Gene Gallagher is charting his own course

Gene Gallagher has fond memories of his first live performance. “I was only 10 or 11,” says the 23-year-old musician. “It was a big music concert that took place in the school canteen. I played on drums for a band a couple years above me. I remember being really nervous to go on stage, but afterwards I was just… happy.” 

It’s fair to assume that Gallagher is a natural. From his bushy brows to his Mancunian twang (a direct inheritance, given he grew up in north London), he’s the spitting image of his father, Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher; although the cheekbones of his mother, All Saints pop star Nicole Appleton, are visible as well. Having mastered percussion in the canteen, Gallagher now plays a 1964 Fender Jazzmaster in a four-man band called Villanelle in which he also leads on vocals. The band has been preparing to play the Neighbourhood Festival in Manchester and in July will release their first single, “Hinge”. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist, but there’s no point rushing these things,” says Gallagher. 

Given the band’s pool of references – their bass player Jack Schiavo cites Nirvana, The Beatles and Arctic Monkeys among them – it’s a melting pot of sounds. According to one critic from Resound Magazine, the band capture the “spirit of the Seattle grunge era”. “Shoegaze too,” adds the FT’s arts writer and pop critic, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney. “Gene has his dad’s voice, but without as much swagger or needle… early days, but I could see them following Inhaler, led by Bono’s son Elijah Hewson, as a band that outgrows the nepo tag.” 

“I’ve wanted to be in a band since I was about 14,” explains Gallagher, who is a brooding, slightly elusive presence in a black T-shirt and board shorts. “But when me and my friends were growing up, band music wasn’t really seen as that cool. A lot of people kept going on about how rock music was dead. Now it feels like people are giving guitar music a chance again. There’s a new hype.”

Since forming early last year, Villanelle has already played a series of intimate shows across the UK, as well as supporting Liam Gallagher on his solo Definitely Maybe stretch ahead of the official Oasis reunion this summer. “The band dynamic is very collaborative,” says Schiavo, whom Gallagher met over a pint “somewhere” in Austria. “Gene is confident and open to ideas. He has a clear vision for where a tune should end up, but leaves the door open for us to explore it musically.”

When asked if he ever thought he might deviate from the family business, Gallagher insists: “I’ve never had the idea to do anything else. It was always music.” Then there’s his namesake: Kiss frontman Gene Simmons. “Yeah, I guess I’m The Demon [Simmons’ stage persona],” he jokes. Seeing Kiss perform was one of his earliest concert memories. He went with his mother when he was eight years old and it’s she and her New York upbringing that he credits with introducing him to the ’90s grunge music that influences the Villanelle sound. 

“It feels like people are giving guitar music a chance again. There’s a new hype”

Just as his childhood found him in the company of famous artists and musicians, Gallagher has enjoyed considerable exposure to the fashion business too. A model (signed to Next Management London), he has already starred in advertising campaigns and projects for Stone Island, Bvlgari, Guess Jeans, Burberry and Adidas. (He prefers Supernovas, glossing over any reference to the famous Oasis ballad – any mention of Oasis, or his father, is quickly brushed aside.)

Gallagher was recently recruited as a friend of Bvlgari, an interesting signing for the house, which has also worked with Anne Hathaway and Blackpink’s Lisa. “Gene feels like a natural fit for us,” says Bvlgari’s jewellery executive creative director, Lucia Silvestri. “For me, jewellery has always been an expression of individuality [and]… I love how he styles the pieces. He embodies our spirit.” 

He’s a magpie for jewellery, especially gold. His current everyday wear consists of three rings, including a family signet and a Claddagh ring [a traditional Irish love token]. “I’m getting into brooches too,” he says. 

As for the rest of fashion, “it’s about finding individual pieces. If you’ve got one piece you can sort of work your way around it,” he says. He likes to keep his “look” fairly casual with jeans (flared or baggy – “it’s a never-ending search for the perfect pair”) and jackets. His current obsession is vintage track tops. Sounds like someone else we know… 

Grooming, Alex Price at Eighteen Management using Elemis skincare. Hair by Sam McKnight. Set design, Harry Beedle. Photographer’s assistants, James Rogers and Martin Eito. Stylist’s assistant, Normie Bobroff. Production, Noot Coates at Town