Mike + the Mechanics

Mike + The Mechanics
Mike + The Mechanics in 2012 L-R: Ben Stone, Andrew Roachford, Tim Howar, Luke Juby, Mike Rutherford and Anthony Drennan
Background information
Origin	Dover, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Rock, pop rock, soft rock
Years active	1985–2004, 2010–present
Labels	Virgin, Atlantic, Rhino, Arista
Associated acts	Genesis
Website	mikeandthemechanics.com
Members	Mike Rutherford Anthony Drennan Tim Howar Luke Juby Andrew Roachford Gary Wallis
Past members	Paul Carrack Paul Young † Peter Van Hooke Adrian Lee

Mike + The Mechanics are an English pop/rock supergroup formed in 1985 as a side project of Mike Rutherford, one of the founding members of the band Genesis. The band is known for their hit singles "Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)", "All I Need Is a Miracle", "Word of Mouth", "Over My Shoulder", and "The Living Years".

Initially, the band included Rutherford, vocalists Paul Carrack and Paul Young, keyboardist Adrian Lee and drummer Peter Van Hooke. Carrack was generally assigned to ballads and more pop-oriented numbers, while Young handled the band's heavier work. After a successful decade, Lee and Van Hooke dropped out in 1995, and were not replaced. Following Young's death in 2000, Carrack became the band's sole lead vocalist until 2004 when the band (essentially a duo at this point) went on hiatus, with Rutherford and Carrack both later saying the band had "run its course". The band identity was revived in 2010, consisting of Rutherford and a completely new set of musicians, including new vocalists Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar.

During hiatuses from Genesis, Mike Rutherford had been pursuing a solo career, releasing Smallcreep's Day in 1980 and Acting Very Strange in 1982. However, he found the process of recording a solo album excessively difficult, and the results artistically unsatisfying. He recalled, "I had a revelation, too, in this time period... that I'm not complete on my own. ...I'm much more creative and inspired when there are other people around me and I'm bouncing ideas off." However, he still felt that working only with Genesis would leave him unfulfilled, and to satisfy both his desire to create music outside the format of Genesis and his desire to collaborate with other musicians, he set about forming his own band.