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Don't look back in anger

posted Aug 17, 2011, 1:45 PM by Vu Nguyen
From thephoenix.com

Don't look back in anger
By KAYLEY KRAVITZ | August 17, 2011
FIGHTING FIT Martin Rossiter of Gene now plays the keys in Call Me Jolene and teaches school children for a living.  

Someone once told me, "Britpop is dead. Get over it." But even when the impact, effect, and urgency of a subculture slowly fades away, its principal players remain in the trenches, left to make sense of a world without pop stardom. It's been more than 15 years since Britpop's heyday, and with the exception of one man – the Manic Street Preachers' Richey Edwards, who disappeared suddenly in 1995 – the rest of the cast is still trying to get by, just like the rest of us. Here's what they're up to these days...

(excerpt)

Louise Wener, vocalist, Sleeper: Left behind the Sleeperblokes in 1998 to pursue a writing career and motherhood. She's written four novels, and in 2010, switched gears and published her autobiography, "Just For One Day: Adventures In Britpop."

Donna Matthews, guitarist, Elastica: Split from a brief romance with Menswe@r's Chris Gentry and a slightly longer one with Elastica, then proceeded to go bat shit crazy and reinvent herself as a born-again Christian and music therapist.

....

Martin Rossiter, vocalist, Gene: Following Gene's split in 2004, Rossiter went to work as a school teacher, and led his band's brief 2008 reunion to honor of their former manager's 50th birthday. A mouthpiece for social change through his Twitter account, the Rozzer has stayed active in the British music scene playing in the Brighton-based group Call Me Jolene. His solo album is due out later this year.

Richey Edwards, guitarist, Manic Street Preachers: Is he dead or isn't he? That is the question. Though Edwards' Vauxhall Cavalier was discovered by a bridge known for suicides, the missing Manic's body was never found, and fans have reported Richey sightings everywhere from rural America to India, while psychics claim to routinely communicate with his spirit. In 2008, Edwards' family closed his case and declared him "presumed dead." The remaining Manics released Journal for Plague Lovers in 2009, an album comprised entirely of Richey's left-behind lyrics. Wherever he is, we hope this troubled glamour twin is at peace.

Sources: Personal accounts and interactions, fan blogs, online reports, UK publications and John Harris' The Last Party.

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