Gene: The Soul of a Youthful Britain
SLUGmag
The US press has been going ga-ga over the latest British pop sensation, Gene. Gene has been getting rave reviews across the country, both for their live shows and their debut CD, Olympian on A&M Records. Oh the night of October 13th the Zephyr Club played host to the polite English lads for their Salt Lake City debut. And, as you are well aware, SLUG covers it all… so we were there, too. 
The band consists of Martin Rossiter—vocals, Steve Mason—guitars, Kevin Miles—bass and Matt James on the drums. Right before the sound check, Martin allowed me to ask him a few questions about the band while we shot a game of eight ball, only with British rules. Needless to say, I’m a nice guy and since he was a guest in our country, I let him win. And here’s how it went.
SLUG: How long have you been on the road, his time?
Martin Rossiter: This is the end of the second week. (Martin says as he scratches)
SLUG: You fouled (British word), so I get two shots?
MR: (a bit dismayed) Yeah, you get two shots.
SLUG: (Alrighty then!!) How are the American audiences treating you?
MR: To be honest with you, we tend to have a very similar audience here, that we have in Britain. It is a bit smaller, though. But the same level of devotion exists, the same level of excitement at the shows exists. That, to me, is very gratifying because it means that the songs are working here. It means that the songs are working here. It means that I am actually doing my job. We are at the stage size of where we were at in Britain about 18 months ago.
SLUG: Your background in the small conservative town of Watford, England is interesting, sometimes even violent?
MR: Yeah, it’s what I would call a typical English upbringing. I don’t want to paint a picture of coming from a place like Compton, but I got out of there as soon as possible.
SLUG: How long has Gene been around with the current line-up?
MR: For three years. For the first nine months, we just wrote music and songs. We didn’t play live and we didn’t send tapes out.
SLUG: What do you think about being compared to Morissey and the Smiths? Do you think about it, do you care?
MR: Yes, I care about everything that is written about us.
SLUG: Do you take it as a compliment? Tell me how you feel.
MR: Usually it’s used as an insult, especially in Britain. We have never denied it, but our influence and the comparison is one of many, from a huge list of people who are more important to us. When people solely compare us to The Smiths, it’s very dull. It’s inaccurate. Steve, the guitar player, is a very big blues fan and a blues-oriented guitar player. I’ve personally been influenced by Elvis and Freddie Mercury of Queen and Neil Tennant of The Pet Shop Boys. And I’ve been influenced by a lot of hymns. As a boy, me mum would drag me to the chapel every Sunday and we would sing.
Well, that night in a smoky haze in downtown Salt Lake the soul of a youthful Britain was exposed in the form of Gene. And just for an hour or so, it felt like we were on the cusp of a new kind of British invasion, and who knows, maybe we are, and Martin sang on.
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