Something
To Believe In By Liz Evans
Ex-Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto is back in a new band called Truly. They're
the hottest thing to come out of Seattle in years, and they sound nothing like
Nirvana or Pearl Jam. Liz Evans reports...
The Seattle scene might be a thing of the early '90s, but if you hold that
against Truly, you're a born fool. Northwest Americans they are indeed, but
when they saw those bandwagons coming hot on the trail of new Nirvanas, they
ducked behind the nearest bush and concentrated on writing 12-minute songs just
to avoid the headlights. As their name suggests, they earnestly believe in their
cause, and it has nothing to do with passing trends, big bucks or not.
In fact, forget the Seattle furore altogether - Truly very nearly didn't come
about at all. Initially, two members had absolutely no interest in playing rock
music whatsoever. It was only the distinctive and impassioned songwriting skills
of guitarist and vocalist Robert Roth which inspired the band to gel. Drummer
Mark Pickerel had spent much of his life as a Screaming Tree, and bass player
Hiro Yamamoto had tasted enough of the music industry with Soundgarden (he was
the original bassist) to throw it all in for a job in a bicycle store. Neither
of them felt like being stung a second time.
"I definitely wasn't into music at that time," smiles Hiro, "I didn't like
touring, and watching the promo machine in action got me to quit, basically.
I just got tired of it all."
Mark joined Screaming Trees when he was still at high school. Recently, the
Screaming Trees checked out a Truly show at Johnny Depp's legendary Viper Room
club in L.A.
"It was like having a family there," says Mark.
Robert Roth, Truly's main songwriter, paid his dues in the band he founded
with his best friend and his brother. By the late '80s, they were playing in
Seattle as the Storybook Krooks and garnering interest from the local SubPop
label as well as majors. Perversely, their reaction was to break up. At the
same time, Robert split with his girlfriend of nine years, and the combined
experiences formed the basis of the songs he was to later record with Truly.
"It was a very emotional and traumatic time, and I guess the theme behind
the songs I wrote was really to do with dying and rebirth," he says.
And rebirth was just around the corner. Mark, who was working at SubPop, heard
about Robert's project through Kelly, the singer of Seattle girl band Dickless,
who in turn heard about it through her day job at a record store. Mark passed
on his phone number and after hooking up for a successful jam with Robert, decided
to help him record his demo. The next step was to ask Hiro to join, and coax
him back into playing confidently.
"I was so rusty, I felt stupid!" he laughs. "I was really frustrated because
I really couldn't play. Here I was with these guys who knew I'd been
in Soundgarden, and I knew I should be good. But I sucked!"
Before long Hiro ended up playing better than ever, and without anyone actually
bothering to define their situation, Truly became a band. Lucky for us.
Five years later, and Truly are touting their wares this side of the Atlantic.
Fortunately - following a hammering in Kerrang! - the band's UK record label,
Parlophone, have made an announcement that their debut album will now be released
in Europe early in '96.
'Fast Stories... From Kid Coma' is an intense collection of songs, written,
as Robert said, during a turbulent period in his life. It shows. Hardly an instant
album, 'Fast Stories...' hits you hard, and keeps you coming back for more with
its seductive turmoil. It's a sonic minefield, and more than deserves a European
release. Are the band annoyed about their label's apparent initial reluctance
to release 'Fast Stories...' in the UK?
"It doesn't make sense, but we're not exactly pissed off about it," explains
Robert. "Yes, we'd like the album to be out in England, but we'd rather have
a grass-roots build-up. If they did push us and spent a lot of money on us and
we didn't have a hit single, the record would be over..."
You need to hear Truly. You really do. If you like bands with integrity, passion,
originality and power, you should kill for a copy of 'Fast Stories...' right
now.
No kidding. Honestly. Truly.
(Kerrang!, November 25, 1995)