"Phil - Jürgen Mayer"
in an
Exclusive Interview
2026

Susanne: I’m absolutely delighted that it’s working out today. Yes, me too – I’m glad we can do the interview now.

Phil-Jürgen: Yes, me too, in this brilliant venue.

Are you nervous?

Phil-Jürgen: I rarely get nervous, unless it’s clear in advance that something might turn out to be a problem.
But that’s not the case today.

Susanne: So you don’t really get stage fright, then?

Phil-Jürgen: Yes, just before the show, I feel so happy inside, and that’s exactly what I need. But then it’s fine once I go out;
then everything’s fine.

Susanne: Great, very good
Tell me, how long have you actually been performing on stages around the world?

Phil-Jürgen: Oh my God, we started out with our first band, Frank, the percussionist, in ‘Amnesia’.
We were 18 or 19 at the time, give or take a year or so, so it’s been a long, very long time.

Susanne: You’ve always been a bit of a Phil Collins, haven’t you?

Phil-Jürgen: No, no, no, no, no – with the Erstenberg Band, we wrote our own songs
and actually had proper success with them.

We were on the SWF 3 Hotline – as it was still called back then. We even came second there. But that
all led to us eventually getting a gig, and that evening we just
jumped straight into playing ‘In the Air Tonight’.

We were like, ‘Right, okay, let’s have a go at playing “In the Air Tonight” tonight.’ We’d practised it a bit
before and all that. And then the audience just let us know through their applause, their gestures and their energy
that we had to do more! We didn’t really realise it at the time, actually.

Susanne: That’s mad!

But have you ever realised that you’ve got a bit of a Phil Collins-style vocal tone?

Phil-Jürgen: No, it was just a nudge from the audience. They said it sounded like that. From the moment they said
it sounded like that, I started listening to the songs even more closely. But I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not now;
I can just sing. That’s the joy of it – that’s the real joy.

Susanne: You can hear it and you can see it too – it just flows so naturally with you. Yes, yes, it really is a real treat,
it’s absolutely brilliant.

Phil-Jürgen: I’m delighted. It’s absolutely mad how the whole thing has turned out – we never would have imagined it.
Next week we’re playing in Copenhagen as part of a 10-day tour of Denmark, and we’d never have believed it.
But we’re really enjoying it, and of course we’re also a bit daunted by the prospect of it all going well, because the songs
themselves are very complex.

Sometimes you wouldn’t think so just by listening to them, but when you play them, we take it very seriously – we want
to do a really good job.

Susanne: You can feel it and you can hear it too. There’s a bang, and you’re there, and the audience picks up on it straight away.
There’s no warm-up period.

Phil-Jürgen: It happens to us a lot: we go out and then – boom – it’s mad.

Susanne: Yes, the instant ignition.

Phil-Jürgen: Yeah, that’s crazy.

Susanne: How did you actually get together,
I mean the band – how did that happen?

Phil-Jürgen: Some of the line-up had already been part of “Amnesia”, right at the end of “Amnesia”, and then when
the transition came, it was like, ‘Come on, let’s do some more Collins Genesis.’

Susanne: Brilliant! It’s great fun, isn’t it?!

Phil-Jürgen: That’s brilliant. Nothing in the world gives me as much joy, energy and fun as when I
go out on stage and sing these songs or play them with this group of people in this band.

Susanne: Yes

Phil-Jürgen: We often get asked by other bands: ‘Can you pop round and have a
bit of a jam
with us or something?’ But we don’t want to do that at all, because we know that when we play, it’s best for us.
And we don’t have time to sing along somewhere or pop in as a guest here and there either.
We’ve got 35 gigs this year, and that’s a lot for us because some of us still have day jobs and whatnot, so
we’re more than busy enough.

Susanne:Yes, that’s really impressive. I reckon you could easily do more, but as far as I know, you’re still
busy with work.

Phil-Jürgen: That’s how it is.

Susanne: How much longer? Laughter

Phil-Jürgen: Yeah, it’ll carry on like this for a while yet. Which is just as well, really. I need both. I’ve got a great business
with my brother, and we’ve each got three children – all six of them are on board. So that’s just how it is at the moment.
I could just accept the situation and pour some superglue over it: ‘Leave it as it is, you know.’

Susanne: Brilliant, brilliant, that’s just great. I mean, that’s exceptionally brilliant – absolutely fabulous!

Phil-Jürgen:‘I am very grateful.’

Susanne: “Yes, I belive so.”

Phil-Jürgen: But it all started with hair loss, didn’t it? Laughter.

Susanne: Do you actually play an instrument or instruments?

Phil-Jürgen: On ‘Amnesia’, I played bass at the start. I’ve also got a drum kit at home. I play –
I reckon I can play the drums a bit, sort of, but I wouldn’t exactly put on a show for an audience just yet.

We’ve got a sound system now and it all works well, but I’m not really a drummer
in that sense. But I actually started my musical career in the fire brigade
band in Sulzfeld. That’s where I played that 50-litre watering can – the tenor horn.

Susanne: Oh come on, that’s just mad.

Phil-Jürgen:Well, I can read music. At least… ha ha.

Susanne: ….. I thought as much.

Phil-Jürgen: But I cut it short quite abruptly when I was 17 or 18, and then we
set off with the band straight away.

Back then, everyone used to laugh at us a bit – even our friends, I mean. We rehearsed three times a
week: Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday – bumbumbum – whilst the others were out partying somewhere.
Frank and I were self-taught. We didn’t have anyone to teach us; we didn’t have any lessons or anything like that.
And for me, singing came about at some point – it was right at the start with ‘Amnesia’ –
and I have to say, I saw it more as a chore at first.

Then when things got going with Phil, I realised, ‘Blimey, this suits me – I’ve got to do it even more.’
I’ve got to do it even better – yes, it was a stroke of luck that it turned out that way.
It’s also a stroke of luck for everyone else that I don’t play bass anymore. Laughter

Susanne: „It was meant to be happen!“

Phil-Jürgen: „Something on the way, to Heaven“
yes, that’s right.

Susanne: Yes, that’s true.

Susanne: Phil Collins, what goes on in your heart when you listen to his music, when you, when you meet him,
when you’re on stage singing his songs – how deeply does Phil Collins touch you?

Phil-Jürgen: So, for me, Phil Collins is a genius as a songwriter and as a musician. An unrivalled genius, in my view.
Everything he’s created over the years, everything he’s done with Genesis, and the way he’s sung those incredibly
complex songs, whilst also playing the drums and so on.
For me, the standard of the music has reached that level now, too.

He holds a very, very high place in my estimation.
He actually invited us to a gig in Stuttgart once, and that’s where we got to know him
and realised that, at heart, he’s a very down-to-earth man.
He’s got immense talent, and he’s the one who discovered it and then brought it out into the world. And he was also a
boundless source of energy on stage
and equally boundless when it came to songwriting. Very few people realise what else he’s done for others.
It’s really incredible, and that’s why I have nothing but pure admiration for him.

Susanne: How many times have you seen him?

Phil-Jürgen: We met once, on his initiative. We were in touch with his manager at the time,
and as Alex, the guitarist, had a contact, he wrote:

“He’s coming on his tour, his ‘Fynal’ tour, and we’ll be coming too.”
Then the manager wrote back:
“Yes, of course you’ll be coming – you’re invited backstage and to the soundcheck.”

“And we were like, ‘woooooo!’”

And after that we met him again, at a gig in Stuttgart with Genesis, and I saw him once more
in Cologne, on his ‘Not Dead’ tour. But by then, of course, his health was already quite limited. I really
felt sorry for him, because when he was on stage as a solo artist, he was always ‘all over the place’ – left, right, up, down.
With Genesis he was a bit calmer, but when he was touring solo or with his own projects,
he was always a bit of a rowdy on stage, really.

Then he couldn’t do that anymore and could only sit down. And if you’re just sitting down, then
of course you don’t have any circulation – no blood circulation. The vocal cords aren’t properly supplied,
so naturally it’s difficult.

Now it’s getting a little bit better again.

Susanne: Oh, lovely, that’s brilliant!

Phil-Jürgen: He’s even thinking about writing again, or perhaps going on another short tour.
But I reckon that’s still a long way off.

Susanne: But it’s lovely that he’s feeling better. Oh, thank goodness! That’s good, that’s good!

Phil-Jürgen: During his announcement in Cologne, he’d said: “I’ve got good insurance, and my knees are a right mess.”
That’s just his sense of humour, really – simple as that – and then he sits there with his walking stick, which he hooks
behind the bar stool, and stays there for two hours.
You’ve got to give him credit for that. And considering the level he was coming from, you’ve got to be pretty brave
to put yourself through that. It does hurt, after all –  the pain is definitely there; otherwise he’d be able to walk.

Susanne: Yeah, yeah, sure.

Phil-Jürgen: But genius.

Susanne: Yes, absolutely, absolutely – it’s just sensational.

Susanne: Where do your ideas come from?

Phil-Jürgen: You mean for the show, then?

Phil-Jürgen: I’m lucky that, whenever I’m doing anything – whether it’s cycling, go-karting or whatever –
or having a whisky: I just… every now and then I look at something and think to myself, ‘That’s really cool!’

Back then, for example, I saw that Zorb ball at Peter Gabriel’s.

He had one on tour and I saw it and fell head over heels in love with the Zorb Ball.
I thought to myself: ‘I’ve got to have one of those!’ Then I rang the company and they’d
produced three or four of them for Peter Gabriel’s tour back then,
so I said I’d buy one and we’d do
something cool with it too. And, strangely enough, two years ago – I’ll mention that too:
‘Two years ago we were here at the Wormser once before; I’d brought one of those Zorb balls with me and
broke it outside during the soundcheck, on one of those metal registers.’

Susanne: Oh my God.

Phil-Jürgen: That’s the cost of at least two hot meals out. It’s quite pricey, this thing,
here in Worms. Yeah, I don’t think people have ever seen it before, which is why I said today that since we’re
here today, I’ll bring the new ball with me – the old one was beyond repair. It was one of those triangles
that got torn right out. But other ideas come from my fellow musicians too.
Or when I’m making announcements, I hear something somewhere and think to myself: “Yeah, that’s funny.”

Susanne: And the choreography – the stuff you show on stage – does that just flow naturally from the show,
or do you think, ‘That’d be a good move; that’d fit in really well right now’?

Phil-Jürgen: A few elements are, of course, also inspired by Phil Collins’ live shows, where we’ve picked up a bit
of inspiration.
But we’ve also developed lots of things exclusively for ourselves. Take the performance of “Land of Confusion”,
which we then pass on to the audience, or “Follow You, Follow Me” –
there are lots of things we’ve developed specifically for ourselves so that they come across well in the show.

And what I don’t want is for the audience to be sitting there thinking, ‘Is that it?’
I always want to
interact like that, with the audience too. The whole band does as well. We don’t want to put on the sort of seated event
where you leave after two hours thinking, ‘Yeah, that was nice.’
That’s why it’s the same with our video production. Markus Klisch handles all our video technology
and that’s really helped us move forward – the fact that we’ve simply developed our own video creations
to go with the songs.

Susanne: Great!

Phil-Jürgen: And when you’re sitting there, and a concert like that goes on for 2 hours and 20 minutes, it’s always
a feast for the eyes as well. Yeah, that’s definitely good.

Yeah, I’d already seen you at the Goldgelb Festival and I was completely smitten.

Phil-Jürgen: It was you. … Laughter
Yes, it was me. … Laughter

So I thought to myself: ‘You look just like him, you sing just like him – that’s mad, it’s actually unbelievable.
Are you related or something?
No, of course not, but yes, it’s mad.

Phil-Jürgen: I still don’t really feel that way. I sing like Phil Collins because when I listen to my recordings

Phil-Jürgen: Right, thanks a lot. *smile*

Susanne: You used to write your own songs as well, didn’t you?!

Phil-Jürgen: Yes, exactly – with the first band, it was very intense, which is why we had to rehearse three times a week,
each week. Not anymore. These days, everyone basically rehearses on their own. If we want to record a new song
at Phil’s, we keep the workload for the whole band to a minimum, i.e.
everyone practises at home and on day X we turn up at the rehearsal room with the result ‘Y’ and go through the song.

We see if it works for us, if it suits me vocally or if it’s right for me – that’s
important to me too. There are also songs I can’t sing; they just aren’t right for me.
For example, I’ve currently put out two new songs that appeal a bit to the old Genesis fans. That’s ‘Rippels’—
that’s one of the songs. An old Genesis song, and ‘If Leaving Me Is Easy’ is a very, very solemn song.
We’re working on that right now, but back in the day, writing our own material was quite a challenge.

We probably put a lot of… You really throw yourself into an instrument like that
and throw yourself into the vocals.
When you listen to it ten years later, the first thing you realise is just how cool those Phil Collins songs are that were written
40 years ago.
You still listen to them today as if they were brand new.

Susanne: Yes, that’s right.

Phil-Jürgen: And that’s actually what’s so mad about it.

Susanne: That isn’t often the case.

Phil-Jürgen: There aren’t that many… there have been artists, way back in the day like Elvis Presley, then the Beatles.
There are certainly plenty of artists who’ve been around for a long time, but there are also some –
I reckon most of them haven’t been around for very long.

Susanne: Yes, that is so.

So, 40 years or more – that’s an exceptionally long time; there aren’t many like that.

Phil-Jürgen: That’s quite a feat!

When you post that on Insta, or sometimes via your management or your channel,
you know, saying, ‘So-and-so many years ago today, “Can’t Hurry Love” or “In the Air Tonight” came out’
What?! “In the Air Tonight”? That was 1985/1986, or 1982 – wow.

Susanne: That’s absolutely mad.

Phil-Jürgen: My children listen to that too; I reckon that these days… or rather, these days I can
share music with my kids much more than I ever did with my dad or mum.
They used to listen to Roy Black or whatever. Whatever my parents listened to, it was always, ‘Pah, get rid of that.’

These days, I think we’re much closer. Yes, it can vary from person to person, of course.

Susanne: Yes, it was a different generation, and the music was too.

Phil-Jürgen: Yes, but they’re a different generation to our children, so I think it’s lovely
at the moment that we can go to a Coldplay concert together.

Susanne: Yes, yes, that’s brilliant. It’s just real music, and that’s becoming increasingly valuable and appreciated
because, canned music just gets boring quickly and there’s no human energy or creativity behind it.

Phil-Jürgen: Mind you, on the way home from gigs, when we’ve still got a two-hour drive or so ahead of us,

Susanne: Yeah… how do you switch off, generally speaking, and how do you recharge your batteries?!

Phil-Jürgen: Well, to be honest, I recharge my batteries with Phil. I run a business, and we’ve got quite
a few things on our plate, but that’s all settled down a bit. It used to be more intense – more time-consuming.
I enjoy cycling, meeting friends, spending time with my family – my family really does help me recharge, and my children – it’s brilliant.

Susanne: Great!

Phil-Jürgen: I’m a grandad now, after all, “Get out of here!” Laughter

Susanne: Honestly, your kids are all so grown-up already. I mean, like…

Phil-Jürgen: 35, and then downwards in a rhythm of 3s and 4s.

Susanne: Crazy!

Phil-Jürgen: Some of them actually wanted to come today as well, but we’ve got a trade fair with the company,
and they have to be at the fair.

Susanne: Oh, that would have been brilliant!

Phil-Jürgen: My eldest daughter lives in York in England; she’s flown over especially to celebrate her
35th birthday and so on.

Susanne: Oh, that’s just great.

Phil-Jürgen: So there’s always something going on and it’s never boring, and to a certain extent I’m also glad
that from Thursday evening the tour bus is setting off for Denmark, with the whole band on board.
And then we’re playing in Copenhagen on Friday and Saturday, the next gig on Monday,
the next one on Wednesday, the next one on Friday, and then we’ll head home. And we’ll just be together with the band.

Susanne: Great!

Phil-Jürgen: And we’ve never done anything quite like this before.
We’ve been to Husten, Texas, for 3–4 days before, but spending 10 days together on our own – never, as
there were always partners with us, and this time we want to make the most of the time to experience a few things
we’ve never experienced before.

Sadly, we’ve also lost a band member – Thomas Sturm, our trumpeter –
who died of cancer, and at the funeral a few words were said and a
Phil Collins song was played. That’s when you learnt things you didn’t know, even though you’d been.
Because the show is so tightly scheduled, just like it is today: we arrive, we set up,
soundcheck, then there’s catering, doors open at 7.30 pm, show at 8 pm. After the show, everyone packs up their stuff,
gets in the car and drives home again.
When you’ve got so much on your plate, I want to make the most of the time on the coach now.

Susanne: This is going to be great!

Phil-Jürgen: That’ll be fine.

Susanne: That’s going to be absolutely brilliant.

Phil-Jürgen: It can’t go wrong.

Phil-Jürgen: We’d actually been to Denmark once before last year, but on that occasion all our partners were
with us, whereas this time it was a solo trip.

Susanne: Solo Tour, das wird spitzenmäßig.

Phil-Jürgen: I’m afraid so. Laughter

Susanne: Listen, thank you so much!

Phil-Jürgen: Thank you – you went all the way to Worms just for this.

Susanne: Ja,

Phil-Jürgen: Marvellous, marvellous!

Susanne: It is with the greatest pleasure

Phil-Jürgen:Enjoy the show tonight

Susanne: I’ll do that

Phil-Jürgen: Go for it with the catering …,

And we’ll see each other again.

Susanne: Right, let’s do it that way.

See you later, bye.