Gene

Gene

Gene formed in 1993 and made their debut with the single For The Dead the following year on the indie label Costermonger, which was founded especially for the release by the journalists and authors Keith Cameron and Roy Wilkinson. Limited to 1994 copies, the seven-inch sold out in two days. The band’s debut album, Olympian, followed on 20 March 1995 and quickly became one of the era’s best and most appreciated records – including singles Sleep Well Tonight, Haunted By You and the stately title track – as it reached the UK Top 10. Olympian’s enduring and superior status was recognised when NME took the rare step of revising its opinion of the record, overriding its initial on release review to praise the record in 2011 as they declared the album possessed “a strong and commanding soul.” Further confirmation of this beloved status was demonstrated by the outpouring Gene received when Martin Rossiter and Matt James revisited the album for one Tim Burgess’s Twitter Listening Parties during the 2020 lockdown. Olympian was then included in Burgess’ hardback book which celebrated the best of those global communal listening sessions.

See Gene tour dates