Could pianism secrets be revealed as British rock band Genesis reunite?

The BBC have recently announced that, as part of a series of music-themed TV programmes to be screened later this year, the classic five-man line-up of British rock band Genesis will reunite for a new documentary. Given how much has already been said about the band by both its members and observers, how much fresh will be revealed by the new documentary, which will be titled 'Genesis: Together and Apart', remains unclear. However, it is possible that viewers will gain a greater insight into how some of the band's most memorable music was created - including, especially intriguingly to us, how keyboardist Tony Banks has used pianos to wonderful effect.

 

Pianism has been crucial to Genesis music

Many of the ways in which Banks has used pianos for Genesis recordings is already public knowledge. He used a grand piano for the band's 'Trespass' album, released in 1970, and started using an RMI 368x Electra Piano for 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway', the band's 1974 album and last album with Peter Gabriel as the lead singer. In 1978, Banks replaced the RMI piano with the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano. A typical part of the sound Banks commonly contributed to Genesis in the 1980s was produced through putting this Yamaha piano through a Boss chorus; this can be heard especially prominently in the song 'That's All'.

It was, of course, from 1978 that the band began making much more widely appealing music, as typified by their hit that year, the love song 'Follow You Follow Me'. Many Yamaha pianos, including Yamaha 03 pianos, are stocked by Little & Lampert Pianos - so making widely appealing music like Tony Banks could be much more within your reach than you currently realise.

 

A documentary... and then what?

There has been speculation that the reunion of Genesis for this documentary could lead to this five-man line-up performing again for the first time since the early 1980s. That very nearly happened in 2007, but original lead singer Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett both withdrew from the project. If this five-man Genesis does indeed begin performing again, we could well see Banks playing pianos again, especially if much 1970s Genesis material is performed. It would certainly be interesting to see what types of pianos he would play for Genesis in the 21st century. Perhaps he could buy new Yamaha pianos from Little & Lampert Pianos?