States of Independence

Rock and roll partnerships are tempestuous at the best of times. Throw twin brothers into the mix? That’s a recipe for Armageddon. Gene Loves Jezebel were, for a stretch in the mid-80s, one of Beggars Banquet’s flagship bands, but when differences between the twin frontmen at the heart of it all became irreconcilable, they split apart – and eventually launched two competing versions of the same group. Which is why episode four of States of Independence gets the ‘two parter’ treatment. First up, we hear Jay Aston’s side of the Gene Loves Jezebel saga.

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There are two sides to every story… In part two of the Gene Loves Jezebel saga, Michael Aston shares his own recollections of the band he formed, loved, and lost with his twin, Jay. Funnily enough, his story doesn’t always align with his brother’s account. But then that’s what makes the whole story of Gene Loves Jezebel so very interesting…

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After the split of Bauhaus, a whole new wave of goth bands step into the breach. But none will prove so pivotal in the story of Beggars Banquet as The Cult. Here, Martin Mills and legendary Cult guitarist Billy Duffy tell the story of his band’s dizzying ascent from the ashes of Southern Death Cult to full-blown Californian rock gods. It’s a story filled with all the usual trappings of rock and roll fame – with money, drugs, and hard-fought creative differences all leaving their mark on the band – but for a gothic odyssey, this one has an unusually happy ending.

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Gary Numan has gifted Beggars Banquet their very first number one. So why is neither he nor the label happy? We step inside the intense backlash that comes with fame, as a painfully young Gary Numan tries to make sense of sudden superstardom. Plus, Martin Mills scrambles to define Beggars Banquet as more than just one very big artist… which brings us first to John Rocca’s delightfully unpunk electro pioneers, Freeez and their massive NY club hit, I.O.U, and then to something altogether more sombre. Peter Murphy introduces us to Bauhaus, the band who announce the dawn of Beggars Banquet’s ‘decade of darkness’.

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Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Beggars Banquet. The story starts in 1974 with three mates, a little bit of cash, and the dream of opening a record shop. But when punk happens, it changes everything – and suddenly there’s a new fantasy to chase. Label founder Martin Mills drops us into the chaotic formative years of Beggars Banquet and introduces us to their very first signing, The Lurkers. Then, we meet their first star, Gary Numan, who details his meteoric rise from just another punk rock pretender to one of the definitive voices of the new wave. In the process, the legend of Beggars is born.

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In States of Independence hear first-hand the stories behind the world's greatest independent record labels. The series includes new interviews with luminaries signed along the way, including Gary Numan, Pete Murphy, Brix Smith and founder Martin Mills. All of them come together to tell the story of an organisation with the spirit of punk rock baked into its very DNA.

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