By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Bowling Green’s Porchfest in the Eberly Avenue neighborhood has for the past three years served as a showcase for the finest musical acts in the area.
This year the festival will host a band from farther afield. Rose Cora Perry and The Truth Untold will cross the border from London, Ontario to perform.
The high energy rock trio will pay on the porch of 250 Eberly at from 4:15-5 p.m. They are one of the 18 acts Porchfest is hosting on Saturday, June 8, from 1:45-7 p.m.
[MORE DETAILS: Porchfest returns with more bands & expanded footprint]
For Perry, who once played with a band signed to a major label, this hyper-local scene might seem strange.
In a recent telephone interview, she explained that a number of bands on the same scene as The Truth Untold had been playing these DIY neighborhood gigs. “It seemed like something fun,” she said. “We decided we’d give it a try. … It could be a cool little community thing.” The organizers have been welcoming. “What more could a band want?”
During the pandemic a lot of venues close down, she said, and these kind of shows are a response to that.
The trio is, Perry said, “very, very high energy and lots of fun. We interact with people and give them more than a show, We give them an experience.”
Different people slap different labels on them. Some hear echoes of the 1980s divas Pat Benatar and Joan Jett. Others pick up on strains of music from the 1990s like Alanis Morrisette backed by Soundgarden or Nirvana.
That makes sense given that’s the time period when Perry grew up in London, Ontario.
At age 4 her parents heard something in her voice, or, Perry said, maybe it was just her craving for attention. They had her taking classical voice lessons.
At 7 she wrote her first song about “environmental degradation due to oil spills.” She probably heard something on the news that triggered her emotionally. Pretty heavy material, she admits, but she’s always loved animals and nature.
During her first decade, she was interested more in Broadway than rock ‘n’ roll.
Perry sights were set on being the next Sarah Brightman, the muse of Andrew Lloyd Weber. “I loved that style of singing. I was all about the technique and power it requires. I was trained to sing like that.”
Then, she entered her teen years, and discovered, to her mother’s chagrin, rock ‘n’ roll.
“Dear God, you’ll ruin your beautiful voice,” her mother lamented.
“Rock was where I wanted to go,” Perry said.
“The reality is my personality and rock music, whether I knew it at the time, just kind of made sense,” Perry said.
“When I wrote my first couple rock songs, I realized there was something really freeing about it. It was a very emotional means of expressing music. It was not just about the dynamics and technique and hitting all the notes, it was more about connecting with people in visceral way. That’s what resonated with me. I could see my work was having an effect on other people, and it made sense,” she said.
In her teen years, she performed with bands. “I was ferocious frontwoman.”
Then one band, which was signed to a major label, fell apart. True to the rock ‘n’ roll cliché, some members were more into the drugs than the roc, she said.
Perry worked for a time as an acoustic solo act. As much as she appreciates the singer-songwriter genre and its intimate vibe, “it’s not for me.”
Then after she released her second solo album, “Onto the Floor” she set about putting a band together to promote it.
She wanted “a distorted ax back in my hands.”
Perry placed ads for musicians, and metalhead drummer Tyler Randall answered the call. The Truth Untold was born. While the original idea was for the group to be Perry’s backing band, it established itself as an entity in its own right. Working with Randall, who became her life partner, pulled Perry back to rock ‘n’ roll.
“Still wanted to maintain the pretty melodies and pretty vocals I had established as a singer-songwriter,” she said. “The sensibility of Truth Untold is an amalgamation of those different backgrounds. For a long time, I was searching for a way to bring those different backgrounds together. I finally found them with this project.”
Randall has been an anchor. In her second year with the trio, Jessie Taynton provides the bass lines and backing vocals.
They’ve scored with their hit single “Not My Time” and are preparing to release new material.
The trio has developed a fan base in the United States, where their brand of rock is more popular than in their native Canada. They’ve performed for audiences of thousands at festivals and as opening acts.
Still Perry said they’re looking forward to playing for the hundred or so listeners likely to crowd in front of the porch at 250 Eberly Ave. ready to rock.
