Random Gender

Random Gender
Random Gender in 1986 Left to Right – Richard Hughes, Simon Cousins, Pat D’Arcy, Jon Cousins, Myke Vince
Background information
Origin	Castle Combe, England
Genres	Punk rock (early), garage rock (mid period), Prog rock (later), Progressive Garage
Years active	1982–1986
Labels	New Age Press-Publishing Ophiuchvs Records
Associated acts	The So!, Circus, Ophiuchus, The Onset
Website	http://www.myspace.com/randomgender https://www.youtube.com/user/randomgender
Members	Jon Cousins, 1982-1986 Simon Cousins, 1982-1986 Mark Dunn, 1982 Richard Pearson, 1982 Myke Vince, 1982-1986 Mark Nochols, 1983 Ed Deedigan, 1982-1983 Richard Hughes, 1983-1986 Jane Hicks, 1984 Pat D’Arcy, 1984-1986

Random Gender were a Wiltshire Progressive Garage band founded in 1982 by twin brothers Jon and Simon Cousins; who later went on to be prominent members of Wiltshire folk rockers Ophiuchus and Liverpool's indie rock group The Onset respectively. Although Random Gender remained unsigned to any major record label they attracted a great deal of attention "thanks to their musical skill and professionalism in advertising", leading to write-ups in the national music press.

"Music and humour have caused some unhappy marriages, Jilted John, the Barron Knights, and most recently Billy Connolly. Music without humour can be equally short lived and unbearable. A mixture of the two comes as naturally to Random Gender as does their capacity to fuse the 80’s beat consciousness with the more laid back aspects of the Velvet Underground era"

— Mark Ashton (Venue Magazine).

Random Gender was formed in June 1982 when Chippenham based punk rock group The So! announced that they had changed their name. The So! was formed in September 1978 by three 13-year-old school friends from Wiltshire’s Grittleton House School; twin brothers Jon and Simon Cousins on guitar and bass respectively and Andrew Hawker on expletives and vocals. In 1980, they were joined by drummer Dave Clifford, later to replace Mark Ollard as drummer for Red Jasper. The So! drew their inspiration from Punk bands such as the Skids, Sex Pistols and the Stranglers. Their set included punked up versions of Rock n Roll standards such as "Get Back", "Rock Around The Clock" and the Stone’s "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", however, from the beginning the Cousins brothers were writing their own material. Nevertheless, very few actual gigs were played and even fewer recordings remain, but a recording of The So! performing "Rock Around The Clock" was placed on MySpace in 2009.

The summer of 1981 saw the departure of Andrew Hawker and David Clifford when band members left school and went their separate ways. In October 1981, whilst at sixth form in Chippenham’s Sheldon and Hardenhuish Schools, the Cousins brothers teamed up with Mark Dunn on keyboards/drums and Richard Pearson on guitar/drums. The group practiced in the cellar of Mark’s parents house on Chippenham’s London Road, developing an underground garage sound from self penned tunes and covers of T-Rex, David Bowie and Lou Reed.