The Passion just lifts me higher..
So sang Dennis Greaves, Greaves split his popular Rhythm and Blues band 9 Below Zero and formed a band full of Soul and Passion, his love of 60's Soul an inspirtaion to him and his life long liking of the Mod binding a hot Powerful soul tinged outfit, drafting in Mick Lister to co-Write the tunes, they set about making a band that at the very least would make the hair on your neck stand up a band that live were the best in the uk the swirling Keyboard sound and vocals harmonies.Formed in late 1982,soon filling the Marquee and turning people away from London dates they set the chart alight with the 1st single 'Confusion' although very polished and without the raw edges that the band were 'live' the single was at that time a breath of fresh air in what was a chart full of dross.It's bonus tracks giving their own take on some classic soul tunes..Yeah ..
crammed full of potential hits
Tours and singles followed, the debut Album however took far to long to be released,a taster Mini Album '5 live' was recorded at London's 100 Club showcasing the sheer power of the band- but on it's arrival the debut long player 'Playground' was everything fans had hoped it would be, crammed full of potential hits .However although the band managed to fill venues up and down the country as well as in Europe,the big hit never really came after the bands 3rd release 'No Stone Unturned', although it's fair to say that two of the bands strongest songs which followed as singles 'Playground' and 'Exception Of Love' should have done the business but failed somewhat.
Mighty 'Weapons Of Love' really did ignite
Very Soon after a big Warner Bros and then IRS signing in the States the band set of to capture the USA, big tours and some interesting work inc the Mighty 'Weapons Of Love' and the soundtrack to the Si-Fi film 'The Hidden' and having 'Edge Of Town' from the 2nd Album (also called Weapons of Love)featured on Miami Vice they really did ignite the fans in the States but with a Final push Album 'Jump' and the so wrongly timed 'God Gave Rock n Roll to you' single (Released almost the same time that KISS released the same song) ,the problem was that after the BIG change in style to please the record companies and the record buying public of the States that when it started to go wrong there was really now way back for the band in the UK, the fans that had helped the band to grow from the Marquee days and the Mod following had been well and truly left behind and the band folded.
very fine 60's style Pop
You can't blame the likes of Greaves or Lister for the way 'The Truth' went in the USA,after all they were more than 60's Soul loving Mods, they were pro musicians who wanted to rock the world and make a living as well,We salute the band who came along at the right time in 1982, released some very fine 60's style Pop, some even better Power-Pop and then through other pressure took the corridors they thought were right for them at that time.. Even if it meant we as Truth fans lost our band. Tony Clark@ sohostrut.co.uk
and so....
Songwriting-Guitar playing partner Mick Lister
But that is only part of the story, Mick Lister was an important piece of the Truth Jigsaw as was Dennis,lot's is know of Dennis Greaves after the Truth split-reforming a new look 9 Below Zero being one, but what of his Songwriting-Guitar playing partner Mick Lister ? Sohostrut's Rob Massey hears and researches a new Band Summer 2007 and finds that they are looked after by--You guessed it Mick Lister.Mick contacts Sohostrut's Tony through my space and the two chat about The Truth.
So Hello Mick Lister, one Time Songwriter/ co Front man of 'The Truth' welcome to Sohostrut Towers.. Why The Truth why was the band called that ?
Ok we called the band The Truth because we felt we were doing something honest musically and we were a definite reaction to the early 80's synth bands that were around at the time.
An honest-old fashioned style band then ?
I would say honest and the only way we knew how really..
Were going to talk a little about those days in 'The Truth',in the build up to 'breaking it' you started playing small gigs in and around London I believe and started to get tagged quite fast by the music press as 'The New Jam', did you find that a Big hindrance at first or did it help ?
Mick..The whole Jam thing was very unfortunate for the Truth as we were releasing records when the Jam had just split, so the press thought we had formed to take advantage of the void left by the Jam but that as you know wasn't the case with Dennis' history with NBZ and the kind of following they had.
Do you think it might have been better-different if you had came along say a year later then ?
MICK..Definitely, we always felt we were against it due to some bad press, I think the Melody maker was always a big help which was welcomed.
Did the band use the ground-work laid by Dennis in 9 Below zero or did you start really fresh from day one, I know it was a new line up etc, but Dennis must have had some amazing contacts already ?
Mick..I think at first Dennis thought it could help but musically we weren't a blues band so we definitely made our own fans. Record company wise NBZ's old labels didn't show much interest so we got signed because we were selling out The Marquee every other night which pricked up Labels ears
The Truth became known very quickly as a fantastic Live band why was that ?
MICK..I think we were known as a great live band because I think we were!. Dennis to this day was / Is one of the best front men to come out of Britain and should have been right up there with the greats. I think also because the crowd was such a big part of the gigs because everyone got involved, sweated and had a good time.
Yeah Dennis knows how to work the crowd, have you seen anything of 9 BELOW ZERO IN RECENT TIMES ?
MICK..I Saw Dennis recently at his 50th birthday and NBZ played so yeah about 3 months ago ..
You seemed to have this great knack of mixing your own tunes with some very clever chosen covers, was it important to do that ? who choose the covers, were you all into that 60's soul Tamla-Stax vibe ?
MICK..We started doing those covers cos when I first joined up with Dennis I lived at his house for 6 months as I came from Aylesbury, Bucks.We used to play all that stuff and got really inspired by it all, that's how songs like "Love a Go Go" came about, loved that tune!!.
So you lived with Dennis, was that while you were putting the final band together or were you already working as The Truth b then ?
MICK..Mostly when the band was being put together which obviously forged our writing partnership.
You picked up from day one a Massive Mod following, but very soon after the Hit that was 'Confusion' you were seen image wise looking very different , what went on there ? and why the fast image change back to the Mod-Looking band ?
MICK..Tricky one this, When you sign to major labels, there are people that want to style you, advise you, change the way you sound because they feel they have to justify their job, Let me just say we took some ill advice from certain "cool" style gurus that were hip and dandy at the time, I fucking hated wearing those stupid jumpers!!!!.
I remember those Jumpers, not really Stylish were they,who ever came up with that idea for you thinking they were IN, was years out of date, weren't Haircut 100 wearing them as well ?
MICK..Don't want to talk about it (Ha Ha)..
How did you craft the tunes you wrote,were they influenced from many factors ?
MICK..I wrote most of the songs with Dennis, we would sit around and bash out riffs and melodies and that's it really, basically wrote all the stuff on guitars. We would buy a new guitar and we would get at least a couple of songs out of just by playing something different.
What do you mean Buy a New Guitar, you bought them just to write a few songs on !
MICK..No , we would buy a guitar generally and just playing a new guitar always seemed to inspire to write a new tune ..
Did you and Dennis Greaves work well together as songwriters ?
MICK..Yes we did, I think Dennis would always come up with riffs and me top lines and the really melodic parts.
It worked well then, have you written with any better ?
MICK..Talk about put me on the spot! ? I think when you write with different people they all bring different things to the table so I would not like to compare Dennis as a writer with someone else.
The band went through many changes personnel wise,what would you say was 'The Truth' at it's best, the tightest-the most polished 'Truth' ?
MICK..I still think the line up when we were playing the marquee as I think that really was the most exciting line up for me.
Yeah the Marquee gigs still stick with people I know who saw you, I remember seeing a queue at the Venue as the time went on the queues got bigger and bigger, you must have known at that point that Something was Happening ?
MICK..Yep, you could smell it!!
Just when the UK market seemed to go very quite for you, you set off to the States, now some would say that was your weakest time Releases-image wise, I would say that 'Weapons Of Love' was poss one of the most powerful hook- laden songs you guys wrote, what was going on in the states, when it looked so rosie why did it all fall apart ?
MICK..Well, Nobody knows this but we were dropped by Warner Bros because the MD that signed and loved us moved to another label and the MD that came in hated us so it was curtains for us at the time. We were then picked up by american label IRS and the condition of them signing us was we had to go over their and break America.We used American producers and that was the reason for the change of style etc.What the label said was this.... we needed to break into a bigger market on the condition of signing and playing in front of 100 Mods was not enough for them. Hope this is clear enough.
IRS put out a fair bit though,who's came up with doing 'God Gave Rock n Roll' an airing, at almost the same time KISS did the same ?
MICK..We hated that, a really bad record company idea !!??
'The Truth' as such got back together to play a couple of Gigs I think at London's Rhythm Factory a few years back, but only featured Dennis with some other band backing him up, were you other guys asked to do the gig ? if not why do you think you were not asked, if you were asked why did you turn it down ?
MICK..Yeah funny one that, I didn't know a thing about it and had to laugh to myself. I have only recently been back in contact with Dennis for the first time in 11 years , went to his 50th birthday bash.
Funny..Would you have done it if you had been asked ?
MICK..Maybe for the crack but my schedule is very busy as a songwriter/ Producer for other acts and it would be a case of fitting everything in.
and to wind up that part what was your fave Truth tune on Record ? to perform live and the highlight of being in The Truth ?
MICK..My favorite Truth tune on record was "Playground" as I thought that was the essence of what we were all about, favorite tune live was again Playground and I loved our version of "Reach Out I'll Be There" by the Four Tops, and playing in front of 25,000 people in USA and everyone new the song I had written in my bedroom, Great feeling.
Do you listen to any of that old stuff, were talking a fair while ago here but some of Playground sounds fresh today as does 'Weapons of Love' the single ?
MICK..No don't listen to it at all. I really liked what we did but as a musician and writer its always good to move forward and improve..