Band: True Grit
From: Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
Their formation story:
(Chris “Mr. Grit” Victor, vocals): "Welp, I wanted to hear something different coming from Texas. I was getting bored of hardcore bands sounding like they were from New York or California. So I figured I come up with a definitive, southern sound, something that was straight-up Texan.
"One day during working, I was listening to the Marty Robbins’ album, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, and it dawned on me, 'outlaw country and hardcore punk!' Soon after, I contacted [guitarist] Jamie [Salgado] about the idea. At first , Jamie was skeptical as hell. After some persuasion and time went by, Jamie cranked out our single, 'Ain’t No Way.'
"At that point, all we needed was another guitarist, bassist, and a drummer. At Promcore 2021, I remember presenting the single to [bassist] River [Elliott] from Ballista and she said she’d love to play bass for True Grit. Shortly after, [guitarist] Zach [Fleming] and [drummer] Robert [Dominguez], who are also in Ballista, hopped on the bandwagon, now here we are!"
Their sound in their own words:
"Sonically, on the country side of it, a lot of the influence comes from older country including Linda Ronstadt, Kitty Wells, even a bit of Hank Williams III. As far as the hardcore influence, I’d say Every Time I Die, Impalers, Wiccans, we can throw in some Black Flag, Social Distortion, and Subhumans on there too.
"The meme floating around with Hank Hill fronting a hardcore band is the perfect visual representation of what we sound like. FFO? Hmm, well I believe we are one of a kind right now so if you like Hank Williams and hardcore, we’re the perfect medium for ya."
Latest release info:
"Our current release is our self-titled EP, available on your streaming platform. It’s the country bumpkin’s gateway into hardcore and hardcore kid’s gateway into outlaw country. 5 songs deep and roughly 12 minutes, it contains a nice blend of two step and side-to-side parts, mosh parts with a country overtone."
Future plans:
"Here in a bit, we’ll be working on cranking out a couple more outlaw hardcore tunes, and we are also covering a popular '90s country song. We will bringing the rodeo to No Sleep Fest in Houston, December 1st. 2024, we planning releasing a project that I’m excited for."
What other bands from the region should we check out?
"There’s so many. Ballista, Ozone, Bed of Nails, Force of Will, Crucify, Flu, Misanthrope, Turfburner, deepincision, Spit My Rage, Sanity Slip, Soledad, Dysmorphia, Heat, Visions of Mortality, One in tha Chamber, A Band Laredo, South Texas Tweek, and the rest of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex."
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Hit the True Grit Linktree to find all of their social media pages.
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Tagged: true grit
