The Genes play Railway Hotel, Byron Bay on Wednesday, The Alley, Milton on Thursday and Kirra Beach Hotel on Friday.
The Genes’ singer/guitarist Nolan Angell writes tunes that don’t slap you in the face shouting “HERE’S THE HOOK!”. They are proof positive of the power of understatement, disciplined, verse/chorus tunes that seep into your consciousness instead of bludgeoning you with commercial pop formulas (you know the sort of thing: Insert key change here). Spot-on vocal harmonies are another great aspect of The Genes, with Nolan and his bassist brother Morgan letting loose sweet, sometimes even ghostly two-parts like modern Everly Brothers.
Getting ready for their first Queensland shows in over a year, three of the four Genes gather at Nolan and Morgan’s pad to chat about their return. I enjoy a cup of tea and a chat with the brothers, plus keyboardist/guitarist Spanny.
Our conversation includes reminisces about the fair industrial town of Gladstone, the Central Queensland base where yours truly was brought up and where The Genes played during the 1990s.
“The Beatles wrote a song about Gladstone,” jokes Morgan. “Helter Smelter! Heh heh!” (A shame that drummer Dominic Cutcliffe isn’t present for a timely comedy drum roll.)
The other nostalgic moment in the interview comes when Nolan produces a Rave local edition from the early 90s, with The Genes gracing the cover. A young, fresh-faced Morgan is donning a paisley shirt that makes him look like a long-lost member of The Hoodoo Gurus, while Nolan has half-closed eyes, sporting a Keith Richards-style hard livin’ look. The reality is actually less rock ‘n roll.
“Maybe they used that shot to make me look like a wasted rock guy,” says Nolan. “The truth was I’d recently been really, really sick.”
One can read a detailed history of The Genes on the band’s website, authored by Nolan. Chapters one and two are already up and running.
“Chapter three will be on there soon,” says Nolan. “This Genes history I’ve written starts in 1997, when we’d done the Sunshine Pocket EP.”
Also on the band’s site, you can check out examples of Morgan’s painting.
“I also did the artwork on the back of the album,” Morgan explains. “It’s another avenue for me. Along with surfing!” (Nolan and Morgan are both enthusiastic wave riders).
Hopefully Nolan will also see fit to chronicle the Angell’s youth, a period in which the boys went through their nascent musical education.
“There were three records that really defined what I loved about music, and made me want to make music,” says Nolan. “Side two of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, the first House Of Love album and The Cult’s Electric.”
“That’s a pretty diverse bunch of albums right there,” says Spanny.
“Yeah, it is, but they weren’t necessarily records that directly influenced how The Genes sound,” Nolan explains. “But they really inspired me to seriously get into songwriting.”
The current four-piece line-up has been together for some time. Spanny says he was a long-time fan before becoming part of the group.
“I did lighting, roadie work and other stuff for the band, before they let me on board to play guitar and keyboards,” he says. Another man with some interesting past, as he puts it in The Genes’ bio, “I tried to play drums but couldn’t get the mouth movements right.”
Flash forward to 2002, and their superb 17-track album The First Person To Wear Black is a record all members of The Genes are proud of.
“I actually put it on to listen to for pleasure,” says Nolan. “It’s not that often you can say that about your own music.”
