Ray Wilson insists he’d lose money playing UK shows

Ray Wilson
Ray Wilson

Ray Wilson says he’d “lose a bunch of money” if he were to play shows back in the UK.

The former Genesis frontman, who lives in Poland and plays shows across Europe “every single weekend,” says he’s “too busy” to return to his homeland – and he doesn’t feel pressured to either.

He tells Prog: “I get countless emails about this, but what’s the point? I’d lose a bunch of money bringing my band and all the production here to play a small audience.

“I’d maybe lose a couple of thousand bucks. Why would I do that? It’s not as if I haven’t played all over the UK. I don’t need to do that again to be happy.”

Wilson continues: “I’m glad to guest with Steve Hackett at the Albert Hall, things like that, but when I started building my solo career after Stiltskin and Genesis, my main goal was to keep control of my destiny. I’d had the rollercoaster rides, the success. I didn’t need to be no.1 because I had been.”

He reports that he has nothing to prove after his time with Genesis and adds: “I had the dream. It had been reality for me. I took risks, I run everything through my own money now, and now I can enjoy what I do. I don’t want a Ferrari. I have everything I need to do my job and that’s it.”

Ray Wilson will launch his sixth album Makes Me Think Of Home on October 7. Further release details will be revealed in due course.

He also has a number of live dates planned throughout the rest of 2016 in support of latest album Song For A Friend, which was issued last month.

The full interview with Wilson features in the latest edition of Prog, on sale now in print and via TeamRock+.

Ray Wilson tour dates 2016

Sep 23: Zwickau Alter Gasometer, Germany
Sep 30: Bad Homburg Kongress Zentrum, Germany
Oct 01: Altes Lager Das Haus, Germany
Oct 14: Oberndorf Am Neckar Augustiner Klosterkirche, Germany
Oct 20: Remscheid Kulturzentrum Klosterkirche, Germany
Oct 21: Osnabruck Rosenhof, Germany
Oct 22: Bensheim Musiktheatre REX, Germany
Oct 27: Stolpen Burg Stolpen, Germany
Oct 28: Stolpen Burg Stolpen, Germany
Oct 29: Duisburg Steinhof, Germany
Nov 04: Gera Clubcentrum Comma, Germany
Nov 05: Merkers Erlebnisbergwerk, Germany
Nov 12: Burglengenfeld VAZ Burglengenfeld, Germany
Nov 18: Hassfurt Stadthalle, Germany
Nov 19: Aschaffenburg Colos-Saal, Germany
Nov 25: Isernhagen Blues Garage, Germany
Nov 26: Zoetermeer De Boerderij, Netherlands
Dec 01: Bunde Universum, Germany
Dec 02: Bochum Christuskirche, Germany
Dec 03: Siegburg Kubana, Germany
Dec 09: Worpswede Music Hall, Germany
Dec 16: Leverkusen Scala Club Leverkusen, Germany

Ray Wilson looks back with box set

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.