Today, Martin Rossiter has confirmed that Gene's upcoming live show at the London Astoria will be their last, following over 10 years of writing and performing alongside Steve Mason, Kevin Miles and Matt James. No more live shows, and no more new material.

There are far, far more important things in life than bands and music, but so few things that touch so many in such a varied, personal way. For me, that'll be Gene's legacy, a sort of soundtrack to the best (and worst) bits of my life over the past decade, an 'always there' reminder of what I was doing with whomsoever at the time, a tune, a lyric, a memory for all moments. Nothing more, nothing less.

All of this will no doubt be evident at the Astoria gig in December, hopefully a triumphant display of a truly breathtaking back catalogue, and, because showbiz lives on kids, a hint of what could have been. If you leave them wanting more...

See you in London,


15th November 2004

A great band that never achieved very much recognition. The breakup was inevitable. I'm not surprised at all.

I know most on this board can care less but they have been talked about before.

A band I never really got into but somehow collected all four of their albums and a few singles. 1995’s Olympian was about as Smiths as you could get and might be there most known album. 1997’s Drawn To The Deep End was a bit of a departure, well for them at least, and probably is my second favorite of theirs. 1999’s Revelations is the only one never to get released stateside and probably failed commercially in the UK as well because they got dropped after it’s release. It was their most ambitious and because of that my favorite of theirs. So to me this is the album that doesn’t get the respect that I think it deserves. 2001's (or 2002 US with four bonus songs) was called Libertine and actually did nothing for me what so ever. I might remember it over time the most because a girl I was seeing dedicated the song “Does He Have A Name?” to me. Not because she thought I was into guys, so it didn’t fit exactly, but because she was convinced I was seeing another girl on the side.

Like I said never really loved them but today is their day and I'm remembering them. I might have liked them better if I never saw them live, horrible.

np:

Horrible live? Au contraire! I saw 'em at least twice and thought they were fantastic each time. So warm onstage, really connected with the audience.

When I saw them live they were fine, really friendly.

Of course, they weren't perfoming. We were all at a Blur gig.

Is that Ron Weasley on the right?

Yeh, I didn't think they were bad live either. But I also thought Drawn To The Deep End was total shit and marked the beginning of the end of the band. Olympian may have been heavily indebted to the Smiths (from the cover on down), but it also owed a little something to the Faces - plus it really brought the tunes. By the follow-up (Deep End), however, they'd already tossed aside the guitars and rave-ups in favor of pianos and pretention (and pretention is only bad when the attempt at it is obvious). In all honesty, I thought they'd called it quits after that dismal second album.

As well as Olympian, they've got a fairly great odds'n'ends/b-sides collection called To See The Lights. 20 songs plus a hidden track.

Haha

I saw them in June and I think the year was 1997. So that would be the Drawn To The Deep End tour. It was at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. They seem really tired, off, and going through the motions. They must have used all their energy while in Los Angeles. Because of that I never saw them again even though they came back to SF.

BTW, Revelations isn’t proving as good a listen as I anticipated.

Gene was one of the few british bands from the 90's that I cared much for. I think Drawn from the Deep End is only a slight drop from Olympian. If you don't think they were good live, just listen to Rising For Sunset for proof otherwise. I was at one of the shows where they recorded that. Maybe Tania was too? I also have Mayday in Newcastle which is a recording of a show at Newcastle U with some live BBC tracks tacked on. I can put it on the cactus if there's interest. I don't think anyone in this discussion is actually a cacti though or am I wrong?

np: The Good Life

Interesting stuff. Radcliffe and you (Billy G) pretty much detest most British bands but somehow stick up for one of the weakest, IMO. I feel I could name so many more bands that took more chances and created music that was more interesting to listen to in the 1990’s. Boo Radleys, Super Furry Animals, Pulp, Moose, Suede, and Primal Scream just to name a few. Have you heard Dog Man Star?

Sorry but this love of Gene kind of got to me. I also must of caught them on a bad night live as I also heard they were good live. The week or two I saw them I happened to also see Supergrass, Blur, Mercury Rev, and Charlatans. I always seem to have the best time at a Charlatans show because I danced my ass off and always met a girl. It the organ, it get them every time and the Doors shows must have been about the same experience.

I liked Gene in the beginning but I went off them after 'Drawn To The Deep End'. I saw them live at the Glasgow Barrowlands when 'Olympian' came out and they were very good. Steve Mason was a fantastic guitarist.

Yup, I was there.