Gene Louis (also known as Gene Bullets) is a vocalist, front-man of

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

Bullets and Octane, and former vocalist in Sex N Violence. He also has a solo project, releasing under his own name.

History

Louis was raised in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

and taught to play drums by his jazz drummer father. Louis moved to

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

with long-time friend and bassist Brent Clawson to start Bullets and Octane in 1998. Louis remained the band's drummer until the original lead singer quit and Louis stepped up to the mic, being replaced on drums by local punk rocker, Ty Smith, while James Daniel would later join on guitar.

Career

Bullets and Octane released their debut album ''The Revelry'' through the Criterion Records imprint in 2004. The album was produced by ex

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

guitarist

Gilby Clarke Gilbert J. Clarke (born August 17, 1962) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is known for having a three-year tenure as the rhythm guitarist of Guns N' Roses, replacing Izzy Stradlin in 1991 during the Use Your ...

, who now forms part of

Rock Star Supernova Rock Star Supernova was a reality television-formed Supergroup (music), supergroup consisting of drummer Tommy Lee, bassist Jason Newsted, guitarist Gilby Clarke, and singer Lukas Rossi. The band was formed during the second season of the ''Roc ...

. Their second album, ''In the Mouth of the Young'' was released in 2006 after the band moved to RCA Records. This record was produced by

Helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

frontman

Page Hamilton Page Nye Hamilton (born May 18, 1960) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer who founded the American heavy metal band Helmet in 1989. In the 1990s, Helmet and Hamilton were forerunners of alternative metal with the al ...

. The band have opened for Avenged Sevenfold and CKY, and played on the Family Values Tour 2006, in company of

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...

, Flyleaf and

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...

. They toured with Unwritten Law, Zebrahead, and Social Distortion and recently finished a UK tour with The Knives. In December 2007, Gene announced o
his MySpace
that he is to release 52 songs (one for each week) in 2008, where he plays every instrument. Gene insisted, however, that this did not mean the end of Bullets and Octane. He was also vague about any possible album, although the songs are available for digital download. In 2020 Louis appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "Fly Abound" off of the album ''Fly Around'' by the bluegrass band

Water Tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

. He, Brent Clawson and Kevin Besignano are also members of a side project called Sex N Violence that is rounded out by

Todd Hennig Todd Hennig (born March 29, 1976)MEINL Cymbals artist profile is an American punk and hardcore drummer. He was a drummer for Death by Stereo and Heckle. Hennig joined Death by Stereo after previous drummer Tim Bender left, which was mid-late 2 ...

(formerly of

Death By Stereo Death by Stereo (also referred to as D.B.S.) is an American hardcore punk band formed in Orange County, California circa 1998 by frontman Efrem Schulz. They are well known for their energetic performances and intricate guitar work. Their nam ...

), and Criterion Records owner

Jeremy Miller Jeremy James Miller (born October 21, 1976) is an American actor, known mostly as a child actor. He is known for his portrayal of Ben Seaver on the TV series ''Growing Pains'' and its two reunion movies. He also voiced Linus van Pelt in the an ...

Influences

As a band, Bullets and Octane are influenced by

and

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. It consists of Mike Ness (vocals, guitar), Jonny Wickersham (guitar), Brent Harding (bass), David Hidalgo Jr. (drums), and David Kalish (keyboards). Emerg ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louis, Gene American rock singers American male singers Singers from Missouri Living people Year of birth missing (living people)