Q&A: Gen and the Degenerates Push Back Against Purity Culture on “Favourite Jumper”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA☆
“BE AS SLUTTY AND QUEER AS POSSIBLE” — Indie-punk trio Gen and the Degenerates return with a burst of defiant energy on their new single, “Favourite Jumper.” Produced by Michael Champion and Paul Whalley, the song lands ahead of their upcoming tour supporting Hyphen, setting the tone for what promises to be a charged run of live shows rooted in catharsis, confrontation, and communal release.
At its heart, “Favourite Jumper” is fueled by frustration, specifically, the enduring expectations placed on women to embody purity and to submit under patriarchal structures. In a climate where right-wing political discourse continues to reassert conservative ideals around gender and sexuality, Gen and the Degenerates reject the notion that women’s bodies or identities must be policed to be accepted.
“Whenever the right wing is on the rise, there is this puritanical pressure placed on women to be virtuous,” explains vocalist Genevieve Glynn-Reeves. “Women are villainised for being overtly sexual and treated as if they don’t have agency or control over their own bodies.”
“Favourite Jumper” thrives in transmuting anger into a critique that is resistant and celebratory.
But the track’s scope extends beyond gendered expectations. It also confronts the persistent erasure of bisexual identity, pushing back against the cultural tendency to invalidate queerness depending on the gender of a person’s partner. Bisexuality is often misread as transitional or diminished, rather than fully present and self-defined.
“We see this reflected in rhetoric around bisexual women settling down with men and almost relinquishing their queerness to try and feel safer,” Glynn-Reeves says. “I think this is the perfect time to rebel against that and be as slutty and queer as possible. And so this is really just a fun party song of sorts, from the point of view of a bisexual person (guess what - it’s me), discussing previous experiences in a fun way, but also attempting to reconcile an honest and healthy relationship with a partner, with the totality of that sexuality and sexual history.”
As Gen and the Degenerates gear up to hit the road with Hyphen, “Favourite Jumper” serves as a space for disruption, reclamation and resistance.
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what inspires your artistic style and sound?
GEN: I think we're very inspired by, obviously, other musicians and other music. There's loads of cool stuff that's happening right now with post-punk in the UK. We love New York 70s, American punk as well. We pull from all sorts of places musically, but also, I’m very inspired by my own experiences and my observations of the world in terms of lyric writing. For aesthetics, I love fashion but specifically, small designers. I'm really interested in the online culture that's happening right now. It's just what the girls and the gays are doing.
LUNA: What kind of atmosphere or space do you aim to create for your listeners?
GEN: Definitely music that feels like a party, but it's something that could be a party that you're having on your own in your bedroom, or it could be a party you're having on a dance floor with a thousand other people.
LUNA: You just released your newest single “Favourite Jumper.” What is the inspiration behind the track or the feeling that pushed this story to the surface?
GEN: The inspiration is a contrarian attitude to people feeling the pressure now to be more traditional because of this rise of right wing rhetoric and this move towards — it's not even people consciously doing it — but there's been a lot more conversation about “traditional relationships,” settling down and there's a real puritanical vibe right now. I just think that is the perfect time to be actually chaotic and queer.
LUNA: “Favourite Jumper” is accompanied by a music video which adds more depth to the song’s themes about embracing your queerness and protesting against the wave of such strong conservatism. What inspired the video and how was your experience filming it?
GEN: There is an amazing director, Matt, who directs all our music videos. We were just having this chat about what we wanted the song to be like and what we wanted the video for the song to be like. We had that discussion in an era where the expectation is that you're going to be virtuous and puritanical. Is being queer, chaotic, and slutty, an act of resistance? It’s obviously quite a tongue-in-cheek concept, but that was the track we were following, and then we wanted it to be quite affirming. We wanted the relationship at the core of it, because there's this relationship at the core of the song where I'm talking to a partner and being like, by the way, there's all of this history, but I still would love for us to see what happens between us. We wanted there to be an acceptance from the partner. We didn't want there to be any biphobia or rejection within the song, because we wanted it to be a place where those relationships can be super healthy and positive.
LUNA: You’ve spoken about the resurgence of puritanical expectations placed on women. What does resistance look like for you in 2026, especially in an increasingly conservative cultural climate?
GEN: I think there's so many aspects to this, and I think everybody has to work out what their lines are on what feels right to them. The first thing is just purely existing within a transgressive identity is its own form of resistance. Finding moments to be joyful and ways to express yourself and feel seen, that is in itself, an act of resistance, but I think it's also a great time to be getting involved in your community and finding ways that you can help other people feel safer and secure within your community. I think that if you're doing that, you genuinely will start to feel better about the situation of the world. I think the more you can be hands on with stuff, whether it's volunteering, whether it's donating or fundraising. Even things like getting to know your neighbors and the people around you is huge.
LUNA: You’re about to hit the road supporting Hyphen. What can audiences expect from your performances on this tour — any surprises or shifts in your setlist or stage presence?
GEN: There are going to be brand new songs. “Favourite Jumper” will be played live, but also brand new songs that we've never played live before on this run, so that will be really exciting. You can expect the fun and the energy that we always bring, but with some new, surprising elements.
LUNA: What do you hope someone seeing Gen and the Degenerates for the first time on this tour walks away feeling?
GEN: I hope that they've found music that can accompany them through a weird moment in human history and give them a space to have fun and recharge and feel ready to get back out there and keep trying to make things better.
LUNA: How do you hope listeners — especially your femme and queer audience — can connect with or find power in this new era of music from you? What emotions or messages do you want to leave with them?
GEN: I hope that it encourages them to basically shed any expectations of what they should be doing and who they should be, and really connect to what they truly want to be and what they truly want to embody. I hope they march exactly to the beat of their own drum and try to separate out the voice that is their own innate desire and the voice of what society is telling them that they should be.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
GEN: I'm feeling really excited. Also, it's always a bit like that mix of anxiety and excitement. They're very close emotions. It's a big mix of both, having just put out a new track and knowing that we're expecting lots of new stuff on the horizon. I’m so excited to see what happens, but also hopeful that it's all going to work out the way you wanted it to.
