The W eekly Arts and Entertainment Supplement to the Daily Nexus hat’s a band that is constantly hyped but conti­ MR: Radio 1 came in very early with our first single. nuously confronted by journalists comparing They just decided they liked it and played it. I mean, W them to the legendary Smiths to do? Wear ar- there were only 2,000 copies released of “For The Dead,” gyle socks and smoke a lot? Become meticulously image­ and Radio 1 was a help and we were really lucky in that conscious and wear iron-pressed, collared shirts with sense. But with us, it’s always been a battle — we’ve al­ three-button jackets? Or prove that most writers are full ways had people come to the show expecting us to be of it by giving Southern California a debut that the few these “twee” psuedo-poets and are always surprised hundred fans and journalists who packed L.A.’s Roxy when we’re more rock than they ever expected, which is July 22 will look upon as the year’s most brilliant show­ quite fun. I like surprises. ing by a British band? MJ: We’re very different live. That’s the way it should The four young men who make up Gene — singer be. I hate going to see a band and just have them repro­ Martin Rossiter, guitarist Steve Mason, bassist Kevin duce the record. Miles and drummer Matt James — came across the At­ AW: I hear your second album is almost done lantic to supersede their hype. Nonbelievers need only MR: No, this is getting more exaggerated by the day. I ask the audience members, who knew every word to we're starting to write some more songs which were just released stateside in June. Gene is poised for a type of cult status reserved for special British four-pieces like the Smiths, the Stone Roses and the Bea­ tles. Their sound is at times delicate, at other moments raw, but always classy. Rossiter reaches out to the crowd with his stage postures. Mason is one-of-a-kind onstage, singing his guitar strums to him&elf. Miles stands on die side, reserved. James seems to conduct the group from ing America” sort of standard in Britain? behind the percussion set. MR: I mean, no offense to America, but America is no A few days prior to their first L.A. show, Artsweek sat different from anywhere else in the fact that it has people down with the modest Matt James and verbally acute who like music. In Britain, people place a sort of mystical Martin Rossiter at A&M Records in Los Angeles. I hope or mythical status on America and make it out like it’s the the following will give you a look at a band whose music place to crack. That’s not necessarily the case. I see no and personality inspire devotion. reason why the songs can’t work in America like they now it’s apparently virtually completed. No, we’re just work in Britain, like they work in Sweden, like they work writing at the moment. We have 10 or 11 songs on the in Australia. Yes, America is a very large place and it’s go­ way, but no, we haven’t started recording the album or ing to take time because of that, but I see no reason why it anything yet. We don’t write albums anyway, we just can’t happen. write songs. MJ: It’s some kind of carrot-on-a-stick thing. Like, MJ: There’s gonna be a compilation album before a people say, “You break America and you’ll have money second album to give people a chance to get a lot of B- for foe rest of your life.” And that’s really foe wrong rea­ sides that were on singles. So that’ll bridge the gap be­ son to be writing songs, to just come over here and have tween the two. the number one album and never have to work again and AW: You have quite an array of B-sides. never have to do this anymore. I think it’s more of an ar­ MR: Not B-sides. tistic adventure. MJ: They’re not B-sides. We don’t really like that term. MR: We’re not here to make money. We’re here be­ AW: Oh, god. OK, songs that are not on the album. cause there are people who want to hear foe songs, and MR: Well, we’re very stubborn. It’s just that “B-sides” we’re here to get more people interested in the songs. makes them sound not as good. MJ: I don’t think people buy records from just reading AW: But actually, I was going to say that I thought stuff, they only buy singles. You have to prove yourself to they were really good. Why weren’t some of those on people for them to buy your whole record. the album? How did you pick which songs you did AW: Do you feel America has reached a low point in want on the record? terms of music? MR: Well, I think an album should be a certain length. MR: I don’tknow. I don’t think pop music’s ever been Albums can get very boring if they’re too long. I’ve al­ that good, personally. I don’t think there’s some sort of ways liked a record that had 40 minutes and not much glorious golden age of pop. I think 90 percent of it is ut- Artsweek: What city do you guys claim you’re from? longer. Even by my favorite bands it starts to bore me. So Martin Rossiter: We’re all now based in South Lon­ we stuck to 11 songs. We deliberately made it so that ev­ don, but in roots we’re very spread out from Wales to M | ery song is a triple A-side because every song could have w m Grimsby to Hong Kong. been a single quite easily. So it’s quality control. We Matt James: I was bom just outside London, Steve won’t release anything when we don’t think it’s good [Mason, guitarist] spent from ages 10 to 18 in Hong enough, whether it’s a free track on something or one on Kong. He was kind of dying to get to England. the record. AW: So how did the band get together — and you guys used to be called Spin? . MJ: Two of us were in Spin, myself and Steve, and we had a motorway accident. We lost two members of the band. They weren’t killed but one was brain damaged m pretty badly. To cut a long story short, we needed a singer and a bassist and I knew Kev [Miles, bassist] ’cause he just happened to live upstairs. We auditioned loads of terly trite and not art, but a moneymaking ventureTBut I people, trying to find a singer — and had no luck at all. also don’t think there’s necessarily an all-time low. Eventually we fan into Martin in a club and we just Music has always been rubbish, mostly. thought he looked cool. I didn’t have the courage, but Steve went up to him and asked if he could sing. AW: Wouldyou say that you were image-conscious? MR: Oh, yes, yes. Lucky I could sing, though. It was really bizarre having a man come up to me and ask if I MR: To a point, yeah. I mean, not to foe point that it could sing and I thought, “What a stupid question.” overrides foe music. Obviously you choose your clothes, don’t you? I mean you don’t just walk into a shop and pick at random, of course. MJ: Give me those dungarees over there! MR: Yes, give me that pink tandem jumpsuit! Yes, of course we are. Everybody is, apart from my sister. like the Smiths more in America than in Britain? MJ: Playing music is what it’s about. People like to MR: I don’tknow, I don’t knowwhat people’s percep­ look cool. I think you have to pay some attention to the tion of the Smiths is in America, but that’s not really the way you look. point. I mean, the point is, I don’t think we sound like the Smiths, and that’s what’s important. It’s a tag that we MR: I mean, Elvis Presley had both. Pop music is ab­ got stuck with very early on because journalists like to out sex as well as music. Music is the most important AW: How are the songwriting [pleasures] shared? put people in a box. I mean the question you asked is not, thing. On the album it lists all of your names. “You sound like the Smiths, now defend yourselves,” MR: Well, it’s random in terms of ideas. I mean, all of it’s, “Everybody says you sound like the Smiths,” and AW: So why are you in music? us play guitar, I play the piano and any of us can come up this is the question that everybody asks. “Everybody else with a seed of an idea, and the music, we just knock ab­ says it,” but it’s quite rare that anybody actually does say MR: ’Cause I love it more than you can imagine, that’s out between us. I write the words, simply because the it.