A lone seedling gingerly lands nestled between a small row of city grime, dirt, and substance appearing miraculously through the small crack in the asphalt. Perhaps it has landed there without a care in the world or it was carefully placed or carried by an unknown entity.
Life breaks the soil and reaches for the hot sun through a small crack in the black, hot asphalt, while subsequently thirsting for a droplet of a life source. Through this rebirth and necessary nurturance, a transformation of beauty evolves. Ov Stars shine brightly in the hemisphere like a rare sighting of a scorching shooting star lighting up the night sky amongst other flickering planets. Happenstance and reflections intertwined are created to weave life stories and experiences, Ov Stars have given birth to an otherworldly incantation.
Scene Point Blank had the opportunity to speak over virtual coffee with Alice Genese (Psychic TV, Gut Bank, Sex Pod) and Shaune Pony Heath, who operate as Ov Stars and have released their debut, Tuesdays in these unsuspecting times. It is currently available digitally and will be released on vinyl later this year.
Scene Point Blank: What is the meaning behind the name of the band?
Alice Genese: Pony and I wrote a song called “Ov Stars” before we decided to call the project Ov Stars. We had a different working name, but for different reasons, we felt it didn’t suit us. Also, it is a nod to Genesis Breyer P-Orridge who used OV in place of OF.
Shaune Pony Heath: The moment Alice wrote it down, it immediately just felt right. Also, though unintentionally, the OV can allude to the ovoid shape, like an egg, that in symbolism represents life, birth, or creation and that was a cool coincidence.
Scene Point Blank: How did you meet and, further from that, begin collaborating?
Alice Genese: My brother Leo introduced me to Pony several years ago thinking we would be good writing partners. I was becoming less and less busy with Psychic TV due to Genesis's diagnosis of Leukemia. I was having my own personal struggles, with loss and grief and writing/performing helps me stay the course so to speak.
Pony and I struck up a friendship before venturing into writing together. I think the bond of being friends allowed us to navigate the writing process as more of an entity than as two separate people.
Shaune Pony Heath: We had a very organic writing process with no real agenda except to hang out and try to make some music together. I do think that because we are friends first, before collaborators, there was already a built-in sense of trust and a willingness to be vulnerable and that just spilled over in a creative capacity.
Scene Point Blank: Tuesdays has drawn comparisons to Patti Smith. Does that parallel resonate with you?
Alice Genese: I’ve always been a huge fan of Patti Smith, so if there are any comparisons, I’m truly grateful for them. If it comes across in the music, it was accidental. I write from a very honest place in my soul. I think Pony would probably say the same.
Shaune Pony Heath: That is a huge compliment! I think that Patti Smith’s work is complex but doesn’t use overwrought or overly “embellished” language and I feel that that makes it accessible. It also feels like it was written from a place of honesty and both Alice and I do the same. I think in working together we have managed to distill the work into its most simple and truthful form.
Scene Point Blank: From where do you draw your subject matter choice? Are the songs deeply personal?
Alice Genese: The subject matter for me is drawn from multiple places. At the time we began writing I was still grieving the loss of my only son. Toward the end of that period of time and into the beginning of the pandemic, my close friend and bandmate Genesis succumbed to their illness, and then suddenly we are in lockdown. I suppose, grief, loss, and ultimately hope.
Shaune Pony Heath: I completely agree that it comes from many different sources. I do not think that any of the songs contain any one singular story or feeling and that might stem from writing together as two individuals with very different life (and cultural) experiences. But that said, themes like love, loss, grief, and hope are all universal feelings that we as humans all experience in different capacities. Fragments of these songs are deeply personal to me but also watching others go through it has influenced the work.
Scene Point Blank: This release has deep connections with former members of Psychic TV. Was Psychic TV alumni a close-knit community? How did it come to fruition to collaborate with the numerous Psychic TV individuals?
Alice Genese: When I decided to record, I immediately reached out to Jeff Berner (Psychic TV guitarist) who is a brilliant producer and instrumentalist, as well as a very close friend. Genesis liked to call the final version of Psychic TV “Our chosen family.” I remain very close to both Jeff Berner and John Weingarten (keyboard player) still.
Shaune Pony Heath: Even walking into the first rehearsals I could immediately tell that there was a very deep sense of camaraderie and kinship between all of them, not only musically but also on a familial level.
Scene Point Blank: Musically did COVID establish barriers to creating or did you find alternate ways or devices to feed the creative element?
Alice Genese: Pony and I continued to meet each Tuesday to write. We were both careful and were in one another’s “pods.” It was something I looked forward to each week. It didn’t mean that every Tuesday was a writing session. Sometimes we just needed to talk or cry.
Sometimes we just ate a cheese plate and drank some wine. Whatever we did though, I feel it was necessary for our journey together.
Shaune Pony Heath: I think that during the lockdown our Tuesdays kept us sane by having something to look forward to that was of emotional and spiritual value. Even if we were just hanging out with some wine and cheese there, at some point, would always be a musical interlude of sorts. We just can’t help ourselves!
Scene Point Blank: Alice, how did you come to become involved and join Psychic TV?
Alice Genese: I was introduced to Genesis at a friend’s party. My friend had mentioned me to Genesis as a potential bass player for Psychic TV. I am also a jeweler and Lady Jaye (Gen’s wife) was interested in a piece of jewelry I had made. Soon after that, Genesis was ordering other custom-made pieces of Jewelry from me. We would meet at Odessa in the East Village for lunch and chat. We really seemed to hit it off. S/he already felt like family to me. At one point, walking down St. Mark’s Place together on our way to different train stations, Genesis off-handedly said something like, “Well when we start playing in Psychic TV together…” I remember saying back to her that s/he had never seen me play. But s/he said s/he was sure I was the bass player. So, that’s pretty much it. I did eventually audition, and I spent from 2003 until the end as the bass player.
Scene Point Blank: What was Genesis like to work with? Were you following their vision or were you able to have input into Psychic TV?
Alice Genese: At the beginning of my time in Psychic TV, we did a lot of older material. Soon after though, we were all involved in writing. I got to contribute a lot musically. Genesis was a brilliant lyricist. We did follow her vision, and I truly feel the band that became the band s/he always wanted. S/he on multiple occasions said so. I think we really became psychedelic and it all just clicked in a way that is, to me, indescribable. It was very organic. In some ways, for me, it felt as if I could visually see the music, not just hear it. Like it became an all-encompassing thing of beauty.
"When I finally passed my naturalization test, my appointment to be sworn in as a citizen had to be postponed because of the storming of the Capitol"
Scene Point Blank: I saw Psychic TV in 1990 in Toronto. I apparently was feeling no pain and decided to get up on stage. In doing so I stood in my best Jesus Christ pose front and center. Genesis kindly put their arm around me, grabbed my ass, and pushed me off the stage. I am wondering how you would top that if I appeared on your stage?
Alice Genese: That’s a funny memory and doesn’t seem, at all, unlike Genesis. If you’ve been to a Psychic TV show, you know a lot can happen. We’ve had plenty of audience members in more recent years jump up on stage and start a dance party while we were playing. It would always depend on what our mood was and how chaotic it would get. I won’t push anyone off stage but have asked people to leave if they are stomping my pedals or getting in the way of mics, etc. I recall quite a frantic dance party on stage in London once. I’m pretty sure there were a few topless dancers joining us that night.
Scene Point Blank: What is your history both as a musician and as a person? Can you elaborate on your life in South Africa growing up and the experience of immigrating to the USA during the Trump years?
Shaune Pony Heath: I do not have a very illustrious history as a musician in a professional capacity. I, for years, have been trying to figure out a way to get through immigration and survive despite a lot of setbacks and issues that I won't get into too much.
Growing up in South Africa was very different from growing up here, and having to go into all of the cultural differences would take a whole other interview, but I did grow up in an agricultural smallholding from where my grandfather ran a plant nursery. He is the one that bought me my first piano.
My immigration journey started way earlier than Trump’s tenure of playing president but the brunt of the serious stuff did happen during this time. The man didn’t make it easier for anyone but I still managed to do it. Funny enough, when I finally passed my naturalization test, my appointment to be sworn in as a citizen was set for the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Unfortunately, it had to be postponed because of the storming of the Capitol earlier but I did get my citizenship in the end!
Scene Point Blank: Alice, what happened to Gut Bank and Sexpod? Did the bands implode or eventually just run their course?
Alice Genese: Gut Bank and Sexpod really just ran their courses. Karyn Kuhl and I are still the best of friends. She is the closest I have to a sister in my life. I’m so grateful to have had all of the experiences we had together. When we started in Gut Bank we were very young, in our very early 20s. Tia was even younger. We would tour the country in vans and sleep on the floors of strangers. It’s hard to maintain that kind of lifestyle.
We did pretty much the same in Sexpod, though the tours seemed to get a little bigger. At some point, things just fizzled out. Interest dies down, bandmates move on. The usual band issues, which anyone in any band can discuss ad nauseam.
Scene Point Blank: Alice, there was a long break between 2014’s Sticks and Bones and this project with Shaune. Were there other projects between these releases that never saw the light of day?
Alice Genese: We completed Sticks and Bones in 2013. A lot of the songs on that recording were really about me dealing with loss and healing and eventually hope again. During that time in my life, I had lost my Dad, Lady Jaye, and several other close friends. I was coping the best I could. Music helped me to move through feelings.
My son was the bass player both in the live band and on the recording. Shortly after wrapping up the mixes, my son unexpectedly dropped his body. I went back into the studio the following year to record You Are The Sun as a tribute to him. Losing a child is one of the most unbearable forms of grief I’ve ever experienced. It felt like I lost most of my heart. On the other hand, I was so very lucky to have had such a close relationship with my son Jesse.
Moving on after that was really hard. What I was writing was so deeply emotional and sad. These songs were just for me, as a way of grieving and moving through that process.
In so many ways, working with Pony was a great comfort. Writing with a partner, even if we are both struggling with our own personal trauma, helped us find a common voice that I feel had a little more healing and hope in it. At least I felt this way.
