Album Notes

The Gentlemen formed in 1999 when Mike Gent of The Figgs joined forces with 3/4 of Boston's The Gravel Pit. The band plays their own brand of inebriated swagger and stumble rock n' roll, a sound that The Replacements made infamous after the Stones had made it famous. If anything, The Gentlemen are a bit looser, louder and rowdier than either of their self-professed parental outfits.

On April 2, 2002, the band released their second record, Blondes Prefer The Gentlemen. Released on their own label; The Gentlemen's Recording Co., the album is a conjunctive effort with Boston-based indie label Soda Pop Records. The new record is a collection of wind milling rave-ups that sounds like a beer-soaked love letter to their 70's rock heroes, it draws liberally from AC/DC, KISS, and Graham Parker (who Gent also frequently backs up with The Figgs). The record was made in six days, give or take a session, over the course of a year and found a varied cast of characters at the helm. Among those lending their studio expertise were Dave Minehan (ex-Neighborhoods), Dan McLoughlin (The Push Stars), and Scott Riebling (ex-Letters to Cleo), and in addition the album features guest appearances by Kay Hanley (ex-Letters to Cleo) and Jon Brion (Aimee Mann).

On the last day of tracking for the record, the band was invited by longtime friend and fan Janeane Garafolo to appear on the pilot for the new NBC late-night TV show Last Call with Carson Daly. Filmed on the fabled soundstage of Saturday Night Live, The Gents performed "Let Us Know", the first song on the new record. Following their explosive performance Daly quipped, "Cool, very cool, you guys kinda' got a Rolling Stones thing going on".

Blondes Prefer The Gentlemen follows the band's March, 2000 debut; Ladies and Gentlemen...The Gentlemen. Released on Hearbox/ Q Division Records, the album received rave reviews. Recorded in just four days and mixed in one marathon 22-hour session by Scott Riebling, the record sounds like a band playing live in a room because it is just that. Entertainment Weekly gave the record an
(A-) stating, "One minute they're crushing hearts with the catchiest skinny-tie songs Graham Parker never wrote, the next they're stumbling around like Johnny Thunders fronting the Stones. But therein lies the genius: No tribute act, these guys just revel in the sounds they love---and make you love them, too."