Rebel Truth fell together in September of 1981 in Sacramento, California with singer/guitarist Kevin, drummer Stuart and bassist Erik. All three graduated from C.K. McClatchy High School, the site of their first performance on Friday, November 13th, 1981. The grand piano, the P.A. system and a portion of the auditorium's stage were destroyed by the audience, resulting in the school banning live bands for many years. C.K. McClatchy music program schoolmates include John Baccigalupi of Heckler and Tape-Op Magazines, Eric Hansen singer of Funkengruven, Joe Fraulob guitarist of Deconstruct and Danzig and Derek Allen, bassist with Lionel Richie, Brandy and Janet Jackson.Because the group initially couldn't get gigs in Sacramento, they had to venture to other cities in Kevin's 1966 Ford Econoline van -- Arcata, Sonoma, Reno, Chico and Davis to name a few. The band spent 1982 travelling between their home and the vibrant hardcore scene in San Francisco playing at the Sound of Music, Tool & Die and On Broadway, as well as newly opened hometown venues Galactica 2000, the Toscano Club, the American Legion Hall, Oddfellows Hall, Clunie Hall, The China Wagon and the Vortex. RT headlined at the Sound of Music the night San Francisco Police Officers beat up two teenagers pulled from an unusually large midweek crowd (outside) at the Tenderloin club.About this time, 7 Seconds singer/guitarist Kevin Seconds gave a copy of RT's demo to independent producer and owner of Version Sound Records, Bob Moore. Moore included four Rebel Truth songs on his "Charred Remains" compilation that took Rebel Truth international and caught the attention of among many new fans, Morrissey, who began writing letters to the young group. Shortly thereafter, an oddball version of their first song "All I Know" was included on Alternative Tentacles "Not So Quiet On The Western Front" compilation. The song "Monkey's Paw" was also included on a rarer compilation titled "We Got Power Volume I" at this time.Early in 1983 Sunny Wantz of Sunny Productions took interest in the group and booked them as openers for Ian Copeland's FBI/IRS shows in Sacramento, and RT opened for commercial "punk" and new wave groups like the Lords of the New Church, the Angelic Upstarts, the Cockney Rejects, the Toy Dolls and the Motels in addition to their usual hardcore shows.With David Hintz as Executive Producer and Bob Moore as Producer, RT recorded their 9 song EP at Trullion Studios in Sacramento -- where the "Charred Remains" and "Not So Quiet..." recordings were also made. Kurt Bischoff was the engineer on all recordings, including the EP, that was released in May of 1983.The successful North American tour that began in late June of 1983 took the band to packed clubs and halls in Eugene (3D Ballroom), Portland (Pine Street Theater), Seattle (Metropolis) , Vancouver (New York Theater and the Smiling Buddha), Calgary (Be's Longbar), Saskatoon (??), Winnipeg (AAA Doghouse), Minneapolis (First Avenue), Madison (Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center), Milwaukee (Arlene J's), Columbus (University Dorms), and Dayton (Brookwood Hall) where the group decided it could go no further - having lost Bob Moore in Calgary. Kevin was 21, Stuart was 19 and Erik was 17.A total of 2,000 copies of the original, self-titled Rebel Truth EPs were pressed from the original master tape. There are at least a half dozen bootlegs of the original EP. A rare and strange German bootleg is titled "Too Junk To Fuck" and includes EPs from several other groups of the era. "We Got Power Volume I" is apparently on CD now. Meathouse??? All subsequent bootlegs were pressed from the EP and not the master tapes, which were lost when Trullion was sold in the late 1980s. [Bob Moore, recently told someone in myspace that he has all the master tapes - checking on this - Bob?] The only way to recognize an original copy of the EP is the inscriptions on the innermost tracks of both sides of the record. Grand Theft Audio released a complete compilation of the group's studio recordings in the mid-90s that included a rough version of the July 1983 performance at the AAA Doghouse in Winnipeg.As of July 2006, Rebel Truth could be downloaded from Wal-Mart Music for $.88 a song.This is a page for friends and fans of Rebel Truth - you needn't necessarily be both! If you have any information, photos, videos, movies, articles, interviews, recordings or stories please send them this way. Thanks to everyone who has contributed information. It's been really great talking to you all after all these years. We are indebted to you for your kindness and generosity then and now.
RT
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