Gene Loves Jezebel

All Music Guide:

Twin brothers Jay and Michael Aston began playing music in 1980 when they formed Slav Arian with guitarist Ian Hudson and a drum machine. Though the Astons grew up in Porthcawl, South Wales, they moved to London in 1981 and renamed the goth-influenced group Gene Loves Jezebel. The trio played several live shows and was quickly signed by Situation 2. In May 1982, the label released Gene Loves Jezebel's demo single, "Shavin' My Neck." The band then added bassist Julianne Regan and drummer Dick Hawkins. Regan left soon after to form All About Eve, leaving Ian Hudson and Michael Aston to alternate on bass until Peter Rizzo joined in 1984. Hawkins also split for a time -- replaced by John Murphy and later Steve Goulding -- but returned in 1983.

Gene Loves Jezebel released two more singles in 1983 before their debut album, Promise, hit number one in the U.K.'s indie charts. In 1984, the group recorded a John Peel radio session for BBC and toured America with John Cale. After returning to England, Gene Loves Jezebel released the singles "Influenza (Relapse)" and "Shame (Whole Heart Howl)," but then waited a full year before second album Immigrant appeared in mid-1985. (It's not very surprising that the album was recorded with a lineup change, this time drummer Marcus Gilvear instead of Dick Hawkins.) Immigrant also hit number one on the indie charts, but during a tortured American tour, founding member Hudson left, and was replaced by former Generation X guitarist James Stevenson.

The year 1986 brought a contract with Beggar's Banquet and, subsequently, popular-chart success for the group. "Sweetest Thing" hit the Top 75 in England, and the resulting album, Discover (which included a limited-edition live album called Glad to Be Alive), reached the expected indie-chart top spot and also did well with college radio in America. Chris Bell became the band's fifth drummer later that year, and Gene Loves Jezebel's fourth album, The House of Dolls, was released late in 1987, yielding a single, "The Motion of Love," that grazed the U.S. charts. The Astons turned their attention to dance with the single "Heartache," but Michael decided to leave the band by mid-1989.

In a small twist of fate, Gene Loves Jezebel gained its highest-charting American single the following year, when "Jealous," the major single from Kiss of Life, reached number 68 in August 1990. Two years later, Jay Aston and co. released Heavenly Bodies, which did well in Europe and on American college radio; the group's American label folded one year later though, and after a few sporadic live shows, Gene Loves Jezebel called it quits.

As early as 1992, Michael Aston had been working with a new band called the Immigrants. Two years later, he re-formed the band as Edith Grove and released a self-titled album. Michael and Jay began working together again that same year, and later recorded two songs with Stevenson, Bell, and Rizzo for a GLJ best-of compilation, released in September 1995. While Jay performed occasional acoustic shows under his own name, Michael played with members of Scenic and released a solo album, Why Me Why This Why Now, in 1995. Gene Loves Jezebel re-formed in 1998 for VII, released in 1999 on Robinson Records. It was followed that same year by both Love Lies Bleeding and Live in the Voodoo City. Giving Up the Ghost appeared in early 2001. The two-disc Anthology, Vols. 1 & 2 arrived in 2006.

Wikipedia:

Gene Loves Jezebel are a gothic rock band founded in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s by identical twin brothers, Michael and Jay Aston (born John Peter Aston). They scored a string of modest hits, with the singles "The Motion of Love" (1986) and "Jealous" (1987) being perhaps their better-known songs.

After a series of protracted lawsuits, each of the Aston brothers now leads a different version of Gene Loves Jezebel.

Early years: 1980-1989

Originally called Slav Aryan by Michael Aston, Gene Loves Jezebel began in 1980 with the Aston brothers, guitarist Ian Hudson, Stephen Davis (Bass) and Snowy White (Drums)[ briefly a drum machine]]. The Astons grew up in Cornelly, Wales, making the move to London in 1981. With a new home, and shortly thereafter, the new name, the trio with bassist Steve Radwall and drummer James Chater (fired Winter 1982/3), played several live shows and were signed by Situation Two. In May 1982, the label released Gene Loves Jezebel's demo single Shaving My Neck. The band then added bassist Julianne Regan followed, briefly, by a keyboardist, Jean-Marc Lederman. Regan was fired within a year to form All About Eve, leaving Ian Hudson briefly playing bass (Albie DeLuca being the guitar player) until Stephen Marshall joined. This line up went on to perform some 100 gigs and recorded the first album Promise, along with their first John Peel Session and the B-side Stephen. Peter Rizzo joined in 1984. Gene Loves Jezebel underwent a dozen or so line up changes between 1981-1985.

The band released two more singles in 1983 before Promise peaked at number 8 in the UK Indie Chart. In 1984, the group recorded a John Peel radio session for BBC and toured America with fellow Welsh artist John Cale. The second album, Immigrant, was released in mid-1985. However, during an agonizing American tour for Immigrant, founding member Ian Hudson, suffered a nervous breakdown, during the bands first US tour and was replaced by former (Kym Wylde)guitarist, most notably 'We're the kids in America) Gen X and Chelsea guitarist James Stephnson (who later also played rhythm guitar briefly on tour with The Cult).

During 1986, the group moved its contract to Situation Two's parent company, Beggar's Banquet Records and distribution rights in US to Geffen Records. The subsequent promotion increased pop-chart success for the group. The single Sweetest Thing briefly hit the Top 75 in UK and the album Discover reached number 32 in UK Albums Chart. At this time, the group also found heavy rotation on college and countercultural radio stations across America. The band had slowly turned their attention to dance music. The slick and catchy guitar hooks of singles Desire and Heartache leapt to #6 and #72, respectively, on Los Angeles' New Wave station, KROQ-FM. Later that year, former Spear of Destiny member Chris Bell became the band's fifth drummer. It is worth noting, Desire/Sweetest Thing were written durin Ian Hudson's tenure.

Gene Loves Jezebel's fourth album, The House of Dolls, was released late in 1987 and yielded the singles, 20 Killer Hurts and The Motion of Love, which grazed the U.S. pop charts. Motion of Love was the band's biggest UK hit single, reaching number 56. The third single from The House of Dolls, Suspicion, for the first time surfaced on The Billboard Hot 100. Despite rising mainstream success, the new pop-oriented direction proved to be too polished and commercial for Michael Aston, who left during the recording of the album and only appears on two songs, leaving Jay Aston as the main songwriter.

Split and brief reunion: 1990-1997

While Michael went solo, the rest of the band continued as Gene Loves Jezebel, which Michael was not happy about, and recorded two albums, Kiss of Life in 1989, followed by Heavenly Bodies. The band's highest-charting American single emerged in August 1990 when Jealous, the major single from Kiss of Life, reached #68 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #1 on its Modern Rock chart. Three years later, Jay Aston and company released Heavenly Bodies, which did well in Europe and on American college radio. Unfortunately, the group's American label folded one year later, and, after a few more live shows, so did Gene Loves Jezebel.

While Jay performed occasional acoustic shows under his own name, Michael played with members of Scenic, then formed a new band called the Immigrants (re-named Edith Grove) and later released a primarily acoustic solo album, Why Me, Why This, Why Now. Michael and Jay began working together again that same year, and recorded two songs with Stevenson, Bell and Rizzo for a GLJ best-of compilation, released in September 1995.

The brothers were reconciled in the mid-1990s, writing some new songs together, and sharing a house in Los Angeles. They initially used Michael's band from the Why Me album era to back them up. In 1997 Michael organized a tour for the brothers under the name "The Pre-Raphaelite Brothers", the idea being to perform Gene Loves Jezebel material and material from each of the brothers' solo careers, with a new set of musicians, although the financial incentives of touring under the band identity meant that they performed under the Gene Loves Jezebel name. A new Gene Loves Jezebel album was planned, but Jay asked and Michael agreed to hire the former members of the late 80's era.

Two Gene Loves Jezebels: 1997-present day

Although Jay left the band, he began performing with the band from 1990 line up. using the Gene Loves Jezebel name. According to Michael, he refused to be pushed out of the band after all of the work he put into the band , a lawsuit, a unprovoked physical assault and a vicious smear campaign failed to dissuade Michael fro justice. When Jay and the band returned to the UK, they released VII without the multiple songs that Michael, wrote, produced and that Michael had sung on.

In October 1997, Jay sued his own brother Michael over the rights to the name "Gene Loves Jezebel", and after a protracted court battle, the plaintiffs, jay Aston , Stephnson/ Rizzo to get any relief nor injunctions, the palintiffs dropped the bogus suit. Jay Aston then illegally continued using the name, and Michael trademarked the "Gene Loves Jezebel" name in the United States, while Jay owns the UK trademark.

Since the late 90s there have been two versions of Gene Loves Jezebel, causing confusion among fans. Michael leads the US version of the band and has toured both the world, and the US and the UK supporting releases such as Love Lies Bleeding (1999), Giving Up the Ghost (2001) and Exploding Girls (2003). Jay Aston leads the UK version of the band, also featuring James Stevenson and Pete Rizzo, and has toured both the US as Jay Aston's gene loves jezebel, and the UK occassionaly as well to support releases such as Accept No Substitutes (2002),The Thornfield Sessions (2003) and The Anthology, Vols. 1-2 (2006).

On February 15, 2008, a lawsuit was filed by Michael Aston in California's Central District Court, against "Chris Bell, James Stevenson, Jay Aston, John Aston, Libertalia Entertainment and others" for trademark infringement. In a posting on their MySpace page on 25 September 2009, Jay Aston's Gene Loves Jezebel announced that an agreement had been reached with Michael Aston regarding the use of the name "Gene Loves Jezebel": Jay Aston's band will be known as "Gene Loves Jezebel" in the UK and "Jay Aston's Gene Loves Jezebel" within the US; Michael Aston's band will be known as "Gene Loves Jezebel" in the US and "Michael Aston's Gene Loves Jezebel" in the UK. The settlement agreement has been posted on Michael's Gene Loves Jezebel website.

Jay Aston contributed vocals to the cover of Rolling Stones' "Midnight Mile" on the 2010 album, Small Distortions, by the Belgian music-project La Femme Verte, assembled by ex-Kid Montana member Jean-Marc Lederman.

In 2011 Michael Aston contributed vocals on a new version of "Desire (Come And Get It)", a single released by Argentinian DJ/Producer/Musician Electronic Fair.

On Nov 16, 2011, Jay Aston and James Stevenson appeared on stage at the Brixton Academy London with the Smashing Pumpkins to perform the song 'Stephen'. From the 'Immigrant' album, Ian Hudson being the guitar player of that era. Sadly, not acknowledged. Kym Wylde's guitarist (kymwylde.com) and reisionary punk icon James Stevenson filled in..and took the bows.