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Joe has been performing on stage since his childhood. At age 12, his audition for the part of Little Jake in the hit musical Annie Get Your Gun literally blew the directors off their chairs in disbelief that the sounds filling the auditorium were coming from this little unpolished blond kid. In the months that followed, Annie Get Your Gun was performed by a major theater company in Burlington, Vermont. Local news coverage raved about the show, adding "the show was stolen by the lovable Joey Gentile". Since then, Joe has taken his musical gifts to extremes through local theater Productions, Inc, solo performances, and rock bands.
Originally from Long Island, New York, his family moved to Vermont when Joe was 10. "There was not much else to do so I just played the drums to my favorite records all the time." By age 13 he was a well established self-taught drummer and vocalist. His first high-school band named The Works jumped into the music scene in Vermont taking first place at several talent shows and regional Battles of the Bands. "My Dad actually thought of the name The Works because of the diversity of the music we played. Dad used get real psyched and say "Gimme the works! …and the name stuck." Joe played drums in The Works and sang strong harmony vocals from behind the drum kit.
In 1985, the Gentile family packed up again and moved back to Long Island. They moved into a smaller house where there wasn't much room for a noisy drum kit. Still he continued to practice usually when nobody was home. "I used to pretend I was sick just so I could stay home from school and practice when everyone else was at work. Just don't tell my mother." But he would inevitably put the noisy drums aside and focus more on his voice.
Just as he did with the drums, he used to sing along to his favorite albums. It wasn't always easy for him to hit some of the high or low notes that he would hear in his favorite songs. So instead, he would sing harmonies that would be within his own range. "My sister used to think I was tone deaf because I wasn't singing the right note. But I knew it sounded right some how, I just didn't know why."
It was 1988 in a Micro-Economics class at a Long Island Community College that Joe would meet Alan Bennett. They sat next to each other cracking jokes and making fun of the professor with the speech impediment. Alan wore a gold guitar pendant on his neck and Joe asked him one day if he was a musician. Right after class that day the two new friends headed down to one of the schools practice rooms. Alan played piano and sang some of his original songs and Joe immediately began singing harmony. The two of them were amazed at the others ability.
Joe joined Alan in the studio to sing harmonies on his bands four song demo 'Take One'. Joe and Alan began collaborating and co-writing a series of more songs. This brought them to the studio to proudly record 'Believe in Me' and 'Going out for a ride'.
Joe studied music theory at State University of New York at Fredonia. Right before leaving for school he bought his first acoustic guitar. It was at school that he taught himself to play the guitar mainly to accompany himself for writing and performing. He wrote and recorded songs that reflected on his childhood, and performed acoustic solo gigs on campus and at local pubs. He joined up with another band in Fredonia as the lead singer and front man. "We prepared all winter for the spring festival and the band broke up right before our audition". Joe was asked to be the musical guest on a local Fredonian radio station where he performed his songs "My Old Neighborhood" and "To be a Good Man". While away at their colleges, Joe and Alan had lost touch with each other, and it would be literally years until they would meet up again.
Once college was over, Joe began working 9 to 5 jobs. He also co-founded a band called The Funatics in 1993. The members of the band included his brother-in-law Andy Beldy, Mike Monte and good friend Terry Meigle. Joe sang lead and harmony vocals from behind the drum kit. The Funatics worked hard and sounded real good for what little exposure they got. For extra money, Joe also performed solo gigs on acoustic guitar playing mostly cover tunes. Over the course of three years, he would develop and immense repertoire of popular songs. He kept his audiences dancing all night to their favorite modern and classic songs and occasionally threw in some originals too. "My old Neighborhood" became a popular request.
"One day I was playing at my usual gig at the Village Way in Port Jefferson, NY. A woman approached me and said she was enjoying my show. Then she added, 'My son is a song writer. I think that you two would make a great combination.' Well we got to talking some more and I finally asked, 'what's your son's name'. She said "Alan Bennett". Thanks to Alan's mom, Joe and Alan's friendship re-kindled.
The solo thing became lonely. In 1996, Joe joined as the font man with a band called Funhouse. The band played all over Long Islands mega clubs, from the Hamptons to New York City, Funhouse was one of Long Island's favorite party bands.
Funhouse was a tremendous experience. But again, something was missing. The band was not and would never be interested in writing their own music. He quit Funhouse to concentrate more on the music he was making with good friend Greg Amici. Greg and Joe would eventually create a band called Big Honey www.freespeech.org/bighoney. Big Honey is still alive today and can be seen in New York City's top clubs. / big honey
"I feel very lucky to have found my niche in music. I love to hear an Alan Bennett Band song and add all the rich extras. I hear so much in the music that Alan creates and truly enjoy working the arrangements putting the finishing touches on the musical canvas. And of course, I love performing the live shows. That's what I do."
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