The True Believers were a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

active from 1982 to 1987. Founded by brothers

Alejandro Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander. Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander (Czech, Polish), Alexandre ( French), Alexandros (Greek), Alsander (Irish), Alessandro (Italian), Aleksandr (Rus ...

and Javier Escovedo, True Believers were rooted in

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

with touches of

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

and the rebellious energy of punk rock. They found critical praise and toured with many leading bands of the 1980s but never broke out of cult status to achieve mainstream success due in part to their hard-to-classify style.

History

The True Believers were founded in 1982 by singer-guitarist

Alejandro Escovedo Alejandro Escovedo (born January 10, 1951) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and singer, who has been recording and touring since the late 1970s. His primary instrument is the guitar. He has played in various rock genres, including punk ...

, formerly of

the Nuns The Nuns was an American rock band based in San Francisco and New York City. Best known as one of the founding acts of the early San Francisco punk scene, the band went through a number of hiatuses and periodic reunions, lineup changes, and cha ...

, and his brother Javier, formerly of the Zeros. The other two initial members of the band were drummer Kevin Foley (who was formerly in the Nuns with Alejandro) and bassist Denny DeGorio. Soon after they were founded, the band became very successful on the Texas club scene, and by 1984, they were touring with such bands as Los Lobos,

Rain Parade The Rain Parade is a band that was originally active in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s, and that reunited and resumed touring in 2012. History Rain Parade in the 1980s (1981–86) Originally called the Sidewalks, the b ...

, and

Love Tractor Love Tractor (1980–current) is a band from Athens, Georgia, founded in spring 1980 by guitarists Mark Cline and Mike Richmond, and bassist Armistead Wellford, students at the University of Georgia. Like The B-52's, Pylon (band), Pylon and R.E. ...

. True Believers appeared in a 1985 episode of the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

program '' I.R.S. Records Presents The Cutting Edge'', where they were covered as one of the Austin bands then sometimes grouped together under the name "

New Sincerity New Sincerity (closely related to and sometimes described as synonymous with post-postmodernism) is a trend in music, aesthetics, literary fiction, film criticism, poetry, literary criticism and philosophy that generally describes creative works ...

". The band released its first album, ''True Believers'', in 1986 on

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

. The album was recorded in less than a week for less than $10,000 with

Jon Dee Graham Jon Dee Graham is an American musician, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas, United States. Graham was named the Austin Musician of the Year during the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference in 2006. He was inducted into the Austin M ...

, and was produced by

Jim Dickinson James Luther Dickinson (November 15, 1941 – August 15, 2009) was an American record producer, pianist, and singer who fronted, among others, the band Mud Boy and the Neutrons, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Biography Dickinson was born in Li ...

EMI America EMI America Records was started in 1978 by EMI as a second US label next to Capitol Records. It absorbed Liberty Records in 1984. In the late 1980s, EMI America was consolidated with Manhattan Records to form EMI Manhattan Records, which lat ...

found out about the album from a distribution deal they had with Rounder at the time. EMI was so impressed by the band's debut album that they bought them out of their contract with Rounder, giving them more money to record their second album. In early 1987, they began recording their second album with producer

Jeff Glixman Jeff Glixman is an American record producer. He has produced, mixed or remastered artists such as Kansas, Magnum, Gary Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, The Georgia Satellites and Black Sabbath. Combined sales of his projects exceed 30 million units. Ca ...

, but soon after it was finished, EMI America was folded into

Manhattan Records Manhattan Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group and operates as a branch of Capitol Music Group. Company history Manhattan Records was formed in 1984 by Bruce Lundvall and was later renamed EMI Manhattan Records af ...

, and the album was dropped from the new label's release schedule. In late 1987, Javier left the band, which broke up soon afterward. The band's second album was not released until 1994, when

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

included it on ''Hard Road'', a reissue of the band's debut album. True Believers reformed in 2012 for a well-received performance at the

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

festival.

Legacy

William Michael Smith of the ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...

'' has written that "In an industry littered with tragic stories of bad luck and poor decisions, the True Believers' tale ranks right at the top." Jason Cohen of ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'' has said that the Believers were "widely considered to be Austin’s best band of the mid-eighties."

Discography

*''True Believers'' (Rounder, 1986) *''Hard Road'' (Rykodisc compilation, 1994)

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Austin, Texas Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1987 1982 establishments in Texas 1987 disestablishments in Texas Rock music groups from Texas Rounder Records artists Rykodisc artists