Gene

Gene remains forever shadowed by parallels to the Smiths, given that frontman Martin Rossiter shares Morrissey’s strangled croon and sense of tortured loneliness. Under guitarist Steve Mason’s guidance, however, the band forged a harder-edged style that reached beyond the delicate British indie-pop lineage to incorporate the Faces’ three-chord swagger, the Jam’s working-class punk drive, and Motown’s soulful stomp. Few reviewers registered these finer distinctions, so reactions to the quartet’s debut single in 1994 split sharply, leaving the group with roughly equal numbers of champions and detractors. Even amid that polarization, Gene cultivated a loyal audience that placed them among the prominent second-tier acts of the 1995 Britpop wave, although they never managed to crack the American market.

The group’s origins trace to Spin, a band that included guitarist Steve Mason and drummer Matt James. After Spin dissolved when a car crash sidelined their bassist, Mason and James kept collaborating and, through a mutual acquaintance, added bassist Kevin Miles. The three later encountered Welshman Martin Rossiter, and together they formed Gene in 1993. Within months they had composed a set of songs and played several shows before year’s end. Journalists Keith Cameron and Roy Wilkinson established the Costermonger label to issue the band’s first single, “For the Dead,” in April 1994. Nearly every copy of the limited pressing sold within a week, quickly earning Gene favor in the British music press. By July “Be My Light, Be My Guide” topped the indie chart, positioning the band among the rising names of the Britpop scene. Major-label attention followed, and Polydor signed them while continuing to fund Costermonger in the U.K. The well-received third single, “Sleep Well Tonight,” appeared in September, and in January 1995 Gene received the Best New Act award at NME’s Brat Awards.

Momentum continued building ahead of the spring 1995 release of their debut album, Olympian, aided in part by Martin Rossiter’s adoption of Morrissey’s practice of delivering articulate, provocative, and witty interviews. Reviews for Olympian proved mixed, yet the album still entered the Top Ten thanks to an established fan base; even so, the surge of new acts following Blur and Oasis soon eclipsed the group. Nevertheless, both “Haunted by You” and “Olympian” reached the Top 20. Early in 1996 the U.K. saw the release of To See the Lights, a compilation of B-sides and BBC sessions. Gene remained largely inactive for the rest of the year while preparing their second album, Drawn to the Deep End. Lead single “Fighting Fit” arrived in the fall and became a Top Ten hit, but the full record, issued in early 1997, failed to sustain that success. Although it also debuted in the Top Ten, reviews were largely mixed and the album quickly slipped down the charts, leaving only the band’s core fans loyal. By the turn of the millennium Gene lacked a label. They launched their own imprint, Contra, and released the live album Rising for Sunset: Live at the Troubadour in 2000. The set attracted little notice within indie circles, yet a genuine return was on the horizon. In midsummer 2002 Gene resurfaced with Libertine, their most compelling work since Olympian. An American tour in late summer and early fall accompanied the release.