Gene Loves Jezebel

In 1980 the Aston twins Jay and Michael launched their musical partnership by assembling Slav Arian together with guitarist Ian Hudson and a drum machine. Although the brothers had spent their childhood in Porthcawl, South Wales, they relocated to London the following year and rechristened the goth-tinged outfit Gene Loves Jezebel. After performing several gigs, the trio secured a deal with Situation 2, which issued the demo single “Shavin’ My Neck” in May 1982. Bassist Julianne Regan and drummer Dick Hawkins were then recruited, yet Regan soon departed to establish All About Eve, prompting Ian Hudson and Michael Aston to share bass duties until Peter Rizzo arrived in 1984. Hawkins also exited temporarily—during which John Murphy and later Steve Goulding sat behind the kit—before returning in 1983.

Two additional singles appeared in 1983, paving the way for the debut album Promise, which ascended to number one on the U.K. indie charts. A John Peel BBC session followed in 1984, after which the band supported John Cale on an American tour. Upon returning home, Gene Loves Jezebel issued the singles “Influenza (Relapse)” and “Shame (Whole Heart Howl)” but waited until mid-1985 for the sophomore album Immigrant. Recorded with Marcus Gilvear in place of Dick Hawkins, Immigrant likewise topped the indie listings; however, a grueling U.S. trek prompted founding guitarist Hudson to quit, with former Generation X member James Stevenson stepping in.

A Beggar’s Banquet contract arrived in 1986, bringing commercial traction: “Sweetest Thing” entered the U.K. Top 75, while Discover—accompanied by the limited-edition live set Glad to Be Alive—again led the indie chart and found favor on American college radio. Later that year Chris Bell became the fifth drummer, and the fourth album, The House of Dolls, surfaced late in 1987, spawning the single “The Motion of Love,” which briefly registered on U.S. charts. The Astons explored dance textures with “Heartache,” yet Michael Aston chose to exit by mid-1989.

Ironically, the band’s highest-charting American single surfaced the next year when “Jealous,” the lead track from Kiss of Life, reached number 68 in August 1990. Two years afterward Jay Aston and his colleagues released Heavenly Bodies, which performed solidly in Europe and on U.S. college stations; the American label nevertheless collapsed in 1993, and after scattered concerts Gene Loves Jezebel disbanded.

Michael Aston had already begun collaborating with a fresh project, the Immigrants, as early as 1992. By 1994 he had reconstituted the group as Edith Grove and issued a self-titled album. That same year the brothers resumed working together, later contributing two tracks with Stevenson, Bell, and Rizzo to a best-of compilation that appeared in September 1995. While Jay presented occasional solo acoustic performances, Michael joined Scenic’s members and delivered the solo album Why Me Why This Why Now in 1995. The original band reconvened in 1998 for VII, issued on Robinson Records in 1999. The reunion proved fleeting, and throughout much of the 2000s Jay and Michael each fronted separate Gene Loves Jezebel lineups—Jay’s based in the U.K., Michael’s primarily active in the United States. Michael Aston’s version produced Love Lies Bleeding (1999), Giving Up the Ghost (2001), Exploding Girls (2003), and Dead Sexy (2009), whereas Jay Aston’s edition released Accept No Substitutes (2002), The Thornfield Sessions (2003), and The Anthology, Vols. 1-2 (2006). A 2008 lawsuit over the band name concluded with a settlement permitting both brothers to use Gene Loves Jezebel in distinct territories. In 2017 Jay Aston’s GLB unveiled Dance Underwater.