Scene One


Gene's moody, guitar-driven, indie rock is not a sound that you'd 
associate with the rampant hedonism of summer clubbing culture, but on 
the title track of their new live album, Rising For Sunset, suave 
frontman Martin Rossiter can clearly be heard singing: "Ibiza, in time, 
you'll be mine!" The song is a celebration of Brits abroad, Balearic 
beats and bonking, set to a heavy bass groove and swirling keyboard 
strings. So will the elegantly tailored Rozzer be jetting off to spend 
the summer at Manumission? Surely not?

"If I had the chance and didn't have two children, I would," he says. 
"I think it's quite wonderful. I can't bear those patronising Observer 
readers who say 'look at those silly people - they think they're enjoying 
themselves'. "The whole culture of people leaving this dour country for 
two weeks, losing every inhibition and shagging each other senseless is 
very healthy. Long may it continue. I'd have loved to have been a 
participant, but, unfortunately, fear got the better of me!" . 

Gene's new album is the first new release from the band since they parted 
company with their record company last year, and it has been issued on 
their own independent label, Contra. 
The Gene frontman explains just why he would share a bed with five 
Madonna's... 

"I think if we hadn't left, they would have dropped us," says Martin, 
talking about the Polydor separation. "Their remit on what they were 
doing as a record company changed tact. You've only got to look at the 
artists that they were signing. It suddenly changed to Lolly and S Club 
Seven. "The whole policy changed, and, frankly, we didn't fit in with it. 
We'd sold a lot of records but we'd not sold enough to secure our place. 
Budgets were slashed and it became an untenable, unworkable relationship. 
We tried to speak to Relate but they weren't interested!" 

The album is aimed at the group's diehard fanbase. Why the decision to 
issue a live record, rather than a brand new studio one? 

"We're a cracking live band," says Martin." That's what we do best. It 
seemed like the next step. It's a great record. I was listening to it 
earlier today - I'm quite proud of it." 

One of Gene's recent LA gigs was broadcast as a live Webcast. Martin is 
very positive about the Internet as a medium for music. 

"I think it's very healthy," he says. "Anything that cuts out a lot of 
the coke-snorting middle men, who, frankly, don't have any interest in 
music, is a good thing."

Gene have written and demoed 20 new songs, some of which will eventually 
find their way onto the band's new studio album. These include a gorgeous 
ballad called Somewhere In The World and a slide guitar epic entitled 
Who Said This Was The End? Martin describes the latter as: "a sweet little 
ditty of betrayal and lust!"

Looking at Gene's future plans, he says: "A chunk of this year will be 
taken up stuck in a studio somewhere putting things down onto a wax 
cylinder." "I know what we're like and I think we need a producer, 
simply because all four of us write," he says. "Actually, we don't need a 
producer, we need ACAS or Relate to stand in the middle and say 'calm 
down, take deep breaths,' to mediate between the four of us!" 

Gene have always been under-achievers - a group who seem destined to never 
break through into the mainstream. Can Martin ever envisage a time when 
Gene play to a wider audience? 

"The truthful answer is that I don't know. I would dearly love to. If I 
was a betting man, I'd give it evens," he says. "The one thing that would 
kill me is if we became purely a nostalgic band. If that happened I'd 
stop. I'm still fiercely ambitious." 

So what's the ultimate ambition for Martin Rossiter? 

"Five in a bed with Madonna!" 

What ? Five - the boy band? 

"No, just me and four Madonnas!" SEAN HANNAM  


www.lewisslade.com/genemusic