It was a golden age, because of the changing of formats. We went through vinyl, tape and CD. We took it for granted; you do when you are young.”

Although he experimented with solo work, Mike preferred collaborating, and, while Genesis took a break in 1985, he recruited The Mechanics – with Ace, Roxy Music and Squeeze member Paul Carrack; Sad Cafe’s Paul Young; Toyah Willcox’s keyboardist Adrian Lee; and Van Morrison’s drummer Peter Van Hooke.

They hit the ground running, scoring hits with All I Need Is a Miracle, Word of Mouth, Silent Running, Over My Shoulder and, biggest of all, The Living Years.

Deliciously poignant, the song was co-written by BA Robertson, about his relationship with his father and his regret at not having told him how much he loved him before he died.

Mike says the lyrics chimed with his own experiences, his father having died while he was on tour with Genesis.

“It’s very much about BA and his father, but then I went through the same thing,” he says. “Had it not worked out, it could have been crass or mawkish, but it touched people.

“I hear from people who had lost touch with their mother or father and that it helped them to get in touch. There are often people in the crowd crying, particularly if they have been through a bad time or have lost someone. They all have something to say.”

Like Genesis before them, Mike + The Mechanics have changed shape, initially losing Peter and Adrian, then Paul Young, who died of a heart attack in 2000.

Initially deciding to “put the band to bed”, Mike revived the name in 2009, teaming up with R’n’B singer Andrew Roachford (who had a hit with Cuddly Toy in 1989), and Canadian rocker Tim Howar.

“It finished when Paul died,” says Mike. “That was the end of an era, but I started writing again and it’s really good.

“It’s quite nice, as we came back four years ago and hadn’t really toured, so it’s still a bit of a new thing. It has taken three years of building it up, but now it’s like the old days.”

And with no sign of an album since 2011’s seventh outing The Road, is a new one in sight?

“I have been dragging my feet, because it’s a lot of work,” he admits. “We’ve had our time in terms of record sales, but have got new guys in the band. There are six or seven songs I’ve recorded and we are playing them because they feel like proper songs. But this is what I do. I still love to write music.”

But while he is enjoying life with the Mechanics and says Genesis hasn’t broken up, he suggests fans shouldn’t hold their breath.

“Genesis is on hold,” he says. “There are no plans; but there never were, really. There was a big tour in 2007 with Phil [Collins], which was fun to do, and a television document-ary on Genesis last year, which got us together again. But you never know what’s around the corner. And we are still all above ground.”

Mike + The Mechanics
New Theatre, Oxford
Tuesday
Tickets £33.90-£39.90
See atgtickets.com