Music
Press
This band has no press
Discography
Monkey Corner Sessions (EP)
Birds and Raging Thunder
Inconsequential Background Music
Photos
Bio
Truth in Advertising was formed in the mid-late 90s by Aaron Rolka and Fred Betzner and has been hailed as the most eclectic modern-rock group to come out of Greensburg, PA, since BJ and the Oceanic Front. They were drawn together by a mutual friend, the effervescent Jeremy Ritter, who had a penchant for professional wrestling.
Inspiration struck, and the two penned the much requested "I'm Not a Professional Wrestler." Though Fred and Aaron worked well together, musically they left much to be desired. The two asked mutual friend Seán "Billy" O'Donnell to jam out with them. Soon after Billy joined full-time and Fred bought "How to Play Harmonica," and the band really started to take shape.
In June of 1999, the trio converged upon Gamut Studios in Latrobe, PA, where a bald man with a ponytail recorded their four-song EP The Monkey Corner Sessions. The boys weren't quite satisfied with the end result, but being short of funds for extra mixing time, they took what they had and promptly did absolutely nothing for quite some time.
In this limbo-ish state, Ryan Shwartz joined as a drummer and Fred moved to Pittsburgh, where several months later he met Nick Crano. Crano was a friend with a very nice recording studio, Jazz Cat studios, where, between 2000 and 2002, the boys recorded Birds and Raging Thunder (with some augmentation in Bohemiophelia studio and Billy's dorm room). The band had a bit of a hiatus, since none of the members lived in the same state for a year or so.
Billy and Ryan played the Pittsburgh bar scene in the fall of 2004, a tour that culminated with a full four-member reunion at T 'n A's last show (for a long while) at Mitchell's on Dec. 10, 2004. Since the boys had begun recording T 'n A's second album, Inconsequential Background Music in the spring of 2004, Ryan and Billy decided to finish what they'd started. The album was finished in the fall of 2005 and released for the masses on Dec. 29, 2005. Some guy in Spain bought one, so you should, too.
Fred and Billy resumed performing in October 2008 to much acclaim and applause.
Links
