"I re-wrote this song because
I wanna tell you something
Past ten years of my life
I studied television"
—The Gentry, "Theme"
I’ve known The Gentry frontman and head-dude- in-charge, Gino Mari, for the better part of two decades, as both a homie and the guy who gave me next-to-nothing prices at Guitar Center back in the day. Our mutual friend, Marcus Warner, bumped into me at a club sometime last year, telling me that he had joined Gino’s band, The Gentry. I promised them a write-up in Exotic, because that’s what friends do.
Eleven months later, I finally got around to listening to their stuff. I’m not gonna lie— the vast majority of my "band friends" are fronting impressively awful bands, none of whom ever make it out of the bar circuit and all of whom think snorting bad coke and fucking strippers makes them rock icons. I usually have to remind them, "Bro, I did shitty blow and banged dancers for years—and I can’t even tune a guitar. But, hey, do you." However, when I finally got around to listening to The Gentry’s first official full-length release, And Now, I was not only impressed, but proud of myself for switching to weed and baristas a few years back. It’s nice to see growth among peers, so to speak. And, I think this is the best way to describe The Gentry’s new record: it’s for people who are still hopelessly addicted to substances and idealized versions of romance, but who have matured enough to know how to take it slow and realistic.
Because you can’t listen to this column in print (click here for a sample of The Gentry), I’ll do my best to describe The Gentry. Keeping with the "grown up, but still young" vibe, imagine a mix between ‘90sera Depeche Mode, Antichrist-era Marilyn Manson, a dash of Covenant, simmered with Nitzer Ebb and sauced up with classic-era KMFDM. Now, take this and add some Pink Floyd and Faith No More influences. Serve warm with a fine sativa.
The history of The Gentry plays out like you’d expect a local band would, for the first half (up until the breakup), but then takes a sharp anti-Portland twist, as the key member decides to focus on his own craft and not dedicate his life to making other people’s mediocre art. I asked Gino and Marcus to catch our readers up on The Gentry of yesteryear, to current day status of the band.
"We were doing really well, playing sold-out shows and getting some momentum. The Sex By The Unit EP did really well," Gino recalls.
"It was a pretty large EP, seven tracks," Marcus clarifies. "It was almost a full album and it was really good."
However, after dropping a series of extended- play albums (EPs) and cementing a solid lineup, The Gentry, like so many other acts, began to dissolve due to internal conflict. Gino explains. "My keyboard player slash engineer left and he was the one who produced all my tracks. So, I was like, ‘Oh fuck, now I have to do all this.’ So, I stopped focusing on the music and started focusing on the studio aspect of things. Then, I made a bunch of records for other people for a few years, before an old song from Sex By The Unit, ‘Awkwardness!’ was bought by the NFL, around 2016. At the time, I was producing some other people’s records, so the licensing deal made me realize that maybe I should focus on my own music, instead of working on other people’s stuff. So, I decided to finish this album that I’ve been working on for fucking ever. After a year of toiling, moving out of the house I was living in and cutting down expenses, I was ready to mix and finish the album. I reached out to Marcus here..."
"I’m the synthesizer guy. Or, for those who don’t know what that means, I’m the keyboard player," Marcus clarifies with a smirk. "The pianist, if you will."
The Gentry, much like Nine Inch Nails, is a project backed by one main guy, but the "band" is far from being just a live-only addition, with current members contributing to the creative process.
Gino continues, "As far as the creative process, I have no illusions that I’m the best musician, so I just get the idea out there and then other people, like my pianist Marcus here, come in and help me finish the songs. Our new album, And Now, is mostly all ‘old’ in a sense, but there are six songs on there that are totally new. I was 19 when I wrote a lot of the old stuff and I’m almost 40 now. So, we updated all the old stuff to be current, for sure. Plus, I have, like, 70 more unfinished songs."
According to Marcus, "The songs...a lot of them come from years ago, but they’ve been totally remade. It’s like a movie remake, where they share a lot of the themes they’re a bit re-arranged and they’re technically all-new versions. Even some lyrics have been updated."
As far as the tone of the album, And Now falls somewhere between The Wall and The Downward Spiral.
"If I’m gonna be real, this record is really all about escapism—escaping through television, smoking weed and all that. So, that context is really at the heart of the album. It’s a concept album, about an actor who is beautiful, but not so talented, and his wife is all the stereotypical stuff. Think Vince Chase from Entourage—attractive, but kind of stupid. But, the character on the album doesn’t have friends."
Considering that The Gentry is much more pop-ish, positive and "fun" than other acts that are adjacent to them in the electronic rock genre, while still remaining dark, I asked Gino about the band’s (and their album’s) reception from the goth and industrial crowd, i.e. Riveted Americans, who are often hesitant to embrace acts that aren’t explicitly toeing the somber-and-serious line.
"I wanted the album to be eclectic," Gino says, in regards to the various upbeat influences on And Now. "I didn’t want it to be just straight-up anger or any of that. I think we’ve had a great reception. I feel like the goth thing was a big part of my youth and I love the production, but it’s just a flavor on the record, as is hip-hop, psychedelica, etc. We don’t really have a target market.
Check out The Gentry online, on Bandcamp or on stage. Keep an ear out for And Now and be sure to bug your local strip club DJ and tell them to play "Dosido." It’s catchy as fuck and the new girls will think it’s Depeche Mode.
