When Phil Collins left the music biz over health issues and a desire to "be there for his kids" with wife number fifteen three, the last thing he ever expected to find himself doing was performing at a middle school in Miami, Florida. Of course, that was before his young children began showing curiosity in their father's music career and began asking him to perform again.
While we are not quite sure why Collins and his children are in calling Miami home these days when one considers the fact that they were born and raised in Switzerland, it's only fitting that Collins would come out of retirement to perform "In The Air Tonight" in Miami, as it was the show "Miami Vice" that featured the song prominently in the premiere episode of the show.
Collins, of course, recently began writing with Adele and is slowly ramping up to a full-scale comeback of sorts that could very well result in a Genesis reunion with Peter Gabriel.
Of course, no mention of Collins or "In The Air Tonight" would be complete without answering the musical question that has long plagued mankind: How did Collins get that monstrous gated drum sound on "In The Air Tonight"?
As luck would have it, Collins was brought in to play drums on Peter Gabriel's third solo album. Upon being instructed by Gabriel to play without cymbals for the song "Intruder" (which features Paul Weller of the Jam on guitar!), Collins and engineer Hugh Padgham hit upon the sound by accident when Padgham heard Collins' drums through the reverse talk-back mic input (allowing a musician to communicate to the engineer separate from the mics being used to record the instruments).
After rewiring the SSL 4000 mixing board so that they could record what they were picking up with the reverse talkback mic, the iconic drum sound was born and first used on Gabriel's "Intruder". Due to the success of this technique, future SSL 4000 mixing boards were wired so that the reverse talk-back circuit could be recorded with the touch of a single button.
