John Beaudin - Hi Daryl, it's nice to chat with you again.

Daryl Stuermer - It's nice to talk to you too John.

John - How does it feel to get back after the long tour with Phil Collins?

Daryl - It's great, on one hand I miss the tours as soon as I come home but then I also love being home so it's kind of a catch-22. (laughing)

Genesis 1978 - Daryl Stuermer & Phil Collins

John - I like what you wrote on your website, "It's the greatest job one could ever have. Great Music, Great Boss, Good Paycheck, Good Catering, Enthusiastic Fans, Travel The World,......what's not to like!"

Daryl - It is great. You know it's always fun unless you've been on a lousy tour but I've never had a lousy tour with Phil Collins or Genesis. Most of the times you make the best of whatever it is in front of you but it's always good with Phil and that's why I put some of those experiences on the website.

John - You really have changed the site a lot. It looks great and there is a lot more information on there. I also like all the new pictures.

Daryl - We made a real effort to change the website. We just wanted to make it more interesting and we add things weekly now and I tried to do as much as I could with "Notes From The Road" feature. You know how it started? I'd write home to my wife and she started saying, "Hey, you know about 75% of this that's not personal could be put on the website." So some of it may have been a letter or note I wrote home without the family personal stuff.

John - Well, that's the type of stuff I loved on albums growing up.

Daryl - I loved it on records and that's what I miss about albums actual records. CD's are just too small you can't get all that info on there.

John - So you fell asleep during "Shrek 2" in France, huh? (laughing)

Daryl - (laughing) Yeah, I don't know if it's that I didn't like it that much or I was really tired. A lot of us in the band went to see the movie and everybody was snoring and sleeping. We had been playing many, many gigs in a row and we were all so tired. (laughing) I don't know if I really disliked the movie, I thought it was ok. I think the only person that didn't fall asleep was one of our backing vocalists named Connie.

John - You have the same band with Phil both here in North America and in Europe?

Daryl, Robin Williams, Brad Cole

Daryl - We had six backing vocalists, three female, three male, four horn players plus the rhythm section which is bass, drums and keyboards, percussion and two guitars so that's another six. It adds up to 16 and with Phil that's 17.

John - Wow, that's the way to do it.

Daryl - It's really a great show and we're all having such a great time. It's one of those things that you savor, you're savoring the moment because it's considered Phil's last world tour and I've had discussions about this with Phil and he doesn't mind me saying that it doesn't mean that you're not going to see him again or he's not going to do anything. He's looking at it as a last tour on this scale. This arena, stadium style show with the big lights, the big screen and the large group. I think it's the last time he wants to do this type of thing but again it doesn't mean he won't do a one - off show on that scale just not a full tour. I've talked to him about this and I think what he'd like to do after this is smaller scale things like theatre shows sort of a story teller/ unplugged stuff.

John - Well, it worked for Billy Joel pretty good.

Daryl - I don't know if Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull came up to Canada but on this tour he would play two or three songs then sit down and talk with a host and they'd actually take questions from the audience and I actually did the show with him. In each city the promoter of the tour would call ahead and find a local artist to play with him. A local promoter put my name forward and I had to send in a demo of a few songs and Ian heard it and picked a song I co-wrote with Phil Collins called "The Least You Can Do" from Phil's "Testify" album.

John - And of course you just did that on the new album "Retrofit."

Daryl - Yeah and that's one that I wrote all the music to and I gave it to Ian in an instrumental form and he loved it so I went up and played "The Least You Can Do" with him. We did the soundcheck, rehearsed it about three times and that was it.

Phil Collins & Daryl Stuermer on tour 2004

John - So you told Phil about it?

Daryl - Yeah and he was really interested in that concept but remember that's way down the line. This tour that we're on right now is hiatus.

John - You're off for a year, right?

Daryl - Yeah, a year because Phil's wife is having a baby and we're not going to start touring until October of next year. When we get back to it we'll do places like Australia and Japan, South America and even some eastern block places like Moscow and Saint Petersburg. So the tour is not over but it is in the States, Canada and most of Europe.

John - WelI, I appreciated the invitation from you and your promo gal Cary on seeing you and Phil in Toronto. Unfortunately we we're in ratings and in radio you just don't leave your post during the ratings especially the fall book and I work for two radio stations, two separate companies so it wasn't going to happen. I do appreciate the offer though thanks Daryl. I do wish you and Phil and the boys would cover the North American cities that you missed.

Daryl - Yeah that was too bad that you couldn't make it. I even told the management that we should have done more places in Canada especially because we only did Montreal and Toronto. What about Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. I think we should go back there and finish it off. I told Phil you wouldn't be lying if you came back to different cities. He wanted to do this tour to say goodbye so visiting as many places is a great idea.

John - I read on your website that you really enjoyed the Montreal audience.

Daryl - They were probably the best audience in North America and I say that even though Toronto is one of my favorite Canadian cities.

John - Speaking of when are you going to get the residuals for naming the band Max Webster? (laughing)

Daryl - (laughing)

John - Ok, they were a big Canadian band, it's not the world but let me pick up the ball on this one you could sue, sue, sue. (laughing)

Another 2004 tour shot

Daryl - (laughing) I think that it's amazing because I wrote these two songs called "Song for Webster" and "Family at Max" and these were songs that I wrote around 1972. I moved up to Windsor with a friend and my brother and we started this band. The bass player said why don't we name the band The Max Webster after these two songs and that's what happened.

John - Well, that's an amazing piece of Canadian Music trivia. It might not mean too much for most people in the U.S. since Max Webster never really made it big in the States.

Daryl - When I was in Toronto I ran into Mike Tilka who was that bass player who went on with Max Webster. He wasn't with them I don't think when they made it big in Canada and in the beginning they were a very different band from what most Canadians remember.

John - Kim Mitchell was not with the band back then, right?

Daryl - No, he wasn't. I don't know if you know this John but when we were in Toronto with Genesis once we played this festival where we were the main headliner but Max Webster was the opening act and it came out in a Toronto paper that I had this connection with Max Webster. I have to tell you I've enjoyed that connection, I think it's kind of cool.

Part two posted November 2, 2004

John - Are you political?

Daryl - I am in a sense and I do have a strong view. I have never put a sign out in front of my house and this is the first year that I did. (laughing) Our country is totally divided, Kerry and Bush are like at 48% each in the polls. It's so close no one can predict anything, I certainly don't know what's going to happen here.

John - Even the psychics can't gamble on this one. (laughing)

Daryl - What's funny to me is when George Bush got elected, he said that he wanted to be a uniter not a divider but if you look at what's happened so far we're still dead even. (laughing) The country is just as separated and divided now as it was before.

John - It has gotten nasty! Some of the Kerry jokes are funny as with the Bush jokes.

Daryl - Sure some people should have a sense of humor about it and even George Bush makes fun of it himself.

John - I still think the economy and national safety are top billing but I still think that it's also partially the guy who sounds the most believable.

Daryl - Well, the trouble I have with the debates for instance is that it becomes kind of a beauty pageant and people start talking about things that aren't relevant. I think this time with the debates it showed a clear picture of the ideas that these two guys have. I think you should have a clear vote depending on who you support.

John - I watch body language too sometimes.

Daryl - Oh sure, their body language can tell you a lot. If you look at the body language that George Bush had in the first debate you would think he was obviously off his game but when they asked him the religious question which usually doesn't come up in other countries you could tell he believed what he was saying. Kerry didn't seem totally believable on that one. I can tell you that I'm a Kerry supporter but at the same time I can tell you that I felt bad with his answer to that question. It's too bad that he has to do that. Americans put so much stock on whether the guy is a religious man. I don't think of it that way I think religion should be out of politics. I think George Bush though says what he feels more than anybody else it's just that you might not agree with that. If he's being steadfast you might think that's a good quality but if you don't like that direction it's a mute point. When I hear Senator Kerry speak I'm always thinking I wish he could just say what he believes. Sometimes what someone actually believes scares people.

John - Just ask the Dixie Chicks.

Daryl - (laughing) Exactly and we're supposed to live in this country where we're suppose to be free but there was a time especially after 9/11 that you couldn't say anything. If you did it made you sound like you weren't patriotic. It will be interesting to see what happens. I don't hate George Bush however I do get offended with these emails I receive that make George Bush look bad. Like a photo of a monkey and of Bush pointing out the similarities in their faces. That doesn't even interest me."

John - Well, that's just pure childish.

Daryl - Yeah, it's childish and I don't think it's going to help their cause. If someone knows I'm supporting John Kerry on this you really don't have to send me anything.