Gene was a British indie/rock quartet formed in 1993 in London. They were popularly labelled as a Britpop band and often drew somewhat superficial comparisons to The Smiths, if only because of their slightly Morrissey-esque lead singer. Despite this comparison, there is a lot more to Gene’s music than met the eyes of their critics. Their music takes influence from punk-rockers The Jam, blues riffs from the Small Faces, all mixed in with the soulful sound of motown.

The roots of Gene lay in a band called Spin, which featured guitarist Steve Mason and drummer Matt James. Despite Spin’s split, Mason and James continued playing together, recruiting bassist Kevin Miles. The trio eventually met vocalist Martin Rossiter, and they formed Gene in 1993. Soon after forming, the quartet began to write songs, and had performed a number of shows by the end of the year. They were later signed to Costermonger, a label set up by two journalists, through which they released their debut single, ‘For The Dead’ in 1994.

After their next single ‘Be My Light, Be My Guide’ reached number one in the indie charts, the band signed to Polydor. In 1995, following this, they were named Best New Act at NME’s Brat Awards.

Their debut album, ‘Olympian’ was released in 1995. It received mixed reviews, and although it entered into the Top Ten – the band were soon overshadowed by upcoming acts such as Blur and Oasis.

Early in 1996, ‘To See the Lights’, a collection of B-sides and BBC sessions, was released in England. A new single, ‘Fighting Fit’ was shortly released as a teaser from their new album, and entered into the top ten. However, the album that followed ‘Drawn to the Deep End’ did not follow in the single’s success.

By 2000, the band was without a label. They founded, and issued the live set ‘Rising for Sunset: Live at the Troubadour’, but this went almost unnoticed among the indie scene. However, in mid-summer 2002, Gene emerged with ‘Libertine’, their strongest material since Olympian. A tour followed, but the band went their separate ways in 2003.

Carly Page

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Scottish heavy metal is a rarity, yet Glaswegian hard-rockers The Almighty transformed all this in 1988. The four members; vocalist Ricky Warwick, guitarist Tantrum, bassist Floyd London and drummer Stump Monroe, all came from a punk-rock background, taking their main influences from bands such as The Ramones and The Cult.

They were signed by Polydor in 1989, through which they released their first album, Blood Fire and Love. A live version of the album was released a year later, after the group embarked on a European club tour, following their failed attempt to break the USA. This was soon followed by a live mini-album, which included a cover version of the Bachman-Turner Overdrive's standard, 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet'. Shortly after, tensions between band members, left to, funnily enough, the departure of Tantrum. He was replaced by Peter Friessen, former guitarist for Alice Cooper’s backing band.

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In 1992, The Almighty performed at Donnington’s Download Festival, and their aggressive performance lead to comparisons between the band and rock greats such as Metallica and Soundgarden. It was from this festival appearance where The Almighty really began to live up to their name. They were asked to support Iron Maiden across Europe, and played multiple stadium dates with Metallica.

In 1993, the band split from their Polydor manager Tommy Tee, and signed to Crysalis in 1994, a record label which the band claimed were ‘less demanding’. This attitude still lead to the band releasing two top 30 UK singles, Despite this, singer Warwick left the band in 1996, and the band split shortly after. They may not be together anymore, but the bands music still lives on as some of the best British metal ever made.

Albums:

Blood, Fire and Love, Polydor, 1989.

Blood, Fire and Live, Polydor, 1990.

Soul Destruction, Polydor, 1991.

Powertrippin', Polydor, 1993.

Crank, Chrysalis, 1994.

Crank and Deceit: Live in Japan [Japan only release], 1995.

Just Add Life, Chrysalis, 1996.

The Almighty, Sanctuary Records Group, 2000.

Psycho-Narco, Sanctuary Records Group, 2001.

Wild and Wonderful – compilation, 2002.

Anth'f**ing'ology – compilation, 2007.

All Proud, All Live, All Mighty – live, 2008.

Source: Carly Page

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This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com

Why Not Check Out:

Metallica

Alice Cooper

The Ramones

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