| Discography |
| Scratches (In the Sand) The Foundation Label Released : '90 Highest UK Chart Position : n/a Formats 12" Vinyl : TFL 7T CD : TFL 7CD Tracks 01.Scratches (In the Sand) (6.53 02.Shafted (Full Version) (5.48) 03.East (2.27) 04.Scratches (In the Sand) (Radio Edit) (4.23) CD ONLY Notes 1) Produced by Stephen Street |
| S P ! N ( 1 9 8 9 - 9 2 ) |
| Website Bootleg |
| Demos - September 1992 Released : 2012 Formats : Download Tracks 01.Goodbye (Demo) (4.38) 02.Decide (Demo) (4.49) 03.Age You're At (Demo) (3.53) 04.This Lady's Not For Turning (Demo) (3.37) Notes 1) Last band demo as SP!N 2) Decide would later become the Gene b-side I Can't Decide If She Really Loves Me 3) In the year following these demos, the band changed it's name to Gene 4) This audio has been converted from the original demo cassette and enhanced since previously available 5) Download offline |
| lewisslade.com/genemusic |
| 'you'll never walk again' |
| Videography |
| Scratches in the Sand UK 1990 Dir: James Deegan PLAY |
| Steve Mason - guitars Matt James - drums Lee Clarke - vocals/guitars John Mason / Kevin Miles * - bass Martin Rossiter * - vocals * from 1991 |
| Let's Pretend The Foundation Label Released : '91 Highest UK Chart Position : n/a Formats 12" Vinyl : TFL 9T CD : TFL 9CD Tracks 01.Let's Pretend (Edit) (3.54) CD ONLY 02.Manifesto of Love (4.10) 03.Let's Pretend (Jimi's Dead) (2.51) 04.Let's Pretend (Parts I & II) (7.04) Notes 1) Produced by Stephen Street |
| In Motion The Foundation Label Released : '91 Highest UK Chart Position : n/a Formats 12" Vinyl : FOUND 3 Cassette : FOUND 3 MC CD : FOUND 3 CD Tracks 01.Many Sides of You (4.04) 02.Let's Pretend (4.44) 03.Everything (5.09) 04.Ask Me (4.22) 05.Shafted (3.57) 06.Sweet (3.27) 07.Colour of Your Eyes (3.49) 08.Mary (3.34) 09.Scratches in the Sand (6.53) 10.Sister Pearl (3.31) Notes 1) Produced by Stephen Street |
| Hot Blood EP The Foundation Label Released : '91 Highest UK Chart Position : n/a Formats 12" Vinyl : TFL 012T CD : TFL 012CD Tracks 01.Fifteen Minutes (3.02) 02.I'm Getting Out (4.07) 03.Landslide (5.24) 04.You're My Worst Nightmare (1.58) Notes 1) Produced by Stephen Street 2) The first release which features all four members of what was to become Gene |
| History... |
Sp!n were a band which had began life known as The Go Hole.
The band recorded one full-length album titled In Motion, two singles Scratches (In the Sand) and Let's
Pretend, ending with the Hot Blood EP, which were all released on The Foundation Label.
In March '91, an accident involving a truck hitting the band's van nearly brought things to a close, causing injury
to manager/live engineer Andrew Newton, Matt James, Steve Mason and most seriously John Mason, who as a
result was left in a coma for a number of days with skull damage. Shortly prior to the incident, Lee Clark had
stated his intentions to resign from the group.
With two voids in the band, Steve and Matt's neighbour Kevin Miles filled in on Bass and a 'temporary vocalist'
Martin Rossiter was brought in, after a chance meeting at the Camden Underworld.
This new line up recorded a final EP, before changing the name of the band to Gene in late '92.
-
Martin and I joined in 1991 after the road accident that resulted in John and Lee leaving the band. I had
known Matt for years and Martin met Steve in, I think, the Underworld club in Camden.
We got to record the Hot Blood EP with Steven Street which was a thrill to finally get to make a record. I was
still working at Madame Tussaud's at the time!! We recorded 4 more songs that were never released. We
played as Spin until I think 1992 when we changed our name to Gene and stopped playing Spin material.
Great memories. We toured with Thousand Yard Stare, sleeping in transit vans and on peoples floors, and
played with The La's in Switzerland which was an honour as we were all huge fans.
We were never signed and continued working/having spells on the dole etc until 1994 when we signed to
Polydor as Gene.
Kevin Miles, 27th Nov. '12
-
Looking back at the first embodiment of Spin with Lee & John we were a decent band, very much of the times
(indie dance back then!) and though we did have our own sound, I wouldn't in hindsight class us as leaders.
This period made me realise the massive necessity for a band to posses genuine charisma to really break
through. That seems a rather obvious requirement but it's hard to truly assess if you have it, when your in the
band. The realisation only filters back from others. We had decent enough songs and ideas to get us noticed
but probably lacked that real spark. I'm trying not to use the term 'X-factor' but you know what I mean...!!
The presentation was very much lead by John, though Lee was the main songwriter. I hadn't really come out
of my shell as a writer in those days though I put my oar in. Lee was certainly capable of writing clever,
Elvis Costello-esq, singer-songwriter tunes but when we decided to get with the times & go 'indie dance', I
don't think it really suited him. We had had various incarnations of style & name prior to Spin & had been
supported by John Peel in the past. That tells me that we weren't shit! When Steve joined he added a lot but
was also still very much honing his craft...Steve & I very much developed together as writers &
musicians...and later really. Steve was still very young but his handsome, young presence definitely helped us
get signed. He was already pretty nifty on the guitar too.
When Stephen Street accidentally saw us playing in a dodgy west London pub and decided to help, it changed
my life course forever. His huge skills and status of recording the Smiths etc (and Foundation Label cash!)
pushed us into the spotlight and we were soon on the road & in the indie charts. Sadly the accident we had
on the M40, coming back from Dudley JB's, put a tragic, early end to it all. I'm desperately sad to this day
that John and road manager Daz suffered so much from that crash. Steve & I were incredibly lucky to escape
with minor injuries. Snake, who later became Genes (amazing!) soundman also broke his back in that crash.
The fall out was immense. I still remember waking up in van covered in blood & seeing the roof had come off
& John so badly hurt. It's very haunting.
Despite the sadness, in truth, I don't feel now that the band would have gone on to be iconic. We would have
maybe had a couple more years & enjoyed ourselves & should have. It was a very unsavoury setting for Gene
to be born from, but Steve and I did bond massively after it. We clocked each other through the carnage of the
van that night, acknowledged (but didn't speak) & realised that we had somehow both survived. Soon after
we became rampantly obsessed to carry on & succeed...it could have gone the other way but it actually set us
up to become highly symbiotic writers & players. I'll always respect Stephen Street & manager Jerry Smith
for supporting & sticking with us through this period. With their continuing support, Steve & I didn't have to
completely start again.
Kev (Miles) was Daz's school friend & they both lived upstairs in the same building as my Brockley flat. I
always felt Kev was a cool bastard & I soon found out he could play guitar, bass & drums & had amazing
musicality. However, when Kev joined, then Martin, we were still very much trying to carry on with Spin as
the LP had not been released & we had a record deal backing for that project. Martin & Kev therefore
learned the Spin songs & we did some touring & some new writing. However, even though Hot Blood was a
good indie record, that I still quite like, realistically we were never going to make it as Spin. Indie dance
was over & it became obvious that we needed to become something of our own design....the four of us. Even
the night of the crash I remember after we'd played seeing the kids lurch around to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit',
which was on pre-release, & thinking 'we're out of date'! Stephen & Jerry eventually folded the Foundation
Label, though Jerry remained as our manager. Being an NME journalist, he was well connected - that was
crucial later when he introduced Gene to Roy Wilkinson & Keith Cameron. These two hip journo's invested
their savings into putting our first record out. Rather nice of them!
Kev absolutely loved The Faces & the 3 of us really took to trying to play & write with their cool, loose style
as opposed to the more rigid indie dance we had been playing in Spin. We laughed a lot, pretending to be
Rod & the boys with fags ends in mouths while we played. It was like a huge, breath out, release of tension
for us to start playing like that. Steve's love of the Stones & Hendrix wellied in too & it really felt like we'd
finally put the old band behind us musically. As well as the injection of that 'elusive' charisma, Martin
brought another musical dimension. He loved hymns & classical & he and I kept a keen eye on what was
contemporary in the pop & indie scenes. We didn't suddenly become the finished 'Gene' article though...we
worked our arses off for a longtime perfecting songs & demo's & traveling to- from Watford, Kingston,
Brockley, Waterloo, on cars & bikes to work together. With FTD & Childs Body written, orchestrated by
Jerry, we eventually got our break with Keith & Roy showing interest...the music biz excitement, comparable
to Stephen Street seeing Spin in Fulham, returned again & we really did make the most of that chance...
Matt James, 12th Dec. '12
-
Thanks to Robb Roncs for the additional band information.
The band recorded one full-length album titled In Motion, two singles Scratches (In the Sand) and Let's
Pretend, ending with the Hot Blood EP, which were all released on The Foundation Label.
In March '91, an accident involving a truck hitting the band's van nearly brought things to a close, causing injury
to manager/live engineer Andrew Newton, Matt James, Steve Mason and most seriously John Mason, who as a
result was left in a coma for a number of days with skull damage. Shortly prior to the incident, Lee Clark had
stated his intentions to resign from the group.
With two voids in the band, Steve and Matt's neighbour Kevin Miles filled in on Bass and a 'temporary vocalist'
Martin Rossiter was brought in, after a chance meeting at the Camden Underworld.
This new line up recorded a final EP, before changing the name of the band to Gene in late '92.
-
Martin and I joined in 1991 after the road accident that resulted in John and Lee leaving the band. I had
known Matt for years and Martin met Steve in, I think, the Underworld club in Camden.
We got to record the Hot Blood EP with Steven Street which was a thrill to finally get to make a record. I was
still working at Madame Tussaud's at the time!! We recorded 4 more songs that were never released. We
played as Spin until I think 1992 when we changed our name to Gene and stopped playing Spin material.
Great memories. We toured with Thousand Yard Stare, sleeping in transit vans and on peoples floors, and
played with The La's in Switzerland which was an honour as we were all huge fans.
We were never signed and continued working/having spells on the dole etc until 1994 when we signed to
Polydor as Gene.
Kevin Miles, 27th Nov. '12
-
Looking back at the first embodiment of Spin with Lee & John we were a decent band, very much of the times
(indie dance back then!) and though we did have our own sound, I wouldn't in hindsight class us as leaders.
This period made me realise the massive necessity for a band to posses genuine charisma to really break
through. That seems a rather obvious requirement but it's hard to truly assess if you have it, when your in the
band. The realisation only filters back from others. We had decent enough songs and ideas to get us noticed
but probably lacked that real spark. I'm trying not to use the term 'X-factor' but you know what I mean...!!
The presentation was very much lead by John, though Lee was the main songwriter. I hadn't really come out
of my shell as a writer in those days though I put my oar in. Lee was certainly capable of writing clever,
Elvis Costello-esq, singer-songwriter tunes but when we decided to get with the times & go 'indie dance', I
don't think it really suited him. We had had various incarnations of style & name prior to Spin & had been
supported by John Peel in the past. That tells me that we weren't shit! When Steve joined he added a lot but
was also still very much honing his craft...Steve & I very much developed together as writers &
musicians...and later really. Steve was still very young but his handsome, young presence definitely helped us
get signed. He was already pretty nifty on the guitar too.
When Stephen Street accidentally saw us playing in a dodgy west London pub and decided to help, it changed
my life course forever. His huge skills and status of recording the Smiths etc (and Foundation Label cash!)
pushed us into the spotlight and we were soon on the road & in the indie charts. Sadly the accident we had
on the M40, coming back from Dudley JB's, put a tragic, early end to it all. I'm desperately sad to this day
that John and road manager Daz suffered so much from that crash. Steve & I were incredibly lucky to escape
with minor injuries. Snake, who later became Genes (amazing!) soundman also broke his back in that crash.
The fall out was immense. I still remember waking up in van covered in blood & seeing the roof had come off
& John so badly hurt. It's very haunting.
Despite the sadness, in truth, I don't feel now that the band would have gone on to be iconic. We would have
maybe had a couple more years & enjoyed ourselves & should have. It was a very unsavoury setting for Gene
to be born from, but Steve and I did bond massively after it. We clocked each other through the carnage of the
van that night, acknowledged (but didn't speak) & realised that we had somehow both survived. Soon after
we became rampantly obsessed to carry on & succeed...it could have gone the other way but it actually set us
up to become highly symbiotic writers & players. I'll always respect Stephen Street & manager Jerry Smith
for supporting & sticking with us through this period. With their continuing support, Steve & I didn't have to
completely start again.
Kev (Miles) was Daz's school friend & they both lived upstairs in the same building as my Brockley flat. I
always felt Kev was a cool bastard & I soon found out he could play guitar, bass & drums & had amazing
musicality. However, when Kev joined, then Martin, we were still very much trying to carry on with Spin as
the LP had not been released & we had a record deal backing for that project. Martin & Kev therefore
learned the Spin songs & we did some touring & some new writing. However, even though Hot Blood was a
good indie record, that I still quite like, realistically we were never going to make it as Spin. Indie dance
was over & it became obvious that we needed to become something of our own design....the four of us. Even
the night of the crash I remember after we'd played seeing the kids lurch around to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit',
which was on pre-release, & thinking 'we're out of date'! Stephen & Jerry eventually folded the Foundation
Label, though Jerry remained as our manager. Being an NME journalist, he was well connected - that was
crucial later when he introduced Gene to Roy Wilkinson & Keith Cameron. These two hip journo's invested
their savings into putting our first record out. Rather nice of them!
Kev absolutely loved The Faces & the 3 of us really took to trying to play & write with their cool, loose style
as opposed to the more rigid indie dance we had been playing in Spin. We laughed a lot, pretending to be
Rod & the boys with fags ends in mouths while we played. It was like a huge, breath out, release of tension
for us to start playing like that. Steve's love of the Stones & Hendrix wellied in too & it really felt like we'd
finally put the old band behind us musically. As well as the injection of that 'elusive' charisma, Martin
brought another musical dimension. He loved hymns & classical & he and I kept a keen eye on what was
contemporary in the pop & indie scenes. We didn't suddenly become the finished 'Gene' article though...we
worked our arses off for a longtime perfecting songs & demo's & traveling to- from Watford, Kingston,
Brockley, Waterloo, on cars & bikes to work together. With FTD & Childs Body written, orchestrated by
Jerry, we eventually got our break with Keith & Roy showing interest...the music biz excitement, comparable
to Stephen Street seeing Spin in Fulham, returned again & we really did make the most of that chance...
Matt James, 12th Dec. '12
-
Thanks to Robb Roncs for the additional band information.
| Fifteen Minutes UK 1991 Dir: Tim & Philski PLAY |
