Founded in the mid 90’s by Vocalist/Bassist Bennard Slaton and Drummer Mark Dixon, Truth of Fiction teamed up with Eric Sands through an ad in an Atlanta entertainment newspaper searching for a flashy guitarist. The trio went on to write songs, record and develop their sound over the next few years. Truth of Fiction has often shared the stage with Rap Metal pioneers Stuck Mojo, Body–n-Soul who would later evolve into Seven Dust, Atlanta’s legendary Mother’s Finest, Starship and others.
Often described as a combination of King’s X, Living Color and early Lenny Kravitz, Truth of Fiction combines elements of hard rock, funk and metal with a nod towards guitar heroes of the 70’s and 80’s. According to Eric “most of the material is an exercise in blending heavy rock with funk and R&B elements”. You can hear the vast influences in their material as Eric adds that “bands I listened to were Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, Trower, Judas Priest, Rainbow, Johnny Winter, Pat Travers, etc., so I'm not surprised it comes through in my playing”.
Though their music is not what most people would deem as ‘flavor of the month’ the material is very radio friendly which is to their advantage. The songwriting process is an important cog in the TOF machine. “Some songs can take as little as 20 minutes, while others we struggle with for days. There were three different versions of "I Believe" adds Eric. They were also given full creative control as the band self-produced their debut disc on a shoe-string budget. Eric explains “there is a special vibe on that album that transcends the raw production technique. It’s sort of like Motley Crue’s first album, Too Fast For Love, in that the production is very low budget, but the vibe is killer”. The band also can see good things ahead for their melodic hard rock sound as “more and more radio songs have melodic rock elements in them. That leads me to believe the genre will come back in some form”.
The soulful vocals of Bennard Slaton which were honed growing up singing in Georgia churches, are punctuated by Mark Dixon’s bombastic drums and Eric Sands guitar work which has been compared to Zakk Wylde, John Sykes and Joe Satriani. Eric notes that “for me, the guitar solo is as important as the song itself. I really try to make a statement either melodically or emotionally”.
As the band readies to hit the road in support of their self-titled debut album the future looks bright for this power trio. “I really think it's something special and I hope others feel the same way. We're currently in the studio writing and recording more material. The future is in the hands of the public to a large extent”. Truth of Fiction is proud to be a member of the Lion Music family, a dynamic record company emerging as a leading guitar oriented heavy rock label.
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