The Scottish singer and songwriter is considered a workhorse live. Why he nevertheless came to terms with the Corona-related forced break surprisingly well, even more, why it even came in handy for him, and how the new album came about rather unplanned, he revealed in the eclipsed interview ...
eclipsed: I read that you didn't think it was so bad when you stopped touring rather abruptly. How so?
Ray Wilson: I had problems with my hand, the tendons were overstrained: At the end of a show I used to stretch up my guitar; at some point I couldn't do that anymore. My osteopath told me I had to stop playing, and I replied that there was no way I could, I had gigs for the next two years! When the pandemic stopped us all, it was the right time to stop and think about things. It gave me a break from my tendonitis. But now it's also good and important to get back to work. You get too used to doing nothing otherwise.
His latest live release "ZDF @ Bauhaus" shows Ray Wilson in an intimate atmosphere at the Bauhaus Dessau. The former singer of Stiltskin and Genesis has adapted to the art-historical environment with his performance on April 17 of this year and presented a straightforward unplugged set. On the occasion of his fiftieth birthday on 8 September, the Scotsman then performed at another unusual location, the neo-Romanesque residence palace of his adopted country of Poznan, where he celebrated with fans from all over the world.
eclipsed: How did the appearance in the context of the event series "zdf @ bauhaus" come about?
Ray Wilson: I was on tour and was asked if I could fill in for another band [My Indigo by Within-Temptation singer Sharon den Adel; Note]. So we literally integrated it into the tour plan at the last minute. Everything happened at the last minute, which was part of the magic.
![RAY WILSONS Livealbum "Time & Distance" offers Genesis songs in partly surprising versions](https://www.eclipsed.de/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/Ray%20Wilson%202017%20web.jpg?itok=EPKz4Ce0 "RAY WILSONS Livealbum "Time & Distance" offers Genesis songs in partly surprising versions")
After Phil Collins left the band in 1996, Ray Wilson was Genesis' lead singer for the rest of the nineties. For the only album of this formation, "Calling All Stations", he wrote three songs. He has refined his songwriting qualities on several solo albums. Since then he has transformed his short membership in the band into a live sounding coin by touring with his own Genesis programs ("Genesis Classic", "Genesis Unplugged"). He also sang for Steve Hackett on his "Genesis Revisited" tour.
eclipsed: "Time & Distance is a tribute to your time with Genesis. What is your summary today of your collaboration with Banks and Rutherford?
Ray Wilson (47) has been on the road for over twenty years now, playing grunge, rock, prog and folk pop. The Scotsman has often indulged in his love of reduced sounds at his concerts. On "Song For A Friend" he reinvents himself as an introspective storyteller in the folk tradition of the seventies.
eclipsed: Your new album is very quiet and reserved. Why did you choose this folk access?
Ray Wilson: Actually Uwe Metzler, my guitarist and songwriter, and I wanted to make a new Stiltskin album, so very rocky and bombastic. When we had recorded four or five songs, we noticed that somehow it didn't work out that well. I wanted to try something quieter that reminded me of my early solo shows. And that worked.
eclipsed: In the booklet you describe the new songs as short stories set to music..
