Well of course this is the tricky one.  If you've been obediently reading all the other areas of this website and of course paying attention, then you will realise that, in consideration of the pretty fractious state of relations between certain members of what used to be the Gents, then you might easily be led to the conclusion that there is, relatively speaking, more chance of the Beatles reuniting than the Gents, or even the Catholic and Protestant Churches or even more unlikely, of them finding those WMDs in Iraq, or in short, to paraphrase that silly bald little magician, not a lot…

It would have to be conceded also, that in general terms, if that's the conclusion to which you've been drawn, that there is in fact a substantial amount of truth in it.  But in fairness, it would also have to be pointed out that it wasn't just in the wake of the Men's Club nisty-nasties in 2000 that attitudes against such a reunion were formed, but in fact that over the eleven years (at that point), since the demise of the Gents, the question "So when's the Gents reunion?" was asked relatively speaking, millions of time, mainly (in fact only) by myself, and received millions of answers, every one of them the same…"F***ing never…"

During those ten and a half to eleven years,  I guess what it probably was, was that the Men's Club project (which I have to admit was the side of the split on which I spent the most time socialising) in particular, was still relatively new, they were still relatively enjoying themselves (I don't know, maybe they still are…) and there probably didn't really seem a need to think about silly questions like "When's the Gents reunion?".  However, the acrimonious split of 2000 has only served to make things like "the Gents reunion" seem if not millions of miles away, in fact light-years.

And the truth is that in the six years following all that, there hasn't honestly been anything that I can say I have seen that has made anything of that nature any more likely.  There hasn't really been any softening of attitudes and light-years remains the approximate distance away that any such project remains.  So, whilst it would be true to say that six years worth of water has flowed metaphorically under the bridge, in all honesty that water is still full of sewage and poison.  The truth is that if it was going to happen then it probably already would have by now.

I was given to understand (from Paul Burton I think), that similarly, at any times when such an idea has been mentioned to Martin Burton, he has expressed a great deal of lack of interest in the concept also.  Not because he has particularly fallen out with anybody, but simply I guess because in his opinion the Gents is something whose time came and went and remains gone.  A bit like Paul Weller's attitude to the Jam really.
I was told a few years back that one ex-acquaintance ame to the band and said that if they would reform then he could get them one of the big festivals, just at a time when big festivals were getting er…big.  It was an idea which I believe at the time was given at least some cursory consideration, but which was still in the end rejected.

So I've stopped saying "When's the Gents reunion?" to Glyn and Steve Chambers now, because I know that all it'll probably earn me is a punch on the nose, but if I do jestingly mention it occasionally to Steve Kendell, he just sort of snorts and says something like "I'm sorry Slick, but I've no idea" or "very funny".  I guess the truth is that it means more to me than it does to them, which in the end, for a band which was so good, with so many good records, so many good songs, is tremendously sad.

The thing is, well there's just no appetite for it, from most quarters in fact.  But me of course, I can keep telling myself that you should never say never, you never know what might happen in the future.  I read a story not long back about the Eagles, maybe a poor analogy but never mind, where when they split up in the early '80s it was quoted by one of them that the Eagles hated each other so much that they would play together again "Only when hell freezes over…".  And what happened, well a couple of years back the Eagles did the "Hell Freezes Over" tour, so maybe, just maybe there is some hope for not just the Gents, but all bands who split and swear never to play again.  A little bit of blind faith never hurt anyone.  But with the Gents, don't hold your breath…I don't imagine it made the Eagles' music any better though.

So, in response to the question, which I'll repeat just once more, at the risk of boring even myself, I get the same answer from everybody from the band I've ever asked this one:-

Q. "So when's the Gents reunion then lads…?”

A. (all chorus as one) "FUCKING NEVER…!"

Simon Curtis – September 2006