Rob Gentry has been travelling around the world as a session musician for Joan As Police Woman and Findlay Brown, but recently he started his own musical project, called ‘-GENTRY-’. There is a chance that you’ve seen him at our Made In Shoreditch event ‘Undercover’. But in case you’ve missed it, let us introduce you to the soulful electronic disco of this young Londoner.
Glitter and disco
Made In Shoreditch meets the singer in a coffee shop at Kingsland Road. In Gentry’s video ‘Not Like Me’ he is half dressed and covered in glitter, so we can’t help being curious about what kind of outfit he’ll wear today. On arrival the first thing that strikes us is that the glitter and face painted singer from ‘Not Like Me’ is just a normal bloke. He’s remarkably decently dressed, wearing a stylish brown leather jacket and having his unmistakable weather proof Gentry haircut.
We also expected Rob to be a disco minded person, but in fact he totally isn’t. “I never really listened to disco,” says the singer. “It just sort of happened. I did a photo-shoot where we tried lots of different make-up and none of it really worked. My friend suggested trying a little glitter. He just chucked a lot on me and the idea made it to the video.”
Iron Maiden
So if disco isn’t the source of inspiration for Gentry, what is it? Prince? Wrong guess, no Purple Rain for Rob. Michael Jackson? Not really. So what is it? Whatever you guessed, you probably didn’t expect it to be Iron Maiden. “I’ve always been into a lot of different styles of music,” explains the musician. “I love Iron Maiden, and older rock music like Led Zeppelin and Hendrix, as well as the grungy stuff from Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine.”
“But then equally I’m really into the soul of Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and Sly and the Family Stone.” Gentry tries to mix of his rock influences with the groovy elements of soul and the result is pleasant danceable disco that makes every rainy Monday morning seem like a Friday night. “I just want people to dance, really.” Mission accomplished.
New York
But who is the man behind the music? Rob Gentry is a multi-instrumentalist who studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He worked years on the road as a session musician. He lived in New York’s famous art district, Brooklyn, for a couple of years, being a musician for Findlay Brown. “That’s where I started to get my sounds altogether. I just discovered the electronic drums on my computer and started experimenting.” The difference between New York and London? “New York is amazing. There’s a bit more energy over there. It’s a bit more electric.” ‘Electric’, how disco of you, Rob.
As a session musician he already played with artists like Joan As Policewoman and Chris Norman from Smokey. He toured all over the world and even played the famous Letterman Show with Finley Brown, but now it’s time for Rob Gentry to do his own thing. And that means playing living room concerts (the contradiction with Letterman couldn’t be bigger) and playing in London’s underground venues, like Shoreditch’s Cargo.
London and Shoreditch
Rob moved back to London and lived in the creative hub Dalston for the last year. Momentarily he’s ‘a bit all over the place’. “I sleep on sofas until I go to America for some gigs as a session musician and then I’ll start searching for a new place in London.” Brooklyn, Dalston, sofas: Rob Gentry knows all about creative neighbourhoods.
So what does he think about Shoreditch? “I like it. There are lots of crazy people. Obviously now it’s not like the creative hub it used to be, because that moves to Dalston and then to Stoke Newington and so on. Shoreditch also has a lot of caricatures you see everyday. I really liked the series Nathan Barley (2005) about these crazy persons, but it’s scary how real that was. But as a whole I must say I like Shoreditch. People are doing really good stuff.”
Album & 02
Rob is currently writing his first album, which he hopes to release on a major label. Does that include making musical sacrifices? No. Or as Gentry says: “I’m writing music for myself, not for someone else. But it’s really pop music, so I think it could work for a big label.” By all means, Gentry has set his aims on playing the 02. That’s one kind of a goal? “Yes, it is. But I don’t want to be unknown. I want to be successful. Well, it could be a smaller venue, like Shepherds Bush maybe.” Just go for 02, man! “Haha, yeah. I’ll stick with that!”
And will you enjoy the disco of -Gentry-? Check out his glittering video for ‘Not Like Me’ and decide yourself.
