Gennet was interested in music from an early age.

"I started playing guitar when I was 12," Gennet says. "I was really into heavy metal, but I got really frustrated because I couldn't shred. I could only play rhythm. I wanted to be like Warren DeMartini in Ratt but couldn’t, so I stopped playing and put away the guitar for many years."

Her early interest was also due to her brother, Robbie. "My brother was always the serious musician in the family," Gennet says. "He's always been a big influence. He's a singer, songwriter and piano player. He's really talented, and was always turning me on to music."

"I resisted at first. One Christmas, he was playing the Steve Miller Band and I was like, 'This stuff sucks!' Then, about two years later, I was like, 'Wow, the Steve Miller Band is really good!'"

Meanwhile, Gennet was as popular as could be in her hometown, Miami. She was a cheerleader in junior high and high school – even captain at one point. And she laughs about being prom queen.

Gennet attended the University of Florida, graduating with a degree in photojournalism – and quickly headed to the Big Apple.

"If you make it here, you can anywhere, right?" she says. "Since then, I've done bartending, VJing, rock music, etc. Basically I just throw a bunch of shit up on the wall and see what sticks."

SLUNT STARTS

Then, in 2000, Gennet picked up the guitar again.

"I just started writing quirky songs, and just jamming with people. [SLUNT drummer] Charles [Ruggiero] was there and our original bass player Adam Small. They were both jazz/funk players," Gennet says. "One day, I was like, 'let's just start a band' and so SLUNT started as a three-piece, and soon we started taking it more seriously."

Gennet decided to focus more on vocals, so SLUNT began searching for a lead guitarist.

"One day, I saw [current SLUNT guitarist] Pat Harrington at a show with his band, Gaggle of Cocks, and I said 'That's what I need in my band!'" Gennet says. "Later we found Jenny Gunns. She was the missing piece to the puzzle. The band is now who it's supposed to be."

As stated, SLUNT has some pretty racy lyrics, oozing with blunt sexuality.

"I'm a freak," Gennet says. "We've actually toned it down a lot. Songs like 'Three Pump Chump,' we don't play anymore. I kinda miss the quirkiness, but we want to be taken seriously as a rock band. Sometimes we'll break out 'My Cat's Gay' or 'Siamese Twin.'"

"[In the early songs], I was just having fun with the lyrics & writing about funny shit I encountered in life. I like extremes." Gennet says. "I didn't hear a lot of people writing songs like that, so why not? I was getting a great reaction from people, too."

But SLUNT is good, and deserve a more serious critique. The band doesn't want to become a gimmicky mock rock band.

"For me, the band is a hobby gone wild; it was started for fun," Gennet says. "It wasn't going to be Plan A. But now, we're all gung-ho. At first, the songs were just quirky, dirty and weird. Now we’re writing more seriously. Now we ask ourselves, 'Will this ever be played on radio?'"

VJING

During SLUNT's rise from obscurity, Gennet got a job she never dreamed of – an MTV VJ.

"[MTV2] found me through my band. They were looking for a female for its rock shows and started calling clubs in New York asking for ideas," Gennet says. "They called a guy at Brownie's – a place we played a lot – and he told me about it. I went for it, never thinking in a million years I'd get it. But lo and behold, I became a VJ."

Though Gennet looks smooth on camera, she says the role took effort. "It’s a lot of hard work trying to act cool and casual while you're reading on a prompter," she says. "But the more experience I got, the more comfortable I was."

After parting with MTV2, Gennet found more work at VH1, subbing in for the weekly countdowns.

"At VH1, I felt so at ease," she says. "and a lot of that had to do with the people that were around me. The people I worked with there were so awesome. They made it easy for me to be comfortable."

Now Gennet is in between TV jobs, declaring herself a free agent – and focusing on music. But she certainly enjoys the VJ jobs.

"It's interesting meeting celebrities and getting to know them as real people… seeing what makes them tick and seeing that it’s not always all fun and games for them," Gennet says. "People think rock stars don't have to work hard, but it's really hard work. It's definitely opened my eyes to what life is like on the road too. The showering every other day, living on a bus… it all looks a lot more fun than it really is."

NO PHOTOS, PLEASE

Gennet's photo career has taken the backburner in her crazy life, though it still helps support her.

"I haven't picked up a camera in a while," Gennet says. "There’s a poster company making my images into posters though, and they’re selling quite well all over Europe. Sometimes I just get a big check in the mail. It's nice. I do want to get back into photography again. One day!"

But Gennet's main photo web site, Prommom.com, is not active anymore. She's looking out for the kiddies.

"When I started at MTV2, I knew a lot of kids would start searching for me on the internet," Gennet says, " so I pulled my site down. My work gets pretty graphic & racy – lots of blood and gore - and I didn’t want any moms freaking out. Each photo had a message behind it though. I wasn’t just trying to shock people. They were more like social commentaries on things that disturbed me in life – like the girl that gave birth at the prom in New Jersey & then threw it in the garbage. That’s pretty messed up." Gennet says she hopes to one day put her photos back up on the net.