Why didn’t you release new material during these years before Dance Underwater? Legal problems maybe? Four of the songs were recorded by the late Stephen Stuart Short in Los Angeles, including “Vampyre” (Who wants to go to Heaven), which we still often play live.
I needed a break from all things GLJ and worked primarily with French guitarist Francois Perez (and keyboard player James Fairey in Georgia). A large chunk of them I’d recorded in Augusta, Georgia and L.A. There were a lot of songs and recordings that I liked, that were just sitting around. What can you tell us of your second album, Jezebel? Honestly, I could not find a lot of info. This freed up the songs for the band to have a bash at. My solo work went by without much fuss and fanfare and pretty much zero interest from the media. Present the songs in a purer, uncluttered way. We needed to get away from the production values of that decade. Is it because the songs were from your solo career or were you interested in a different direction back then? This album has a different sound compared with your previous records. Some of these songs were later used in VII. It would’ve been perfect as a 100% acoustic album. On reflection, I don’t think we should’ve added drums. Craig Adams (no relation to Robert) plays bass. There’s only one song with drums, which were played by Robert Adams. Emile engineered the album and along with James, played lot of guitar on the album too. We recorded at our friend Emile Lobo’s home studio in Battersea. I let him pick the songs as I’m just too close to my own work and couldn’t possibly be objective. I’d always loved doing my songs with acoustic guitars and he suggested I do a solo album. I write a lot of songs and James had started his label (Pink Gun Records). What can you please tell us of your first solo album, Unpopular Songs? I’m not sure of the details, but I believe the owner’s father pulled the plug. What happened with Savage Records? Someone run with the money? Funny way of showing his distaste for the album, he performs so many of the songs live. My brother had little to do with it, yet he put his name on more of the songs than anyone else. What are your thoughts about that album so many years later? A lot of your fans really like House of Dolls. It’s fair to say we became more mainstream, but he also added a lot new and more complexed textures to our body of work. James brought a lot of musical ideas and I’d say we probably became more confident as a band in every way.
How did the sound of GLJ evolve with the addition of James Stevenson in the Discover days? The fans were close to our own ages and would follow us everywhere and were big part of the adventure. Not too much love shared between the bands. How do you remember the goth scene of the 80s? Your first album, Promise was the more Goth of all our works. My biggest influences were the Beach Boys, Neil Young & a ton of great singers like Joni Mitchell and Steve Marriot.
What were your first influences as a musician? The name of the band is a reference to Gene Vincent and you have said that you were into glam when you were a kid. We finally perfected it and called it “Punch Drunk” and it was a B-Side to “Bruises.” It was a new beginning for us and I wanted a fresh start in London. We’d just left Wales and I’d got us a prestigious gig at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Why did you decide to change the name from Slav Aryan to Gene Loves Jezebel? Two of the tracks of your first single, Shaving My Neck were written by your first band, right? We will have the opportunity of seeing them live at the Sinner’s Day that will take place from the 30th of October to the 1st of November in Belgium. They are a reborn band as we could appreciate with their last album, Dance Underwater from 2017 and their numerous gigs. After some well-known problems inside the formation, they are back. Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel, recorded some of Goth Rock cult classics but also became a very successful band during the 80s.
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