Gene Loves Jezebel in Brazil... and Jay Aston on SPIN LA...

Brazil is famous worldwide because of its sandy beaches, great soccer players, beautiful women, and lately as a new hot territory for artists and bands from all over the world.

One of the bands playing in Brazil this month is Gene Loves Jezebel. For the ones who do not remember them, the band became popular in the 80’s leaded by the twins Jay and Mike Aston and their androgynous look allied to the sort of gothic sound. The band first show in Brazil was back in late 80’s when one of their biggest hits ‘Desire’ made hundreds of Brazilian fans dance. Since then a lot has changed for this Jezebel. The brothers parted ways with Michael leaving the band, Jay and the original members kept the band alive, recording and playing with Gene Loves Jezebel all over the world, but with an unhappy Mike Aston disputing and affirming GLJ belongs to him and his band is the real thing.

Gene Loves Jezebel (with Jay Aston and the original boys) is playing in Brazil this week, July 2 and 4 in São Paulo and Curitiba respectively, with another legend from the 80’s, Echo & the Bunnymen. I met Jay Aston in a sunny afternoon at Holland Park in London. Jay talked about the issues with his brother, the new album, tour and much more. Enjoy!



SPIN LA: Jay, I saw Gene Loves Jezebel live a couple months ago in LA, but it had Mike Aston singing and a totally different line up than the one that plays with you. Mike says that his band is the real GLJ and that he owns the name Gene Loves Jezebel, but you are still touring and recording using the same name. Can you explain this situation?

Jay Aston: Michael left the band years ago and GLJ continued and still continues recording and touring with the original members, James Stevenson (guitars), Pete Rizzo (bass), Chris Bell (drums) and Jay Aston. It is not like the band split and he came back with a new line up; GLJ never split. We never left the band, he did. Mike is mentally ill and unfortunately he is my twin brother and he uses that all the time. His wife calls the promoters of our shows to say that we are using the name of our band against the law. This is insane. What I have to say is that my brother never have a role in the band, he did not record or participate on most of the songs. He can’t sing. When he was in the band all he did was dance and sing in a few parts of the songs. My brother has been fighting for years with the excuse that the name Gene Loves Jezebel belongs to him. I spent a fortune already in lawyers, but he always finds some other excuse and the dispute goes on and on. I got tired of this story, he is thrashing the name of the band playing with musicians he found on the streets who have no idea who we are. People go to the shows expecting to see the real GLJ and when they get there they see a different band with someone who has my face singing. This is really bad for the real band. He played in Brazil about 2 years ago with his band and one Brazilian magazine considered GLJ the worse live band of the year according to one of my Brazilian friends. If there is one thing I know for sure is that Gene Loves Jezebel, the real one, knows how to play and sing. I still can sing all my songs; I am still a great singer.

SPIN LA: But Jay, Mike was on the cover of the most successful albums, everything was around the twins Mike and Jay Aston, it is hard to believe that he did not have a role in the band…

Jay Aston: This whole thing of everything being around us was his idea. I always believed and still do that we are a band, the other members are just as important in the band as I am, but Mike had no role in the band.

SPIN LA: It still sounds bizarre, for everybody it looked like he did...

Jay Aston: Yes, I know. He was in videos, records, etc. He always made sure that everything about the band revolved around us, he had no respect for the other musicians. I think we are a band, not Wham. The truth is that he has never written anything, but he always put his name on the credits and I was a fool and did not do anything to stop him. Mike is a very manipulative person, but he never wrote anything for GLJ.

Photo: Kevin Long

SPIN LA: Ok, so let’s change the subject. The last GLJ (with Jay Aston) ‘Anthology’ was released in 2006. What is new now with Gene Loves Jezebel?

Jay Aston: We have been writing new songs that sound very different than the songs we did before. We are going on a tour, playing in Los Angeles and Brazil and when we come back we are going to record a new CD, probably August/September. The music industry is very different nowadays and it is very expensive to record a CD with good quality, but we are going to do it.

SPIN LA: How is the creative process for you guys?

Jay Aston: In general I write and James (Stevenson) and Pete (Rizzo) include their input and their songs too. We have been playing together for so long that we don’t really need to rehearse or to be in the same room to be able to write songs. We all live in different places so we exchange files over the internet, it is easier this way. I live in London, James lives in between London and Los Angeles, Pete is in Yorkshire, Chris Bell is in Bath and Robert Adams (who is also GLJ’s drummer and is playing in this tour to Brazil) lives in between London and Tulsa. James has other bands like Chelsea, a punk band he has been playing with since high school. We all have other things going on in our lives, but when we play together is like magic, we have a lot of fun.

SPIN LA: When was the last time you played in Brazil? How was it? What has changed since then? (According to Jay, Michael played in Brazil a couple years ago using the name GLJ, as mentioned above)

Jay Aston: It was about 7 years ago. I remember we played in São Paulo since it is such a big city and we love it there. The gigs were fantastic there, and lots of nice people and wonderful restaurants! Now what has changed? Obviously we are older (laughs), we do not wear much make up anymore, and I cut my hair short… musically we are more mature as well. In the past we wore colorful clothes, a lot of make up, I used to do the make up and choose the outfit for everybody in the band… it would take me hours to do my hair with all the fabric… it was a lot of fun.

SPIN LA: All right, but what should people expect from the GLJ concert?

Jay Aston: A lot of energy. Nowadays we concentrate more in the music and the energy we put into it, instead of the way we look. We are older and it would be kind of funny to go onstage dressed like before… I used to wear mini skirts and dresses… Pete used to make fun of me saying that I had nice legs! We also intend to play a couple of new songs, but the truth is that the fans go to the show to listen to our big hits like ‘Desire’, ‘Motion of Love’, etc.



SPIN LA: And do you like touring?

Jay Aston: Oh yes, I love it! Like I said, we have a lot of fun together. It is like magic when we play together. I should do some solo gigs too, since I write a lot of songs. Maybe I will, but it will be very different than Gene Loves Jezebel. It will be more acoustic, only me, my guitar and my voice…

SPIN LA: And what does Jay Aston listen to nowadays?

Jay Aston: I like a lot of different things. From Led Zeppelin, my favorite band as a kid, to Muse, Portishead and Cold Play. I really pay attention to the vocals of the songs, I guess because I am a singer, it is important to me. I believe that you do not choose music, but music chooses you.



SPIN LA: And what are the plans for the future?

Jay Aston: Well, first the tour which includes Brazil and Los Angeles. Then record the new album in August/September and I hope this legal situation with my brother is solved so we can avoid more hassles.
(Jay refers to the episode earlier this year in Los Angeles when he was scheduled to play at the Viper Room and Michael’s guitar player served the band with a warrant that they could not play. The show happened anyway, but Jay and the rest of the band got very upset with the episode, one of the reasons why this battle continues)

SPIN LA: Do you have anything to say to the Brazilian fans?

Jay Aston: Yes, I want to say that we are very anxious and happy to play in Brazil again. Every time we played there people were wonderful to us and it will be awesome to be there again. If you see me there come and say hi and buy me a drink (laughs). Let’s have fun because life is too short!

http://www.myspace.com/genelovesjezebeluk

http://www.myspace.com/jpaston

I am back… and London as well

I am back from my trip to England. After spending most of the time in London – even though I made a quick visit to the historic city of Bath, the cultural center of the country back in the XVIII century – I came to the conclusion that I needed to stay in London for at least another month to be able to see and enjoy everything that this city has to offer and go to all the places I wanted to go. I guess I will have to come back soon… As I had promised before the trip, here are some details of the trip.

London – Part I:



London made me feel back in São Paulo (my hometown in Brazil). At least when I used to live there – about 10 years ago – I used to walk everywhere, take the subway and the buses. London is the same, especially because if people want to drive around the Central region they need to pay the ‘congestion tax’, a tax that was implemented to try to reduce the number of vehicles on the streets, but in reality the pollution and traffic are still terrible.



My first experience in the ‘tube’ – the ‘British’ name for the subway – was interesting. Tons of foreigners, many languages that I was unable of identifying, the whole experience made me feel like if I were in Babel. After one day taking the tube I became accustomed to the warnings ‘Please Mind the Gap’, referring to the gap in between the train and the train platform. Why am I mentioning this? It is so peculiar that it became one of the tube’s trademarks, as well as t-shirts for tourists.

One of the best things about London is that nobody depends on a car like here in Los Angeles where, even though gas prices are over U$ 5 a gallon, you do not have options, either you drive or you move somewhere else.



Back to London, I stayed in Notting Hill, a very ‘hip’ neighborhood with lots of bars, pubs and clubs. One of the clubs I went to, “Cherry Jam” belongs to the people from the band ‘Everything but the Girl’. The deco is very modern, red walls with stamped black and white pictures, and the music and schedule is diversified. There is something for all tastes going from Brazilian music to local and international DJs; the place is a mandatory stop for people visiting London.



The city offers many museums as well. The museum’s admittance is free in its majority and there is always something for everybody. My favorite was the Courtald Gallery (inside the Somerset House) that has a vast collection of the Impressionists, including Van Gogh – my favorite. Outside the Somerset House is already impressive with water fountains that are already a sculpture itself.



The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square is just as remarkable. Besides of more Impressionists paintings, the gallery owns one of the largest Rembrandt – who was born 400 years ago! – Collections in the world. Talking about Trafalgar Square let me explain what I am talking about: it is a square in the heart of London. It has fountains and a 46 meter high with Horatio Nelson’s 5.5 meters high on top. This monument called ‘Nelson’s Column’ was made between 1840 and 1843 to honor Admiral Nelson (who died in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805).



In another part of town, Holborn, I found the British Museum. The museum has existed since 1759 and it has a wonderful collection of the history of the civilization. One day is not enough to be able to admire the more the 13 million objects in exposition telling the tale of the civilization since the beginning of times. Since I am really interested in Egypt and everything from there, I spent a great deal of time in the Egyptian hall where you can admire a vast quantity of objects, mummies, and Egyptian art. The British Museum also has many Greek sculptures that are so old that they are missing pieces, but it gives the an idea of life in old Greek times. Another floor of the museum is dedicated to Asian art, including art from India, China, Japan, among other Asian countries.






Besides of museums, there is still much to see in London:

- House of Parliament
- Big Ben
- Tower of London
- Thammes River
- Westminster Cathedral
- Change of Guards and Buckingham Palace

Also there is the historic city of Bath, about 2 hours away from London. All of that and more you will see and read next week! For now, enjoy it!

Text: Silvia Mendes
Photos: Alex Ribeiro and Silvia Mendes