Brian Cummins

It all began when I was a kid marvelling at the front cover of ‘Foxtrot’ in my dad’s record collection. I used to listen to the records but couldn’t make a lot of sense at the age but grew up on a healthy background of The Beatles, 10cc, ELO and Supertramp to name a few.

I suppose my Genesis romance began when we got a copy of the ‘Mama Tour’ VHS in the 80s. Me and my brother used to ‘airdrum’ side by side and drove the family nuts especially when Mum wanted to watch the soaps!

Sadly I didn’t get to see Genesis live until 2007 where standing alongside my fellow Crawlers whilst singing our theme tune at the top of our voices was just simply unforgettable.

I started playing live as a guitarist when I was 12 always with older guys than me and you tend to learn a lot when you stretch yourself and play ‘out of your depth’. Eventually I started singing and branching out into other areas of music and finally earning a living from being a Pro Musician.

It was 2004 when the idea came up for a Genesis Tribute, and after scouring Liverpool we had our first rehearsal in Jan 2005, over the years members have come and gone and only Andy still remains from the original lineup, although he isn’t touring with us this year.

We all worked tremendously hard that first year with Andy never being in a band before and having to learn ‘live discipline’ overnight. Add to that I had to learn how to play the flute and convert ‘air-drumming’ to actually hitting the real thing!

Then there’s all the dressing up side which I personally love, it’s such a buzz when you come out on stage and the fans can tell what song you’re about to do from what you’re wearing! Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without my good friends Ali McWatt from Lorelei Designs, and more recently Davy Jones of Davy Jones SFX who works on TV dramas and blockbuster films and is a genius at recreating such wonderful costumes. I drove him up the wall making the Slipperman costume but thankfully we’re now great friends.

After a lot of ups and downs and many personnel changes we have finally settled on our current lineup and I am very proud to be on stage along side such stellar musicians and more importantly great people!

The highlight of being in The Crawlers personally for me was playing to a packed house at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer for the fist time. I’d had the pleasure of touring Europe a good few times before singing for Mick Pointer’s Marillion, but to take our own show over with my best mates and have such a magical night….well, you only have to see my face at the end of the Carpet Crawlers DVD to see what I’m talking about.

I had no idea when I started this project where it would lead me, singing with Mick who was one of my heroes and recently releasing our double live album ‘Script Revisited’ was a very proud moment for me. Also in 2013 I was approached to sing for ‘The Security Project’ featuring more legendary heroes of mine this time in Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel’s drummer on the first four albums) and Trey Gunn of King Crimson. We perfom the early music of Peter and have toured all over the US, Canada and the UK and Europe and I never dreamt I would meet these people never mind be in a band with them.

We have a lot of ambition and still a lot of hard work to put into this project, but it is always done with a smile and we have a wonderful few years ahead of us and more importantly, a hell of a lot of new friends to make!

Hope to see you at a show sometime soon.

Brian.

Equipment
Shure Beta 87 Wireless
Gretsch USA Custom 8 piece concert tom kit
Zildjan, Sabian and Paiste Cymbals
Trevor James Flute
Various Crazy Costumes