Jennifer Gentle & Aquarama in concert at the Combo Social Club in Florence
Thursday 12 January 2023at 21.30, Jennifer Gentiles And Aquarama will be in concert at Combo Social Club of Florencein via Mannelli 2, thanks to the event promoted by Hannibal Night And RC Waves.
Jennifer Gentiles is perhaps one of the most bizarre and improbable Italian rock bands ever, so much so that they became the first Italian group to be signed by the legendary American label Sub Pop (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and more recently Shins). Over the years they have amassed a long and heterogeneous list of fans (including names like Graham Coxon, Jarvis Cocker, Julian Cope, Mars Volta and members of Architecture in Helsinki and the Dandy Warhols) which has transformed them into one of the best known Italian indie bands in the world. abroad. The original nucleus of the group was born at the end of 1999 around the then 19-year-old Marco Fasolo (singer, guitarist and author of lyrics and music) and the drummer Alessio Gastaldello. With a penchant for 50s rock n roll, the garage punk virtuality of the 13th Floor Elevators and the psychedelic pop of Pink Floyd, JG (at this point augmented by guitarist Isacco Maretto and bassist Nicola Crivellari) record and self-produce their first album I Am You Are in 2001, bizarre combination of beefheartian ramshackle and bright Barrettian pop. The second cd Funny Creatures Lane sees the light the following year again on his own label Sillyboy: in the face of the substantial lack of interest received at home, Funny Creatures Lane instead gets attention in the United States and England, countries where the psychedelic and playfully disturbing vein of band is particularly popular. Also in 2002, Jennifer Gentle recorded the live The Wrong Cage with the Japanese guitarist Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple), later reissued by A Silent Place in 2008. In 2003 both studio albums were re-released as a double CD by the Australian label Lexicon Devil – at the end of 2004, as a result of the interest aroused by this reissue, JG (by now reduced to the Fasolo/Gastaldello duo) signs for Sub Pop. The new album Valende (which mixes hyperactive pop with delicate acoustic meditations) was released the following year, obtaining excellent reviews and preparing the ground for a first long American tour, which also included sold out concerts in New York and Los Angeles. At the end of 2006, Alessio left the band and Marco (after having recorded the enigmatic The Midnight Room in perfect solitude) recruited a new line-up including Andrea Garbo on guitar, Francesco Candura on bass, Liviano Mos on keyboards and Paolo Mongardi on drums. In 2007 JG (after two short tours in China) embarked on another American tour of a month and a half which was followed by several episodes in England, as a result of the great attention aroused in Albion by Midnight Room. The song Take my hand is in fact included in a CD attached to the MOJO magazine which in the traditional Rough Trade Shops compilation which signals the best indie releases of the year and also for MOJO Fasolo records a cover by Syd Barrett for a tribute to the leader of Pink Floyd in which the JGs appear alongside REM, Hawkwind and Marc Almond among others. After the publication for the English market of the EP Evanescent Land (May 2008), JG (now reduced to Marco Fasolo and Liviano Mos, to which is added Stephen “Stuffy” Gilchrist, Graham Coxon’s drummer) continue their tour in Europe , playing in Germany, France, England, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland and participating in the important European festival of Groningen Eurosonic. With Fasolo engaged in his work as a producer (among others he has collaborated with C+C = Maxigross, Slumberwood, Mamuthones, Samuel Katarro and Father Murphy), the band returns to play with some regularity starting from 2010 and this time with the ‘friendly help from Luca and Alberto Ferrari of Verdena, engaged respectively on drums and bass. Finally, in April 2013 Fasolo launches the studio project Universal Daughters, with which he releases the album Why hast Thou forsaken me, a collection of covers belonging to the Anglo-American tradition and interpreted by an international cast which includes Jarvis Cocker among others , Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, Alan Vega, Verdena, Mark Arm of Mudhoney, Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate and Gavin Friday. The album, printed in Italy by Santeria (the European edition with two extra tracks will be released next September by Rough Trade), represents a further step forward in Fasolo’s personal sound research and bears witness to the masterful suanza musical styles distant from the Italian tradition such as country, gospel and the rhythm n’ blues of the origins. After a series of collaborations that saw him alongside Verdena and I Hate My Village (of which he also produced the album), Fasolo finally returns in 2019 with a new self-titled album by Jennifer Gentle, the result of over two years of work in the studio.
The journey of Aquarama started in 2017, since then Dario Bracaloni and Guglielmo Torelli have made 130 concerts in Italy, France and Germany, including concerts alongside La Femme, Nouvelle Vague, BadBadNotGood, Papooz and A Place To Bury Strangers. The albums Riva (2017) and Teleskop (2020) are two kaleidoscopes of sounds that blend vintage-pop with world influences such as funk, tropicália and spaghetti soundtracks! Aquarama is a veritable kaleidoscope of sound, fusing sixties West Coast-inspired pop with global influences such as Afro-funk, soul, tropicália and spaghetti soundtracks.
Admission: €10 (tickets only at the cash desk).
For more information: www.combosocialclub.com