New local band set to rock the North Shore

Music has always been a significant part of Jenn Gerrity’s life. Singing and playing the piano and viola as a child, her passion for music increased as she matured. She spent part of her 20s singing and performing while living in Brooklyn Heights. Then she met her husband-to-be, Tim Schenk, in 2000, and he bought her her first guitar.

After the two moved to Sea Cliff to raise a family, Gerrity, now 45, began teaching Mommy and Me music classes for children up to five years old. Teaching kept music in her life, but her desire to front a real band had yet to materialize. Then in June, she and three other local musicians decided to form Leo Meets Pisces. The band, which calls upon Gerrity to share her vocals and songwriting skills, includes Rick Nossa, 43, on guitar, Spike, 49, on bass and Herb Ricco, 44, on drums. All of the band’s members, aside from Gerrity, hail from Glen Cove.

Leo Meets Pisces is set to play its first professional gig at My Father’s Place in Syosset on Oct. 2, opening for the band Live Stock.

Gerrity has been a frequent member of The Cave, a music collective that has been performing out of Sea Cliff for several years. She met Ricco there, who approached her and said that he liked her songs. Ricco, who had played with Spike in other bands asked him to be the band’s bass player. Nossa knew Gerrity as well and was a fan of her lyrics. Eager to play with her, Nossa joined the band too.

Coming up with a name for the band was a “torturous process,” said Gerrity, who has trouble committing in general. She decided upon a name that reflected her lyrics, which focus on relationships. Her most tumultuous interpersonal relationships, she said, have been with Pisces, so she decided to connect that with her own Zodiac sign, Leo.

Like many musicians, Gerrity said it’s tough to classify her band’s music into one genre. She described it as “alternative pop rock.” One of her biggest influences, she said, is The Cure.

Although all four members come from different backgrounds and levels of experience, there is one thing that unites each of them — an intense, burning love for music.

Ricco has been playing percussion since he was 11, when his father bought him a Muppets drum set. He said he considers himself a straight-ahead drummer, looking more so to keep up a band’s tempo as opposed to going off into flashy solos. Having played in bands from the time he was 15, music has always been a part of him.

“[Music is] a chance to be expressive,” Ricco said, “a chance to get out there and show everyone what you’ve been working on your entire life.”

Although guitar was his first love, Spike said he has enjoyed playing the bass, which he first picked up about five years ago. It’s more relaxing, he said, because it takes the pressure of being a guitarist with decades of experience off his shoulders. He likes giving the leadership responsibilities to somebody else, he said. On what music means to him he was clear. “Everything. Whether it’s playing it or even just listening, I couldn’t imagine life without it.”

Nossa first picked up a guitar at 14, learning to play by ear while also taking lessons. He studied for two years at the Berkley College of Music, playing in whatever bands would take him. Sharing music with others, he said, is one of the greatest things in life. He makes time for it no matter what he has going on in his life. “It’s a passion to me that I feel compelled to do,” he said, “not only because I want to, but sort of because I have to.”

Gerrity expressed a great deal of gratitude toward Leo Meets Pisces, as it has enabled her to take her passion for music and come together with others to make something beautiful.

“Just to be able to express yourself creatively in that way, I feel like [music’s] such a gift to me,” she explained. “I love it so much and it’s so rewarding to be able to create something like that, and once you bring other people into it, it just becomes such a cool collaboration.”

Leo Meets Pisces already have 10 original songs written for their debut album. They all said listeners can expect to be entertained, both by the music and the fun energy brought forth by the band’s members.

“They can expect really catchy music with a lot of energy and just a fun performance that you will take home with you,” said Nossa, “and something that’s authentic.”

“They can expect us to come out with everything we’ve got, excited to debut what we’ve been working on,” Gerrity said. “Personally, I’m beside myself, psyched to present my songs with a sound that I’ve been looking for for a long time.”