It’s been over 25 years since Mike + the Mechanics – a rock group founded by Genesis founding member Mike Rutherford – made the leap across the pond to America. In 1989, the band traveled across North America to support the group’s biggest album "The Living Years," but ever since then, Mike + the Mechanics has stayed over in Europe.

That changes this week, as Rutherford and company come into Milwaukee – along with Milwaukee-born Genesis/Phil Collins guitarist Daryl Stuermer as their special guest – for a show Thursday, March 19 at The Pabst Theater. Before the band’s rare stateside appearance Thursday night, OnMilwaukee.com chatted with Rutherford about looking back on his career, other various projects and, of course, the prospects of a Genesis reunion. 

OnMilwaukee.com: Last month, you celebrated the 25th anniversary of "The Living Years." Looking back on recording that album, what are some of your fondest memories of that time?

Mike Rutherford: I think what was nice was that it was our second album. The first one was completely sort of a project to see. We had about four or five singers on the album. I wrote the songs. It was this unplanned project that worked. So come the second album, you knew what you were writing for. It was more enjoyable because you knew and had planned what you were doing. You had found a sound, I think.

OMC: What were you figuring out between those two albums? 

MR: The key really is that we went in more confident. We came off the success of the first album more confident, and the creative juices were quite firing.

OMC: You’re also celebrating 30 years of being a band this year as well. Obviously your career goes back further than that with Genesis as well. How do you feel about the music industry’s progression over those decades?

MR: What’s surprising is how long ago it was. I’m very conscious – we always say this to ourselves now – that the era we had was pretty special because it was sort of the first generation of people playing music for a living. There was so much being done for the first time: how you toured, how you recorded. It was quite cutting edge, the whole thing. And, of course, now it’s a business; in my day, it wasn’t a business. Record labels were run by characters, and it was a slightly more pioneering time. I did enjoy that time.

OMC: Yeah, I don’t want to say it was flying by your seat ... 

MR: No, it was! Everything that happened was by chance and by luck and by things just happening. It was the early days of the business.

OMC: How do you feel about where the industry is now today? Obviously there’s been so much change and adjustment now as well.

MR: If I was young today, I’d be doing all that myself now. Having come from my era, it was such a different thing. The biggest thing that people forget, of course, is growing up in my era, there was music, and that was about it. There were no video games, no mobile phones, no computers. Music was such a bigger deal to life. It’s there now, but it’s not quite the same now in many ways.

My only concern is the younger bands. The revenue they need to make it and keep going in the early years from record sales is sort of gone really.

OMC: This is your first tour in America in several decades. Why come back now?

MR: The story was the Mechanics, we never really toured. It wasn’t a serious; there were a couple of tours in the ’80s. When Paul Young died in 2000, carrying on didn’t feel quite right for any of us, so we sort of stopped. When I restarted about four years ago, one of the first things I did was to go do a bit of live work, and I found the Mechanics songs – like "The Living Years" – went down so well and connected. So we toured the UK for the last three years, and there were no shortcuts. You had to go around and play those towns. So then we thought we’d try America.

OMC: Have you noticed a difference between American audiences and European audiences?

MR: Less so now. Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, America was the big touring market. Europe was very separate. It was quite hard work touring Europe, whereas now it feels like one big continent. But America’s always been the big market really. Of course, in this case with the Mechanics, it’s different because the Mechanics’ career started with the early albums successful in America, less so the other ones, whereas in Europe, we’ve been pretty popular the whole time. So we’ve had to work out what the songs will be because the early songs are more important. But it’s gone by really well.

OMC: You also released a memoir, blending the origins of your family and your father with the origins of Genesis. How did you want to go about telling those two stories?

MR: The story is that I found my father’s memoirs, which I hadn’t really come across and read them. That kind of spurred me. My fascination has always been that huge generational change in England in the ’60s. Back then, it was a very old fashioned country: stiff, establishment, empire days. A young man at 21 would want to become his father and wear the same clothes, whereas our generation wanted anything but. A big left turn. So the story about Genesis, myself and my father and all of that stuff against that backdrop of that big generational change I think makes it interesting.

OMC: What was it like finding those memoirs from your father. From the sounds of it, you just kind of stumbled upon on them.

MR: Yeah, we found the book, and my boy turned the book into a wonderful leather-bound copy for Christmas for me. What was amazing was my father never really mentioned the war at all to me really, but more importantly, you realized how alive and not dissimilar you were. You travelled the world, away from home for long trips, trying to have a family life, see your wife and children when you can, and working with a team. So there was a lot more comparison than I thought.

OMC: Last year, as Genesis, all of the members got together for a documentary for Showtime. What was it like reuniting with all of those guys again?

MR: It was a lot of fun. The documentary was my idea because I thought to myself so many people don’t tie it all in. When you put all of that body of work together – the solo careers and the band career, side by side – it’s a pretty impressive body of work. So I suppose in a sense, the documentary was a sort of celebration of that process really.

OMC: Obviously, when that came out, the rumors started back up about a reunion. Is there any more progress on that?

MR: There’s nothing planned at the moment. I always say, "Never say never"; that’s my line. But they’re good friends, and who knows if ever a project might come along that might make us want to do something.