John Mayhew Genesis !link! May 2026

John Mayhew was let go in August 1970. The official reason was a mutual recognition that he wasn’t the right fit for the increasingly complex direction. In a 2014 interview, Mayhew recalled the split as amicable but sad: “They were going in a different direction, and I wasn’t the drummer to take them there.”

John Mayhew passed away in 2009, largely unnoticed by the music press at the time. Yet, for those who listen closely to Trespass , his ghost remains—a simple, honest drummer who helped a fledgling band take its first real step into the unknown. john mayhew genesis

He was not a legend. He was a bridge—between Genesis the schoolboy project and Genesis the progressive titans. And sometimes, bridges are the most crucial, forgotten parts of the journey. John Mayhew was let go in August 1970