Barfly

Jennifer Gentle are one of the most idiosyncratic, improbable, bizarre Italian bands ever. Hailing from Padova, a foggy town not so far from Venice, they have been the first Italian band to be signed by legendary US label Sub Pop Records (home of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and more recently the Shins). Collecting fans as different as Mark Arm (Mudhoney), Graham Coxon (Blur), Jarvis Cocker, Mars Volta, Julian Cope and members of Architecture In Helsinki and Dandy Warhols, Jennifer Gentle have probably become the best known Italian indie band abroad. The brainchild of then 19-year old singer/ guitarist Marco Fasolo and drummer Alessio Gastaldello, Jennifer Gentle was born at the end of 1999 as a vehicle for Marco’s songs and as a reaction to the sleepy state of the contemporary Italian musical climate. Hungry for 50’s rock n’ roll and crude garage punk, with an obvious soft spot for Barrett-era Pink Floyd, the band (at this point augmented by guitarist Isacco Maretto and bassist Nicola Crivellari) recorded its first album I am you are in 2001 and self-released it on their own Sillyboy Records. Their second effort Funny Creatures Lane followed an year later. Even stranger and outrageously absurd than their first album, Funny Creatures Lane found a way to crawl out of Italy, getting noticed in the States and United Kingdom. Good reviews came, comparisons were made. The band teamed up with Japanese guitar legend Makoto Kawabata from Acid Mothers Temple for an Italian tour and a beautifully loud live album titled The Wrong Cage. Both their studio albums got re-released as a double cd calle..oplasmic Garden Party by Australian label Lexicon Devil – in late 2004, following the interest created by this release, Jennifer Gentle (now reduced to a duo comprising only Marco and Alessio) were signed by notorious Seattle label Sub Pop.