About
"My priorities have always been music driven, hence the difficulties and exuberances in my life. Haha!," says Gentile.
Diane Gentile is a songwriter who also plays with her band Diane and the Gentle Men. Diane has built a cool group of rotating artists to support her various recording projects and live shows that include Jason Victor of The Dream Syndicate, James Mastro (Ian Hunter/The Bongos), Colin Brooks (Dan Baird/Sam I Am), James Cruz (Jesse Malin), Rob Clores (Jesse Malin/The Black Crowes/Tom Jones), and more. She's worked with Fantastic Cat's Don Dilego who produced her debut album Caught in a Wave, producers/artists Oscar Albeis Rodriguez, Alfonso Velez, Jesse Malin, Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate) and more. Clif Norell (REM/Bruce Springsteen, The Replacements) mixed her first and second hit singles "Motorcycle" and "Little Things" and Geoff Sanoff (whom she first met at Adam Schlesinger's Stratosphere Recording Studio) mixed "Perfect People" featuring Mark Bosch (Ian Hunter/Garland Jeffries) with Jason Victor on guitar, at Renegade Studio. Recent mixes for new music are done by Alex Aldi (Passion Pit). She has had support from video Directors Dave Stekert, Bill Mauldin, Xander Strohm and great artist friends Evan Roumeliotis (Let Love Inn/Mars/Sparrow) and Dennis Borowsky (North Fork Sea Salt/K-RockNY). "Nothing great can be done alone, unless maybe you are Van Gogh '' are her thoughts on collaborating with others. "You can have ideas but implementation comes from fearless collaboration."
She is a native New Yorker, born in Queens into a large carnivale like family. Her mother sewed her clothing and sang, and her Dad worked 2 jobs and played the harmonica, her 7 other brothers and sisters all quite uniquely talented in various artistic fields. She went to work at 12 years old and began playing guitar and piano at 10. Picking up a guitar and experimenting with melody and words was all very natural.
Her first shows were at the West Village Bitter End and CBGB's in the East Village. She opened for Nina Haagen at Webster Hall and then life's circumstances circumvented her musical path. The minute the opportunity arrived again, she grabbed it. After recording a few tunes at Stratosphere with the help of Jesse Malin, Todd Youth, Johnny Pisano, Randy Schrager, and engineer Ruddy Cullers, she headed out to Don Dilego's Velvet Elk Studios and finished an album, Caught in a Wave, which Don produced. Contributing musicians were Derek Cruz, Scott Campbell, Matt Basile and Colin Brooks. She then put a killer live band together with Victor, Basile, Brooks and Alfonso Velez. She started playing live again and embarked on a UK tour as a duo with Velez. She recorded at Atomic Recording Studio in Redhook, a single produced by Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate) titled "Motorcycle", which became a buzz track and Little Steven's Underground Garage added it as "Coolest Song in the World" on their Sirius channel, spinning worldwide on over 200 stations. One Little Indian released the single worldwide. Then she released a followup EP, The Little Things EP, and an album, The White Sea, on Velvet Elk Records. Downtown Magazine compared her to "a sort of younger Martha Davis of the Motels". Reviews of The White Sea were solidly good with Americana Highways writing "this album breathlessly offers songs that drip poignancy and emotions, urgency and that virtually reach through your speakers, grab your ears and demand attention". Glide Magazine called the album "paisley underground influences and clean pop production done successfully."
She's toured as support for Replacement's Tommy Stinson in January 2022. She's opened for Richard Lloyd of Television, Laura Cantrell, Robert Gordon, Wynn, Malin and more. She's sung on stage with Austin City Limits inductee Alejandro Escovedo and Lenny Kaye. She's partipated in numerous special events and including the Marc Bolan (T-Rex) Anniversary show with other artists like Suzanne Vega, Ellen Foley, Tony Shannihan (Patti Smithe Band) and more. She's performed at Lou Reed, Suicide, Cramps, Johnny Thunders, David Bowie and Replacements tribute events. She appears at the 30A Songwriter's Festival every year since 2017. She's appeared at the Montauk Music Festival, Dobbs Ferry's festival, "Channel", on a bill with Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers, and also plays local clubs with NY songwriters and bands. Critics have compared her to a "sort of younger Martha Ste She is a versatile artist with songs and style that transcend genres, as evidenced by the variety of different artists she has supported on tour, in clubs, and recorded with, that range from garage rock to punk rock to indie rock, Americana or country influenced artists. "Good music is good music, be it Lykke Lee, Bob Dylan, Angel Olsen, Wilco, Kurt Vile or Lucinda Williams. I appreciate what's good, not genre-specific."
Recently she is preparing a new album out at Atomic Recording again with the assistance of Engineer Merle Chornuck. "I am really working hard on the songs. I have always wanted each song to peak in it's own way; the tease, the foreplay, the rhythm, the intensity, the bliss, the release. It's a delicate balance, as is everything we all put into motion and create."
