John Wilkinson - Lead Voice

Equipment List:
Samson radio microphone
Alesis Midiverb 4

Influences: Musically...Genesis, Phil Collins, Yes, Rush etc. Vocally...Phil Collins (obviously ;-)), Paul Carrack, Marvin Gaye, Paul McCartney

Favourite Song: Take Me Home

Favourite Genesis and Phil Collins Songs: Mama, The Carpet Crawl, Colours, I Cannot Turn Back The Years, Entangled

Favourite Genesis Concert: Either the '82 "Six of the Best" or Roundhay Park Leeds '87

A fan of Genesis since 1977 when he first heard "A Trick Of The Tail", John's first entry into playing music was as a guitarist in a band performing their own material. He attended Mable Fletcher Music College in 1982 and stayed for one year. He then played in several cover bands until 1991 when he answered an advert in a local paper seeking "a singer who is into Genesis to play some of their songs". John had been doing demo's of his own songs at home, but ultimately wanted to try his hand at singing in a band. He applied for the job and promptly joined a band who had in their repetoire "Turn It On Again". He enjoyed singing so much that when this short lived band broke up he got together with Will Smith, and formed a covers duo playing Phil Collins solo hits with other material.

"People have asked me if I have practised hard to sound like Phil. The answer is no. That's just the way that my natural voice is (luckily for me). It's been my dream to be in a band like this. To play Genesis and Phil songs every week, have a good time and be liked by people, well you can imagine what that's like for a fan. I'm very fortunate to be in a band with two superb musicians like Tony and Will. They constantly amaze me with the way the just learn songs and play them right off the bat. It's also been great to meet like minded Genesis and Phil fans and share some great times with them".

Tony Cole - Keyboards

Equipment List (live):
Roland JX8P analog polysynth (Prophet V sounds etc)
Korg M1
Korg N5EX (CP80 sounds)
Korg M3R (M series rack module)
Digitech Midi Vocalist (Vocoder)
Yamaha PSR 520 (Mother keyboard for Digitech Midi Vocalist)
Roland MKS20 (RD1000 rack piano module)
Spirit Folio 14-2 Mixer
Alesis Midiverb
Shure SM58 Mic

Equipment List (studio):
Cubase VST24
Midiman Biport 2X4s
Korg MS20 (Mono synth)
Korg Lambda (Polysynth)
Roland CR78 (Drum Machine)
Roland PMA5 (Sound Canvas)
Roland D110 (Rack module)
Yamaha RX15 (Drum Machine)

Influences: Genesis, Beatles, ELO, and Yes

Favourite Song: Lady Madonna (The Beatles)

Favourite Genesis Songs: Mama, Many Too Many, Afterglow (version at end of medley on Invisible Touch Tour)

Favourite Genesis Concert: Roundhay Park, Leeds in 1987 (I was one of the Domino's at the back who have no friends at all)

"I use four keyboards for live work. This gives me the greatest flexibilty to prepare the sounds for the next song. I have programmed the Roland JX8P to get as close as possible to Phil's Prophet sounds in "In The Air Tonight", "Another Day In Paradise", "Mama". Also it gives me the monophonic sounds in such songs as "Follow You Follow Me". I use a Korg N5EX for its superb sampled CP80 sounds used in such songs as "Groovy Kind Of Love", "Against All Odds", "Throwing It All Way" etc. A Digitech Midi Vocalist augments the bands harmonies and is used for vocoder effects in such songs as "In The Air Tonight" and "Land Of Confusion".

"I have used Cubase VST24 (with Midiman Biport 2X4s) to write all the sequences so as to be as close as possible to the way that Genesis and Phil intended them, paying particular attention to bass lines and bass sounds as well as studying live versions to give a live "feel" and to get authentic endings. Coupled with Will's superb handling of both Mike Rutherford, and Daryl Stuermer's guitar parts the overall effect is very close to both the Genesis and Phil Collins live sound, and a perfect platform for John to show his vocal talents as undoubtedly the closest live voice to Phil's in the business".

"We have been concentrating on introducing some more Genesis songs into the repetoire. This has been a challenge to say the least. Song list now includes: No Son Of Mine, I Can't Dance, and one of my favourite Genesis songs Many Too Many. I managed to obtain several samples of the percussive sounds used in I Can't Dance, so the drum sequence is very close to the real thing . Domino has been the biggest challenge so far. For Cubase afficionados I used 18 drum tracks (six different kits !!), and 6 sample tracks to get all the drum sounds. as you will knoe Genesis and Collins use a lot of gated snare/bass drum and samples to get the final sound on record. The total sequence took me over 40 hours to programme. I have often sent John and Will e-mails at 2.30am to say that I have just finished for the night and I'm ready to crash out. (Time flies......)".

"We are sometimes asked whether we would consider using a live drummer. The answer is ....... not at the moment. Face Value started as a Phil Collins tribute and we added a few well known Genesis songs for a bit of variety. We were constantly asked for more and more Genesis songs. When we looked into performing the latter (well known) Genesis songs with Collins on vocals we realised that we were fortunate that Genesis mainly used drum machines and sequencers. (Listen to: Mama, Domino, Land Of Confusion, Invisible Touch and I Can't Dance, for example)".

"To that end I have literally, many hundreds of hours programming the sequences, and we have worked very hard to getting a sound that is very close to Genesis on record (Not easy....). We have concentrated (for now....) on performing the "Hits" as this has given Face Value the best start and has proved very popular with audiences. The other consideration (up here in the North West of England) is that we might not perform so often if we were a five piece Genesis tribute. Now if we all lived in London, it might be a different story......add to the fact that John, Will and myself are great friends and rarely disagree on musical direction, and there is very little incentive to increase the numbers in the band".

"Face Value were very excited to appear at G2 and especially enjoyed performing with the other great tribute bands on the Friday night. There was something for fans of all era's over the two nights. Face Value played some new Genesis songs........... and of course we played some new ones as well ;-)".

Will Smith - Guitars

Equipment List:
Fender "Ritchie Sambora" Stratocaster guitar
Fender "Custom" Stratocaster guitar
Roland GT3 Guitar effects unit
Shure SM58 Mic

Influences: The Beatles, Genesis, Queen

Favourite Song: "And I Love Her" (The Beatles)

Favourite Genesis and Phil Collins songs: Home By The Sea, Easy Lover, Mama, I Wish It Would Rain Down.

Favourite Genesis Concert: Well I've seen them on video, does that count?

"I have actually never seen Genesis or Phil live. I became fascinated with their music when I met John many years ago now. From a purely technical point of view this band is the most challenging that I've ever been in. I really had to listen to the guitar parts because as you know while it may sound simple, both Daryl and Mike are excellent guitar players. Mike is one of the finest 'rhythm' guitarists, and as for Daryl's lead playing.........phew. I have come to love the songs that we play, and also John is getting me aquainted with some of the "older" songs as well, which are also fascinating. My goal in this band is to make the audience think that they've seen the closest thing to actually seeing either Phil or Genesis live. If like me you never had the thrill of that, I hope that Face Value can bring at least a little of what it must be like. No one is sure when Phil or Genesis will tour again, in the meantime we hope that we bring a little of their magic to you".