Introducing Gentri – The Gentlemen Trio

Regular readers will be aware of Gentri as a trio of tenors that hail from Utah, as they featured in the review of Alfie Boe’s recent concert appearance in Utah.  And with excellent timing, they have just released their first album and I caught up with them to review and chat about them and their music.

Firstly, Gentri comprise Brad Robins, Casey Elliott, & Bradley Quinn Lever who all have extensive backgrounds in musical theatre. Between the three of them they have starred in dozens of roles in shows such as Phantom of the Opera, A Tale of Two Cities, Beauty and the Beast, AIDA, Tarzan, and The Scarlet Pimpernel.  Two months prior to coming together as a group, they each starred in a sell out run of Les Miserables playing the roles of Valjean (Casey), Marius (Brad) and Enjolras (Bradley Quinn).   There’s that Les Mis connection again! When the decision was made to join forces as Gentri it was decided that their individual performing careers would go on hold in order to commit everything to building and developing the group.

Their debut album (click here to listen to sample tracks on their website), released on Tuesday, showcases their superbly blended tenor vocals with what they themselves term a cinematic pop sound.  All the original songs are written by the trio who say

As actors by trade, we knew that in order for our performances to stay authentic on stage and as well as come across the same way on the recorded album, we needed to write about things that meant a lot to us personally. We write and perform music not for the sake of merely entertaining, but strive to compose music that inspires.

The result is an uplifting, epic sound that would sound right at home on a movie soundtrack which is exactly the note they were striving for as Brad mentioned when I asked if making the songs uplifting and inspiring was a conscious decision:

It absolutely was a conscious decision. When you seek to inspire rather than merely entertain, you end up doing both.

Four of the seven songs are written by the trio and of these, Dare is my favourite as it seems to sum up the musical style and ambition of the group.  Their musical influences are also noticeable; mainly musical theatre, not surprisingly given their performance history.  These include Alfie Boe, Ramin Karimloo, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Douglas Sills as well as Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Michael Bolton, Michael Buble, and Kenny Loggins.

Given that they name Alfie as one of their musical influences, I asked how it felt to duet with him on Songs of the Siren at the recent charity concert.

Each of us have been big Alfie Boe fans for years, and the opportunity to not only share the same stage, but actually sing with him was a dream come true for us. It seems like every great musical artist or group started out with musical idols and mentors that helped them get to where they are today. Our story is no different as we strive to model our craft after some of the greats who have gone before us, not the least of which being Mr. Alfie Boe.

Alfie has always been quick to acknowledge the help, support and encouragement he received as an aspiring performer and it’s great to see new artists citing Alfie as an influence and inspiration.

Gentri’s album is available now from Amazon:

Gentri

and here is their first ever music video, Dare:

 

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