No Truth: Authenticity and Honesty In a Growing Scene
Hardcore rock band shares their experience in the South Florida underground music scene
In the ever-growing South Florida hardcore rock scene, No Truth find themselves in the middle of it. The band made its live debut in October 2023 and has since gained support from the booking agency and promoter, Equinox Booking. Only a month after their first show, they went to play alongside South Florida hardcore acts such as Fallen God, Sidearm, and Final Warning. The band has since then been consistently playing shows around South Florida, and are solidifying themselves as one of the newest acts to look out for around the scene.
No Truth consists of Brandon Valenzuela (Vocalist), Giancarlo Arizabaleta (Guitarist), Daniel Corrente (Drummer), Daniel Miranda (Bassist), and Mateo Monterrosa (Guitarist). The band is gearing up to release their debut EP around the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025.
I sat down with vocalist Brandon and guitarist Giancarlo to discuss their experience as a new band, the stability of a blossoming underground scene, and their outlook on performing and recording. Contrary to their name, the band is nothing short of a group of guys who live for the music they make and aim to bring the most authenticity to a genre that’s been around for longer than they’ve been alive. The following is a condensed version of the conversation I had with the two.
You guys had another band before Brandon joined on the vocals, how did this lineup of No Truth come to be the band that it is today?
Giancarlo: I followed these kid’s band account, I don’t even know how I ended up following them but they had this band called Sloth. They posted something that said “ditch Deftones, play breakdowns” and I told them to play hardcore stuff. Their drummer, who’s still our drummer now, said “Yo just come out and jam with us”; I went and played with them and just stuck around. Eventually, the original vocalist dipped and then I met Brandon through working at Billabong and I knew he could do vocals so I suggested him to the rest of the band; he came out and practiced with us a couple of times and he’s been with us ever since.
Brandon, you’re stepping into this new role as lead vocalist. How has it been adjusting to performing live and has it changed at all since the first show?
Brandon: Being in my first actual band that plays shows it was weird. I always wanted to join a band and do vocals but I never really got the chance, I remember practicing at first was a little hard just learning how to perform the lyrics without them in front of me. When [the band] said “let’s do a show”, I was like “fuck I’ve only been in the band for two months”... so definitely the first show I was shitting bricks and was super nervous but once I got through the first song it kinda fell into place and since then my nerves have kind of subsided.
I still get nervous, right before you go on stage I think everyone gets a little nervous when people start rolling in, but once you get past a couple seconds of the first song it’s just like practice.
Giancarlo: A cool thing is Brandon’s stage presence has been the same since the first show, it’s always been a full 100 percent. If I was watching from the audience I would have never known that it was his first show.
If I’m correct, you guys are the two oldest in the band?
Giancarlo: Yeah, we’re both 20 and the rest are 18.
What’s the experience been like working with the other three younger members?
Giancarlo: It’s been dope.
Brandon: For their age they’re very professional – everyone in the band, at their respective instrument, are fucking incredible – that was intimidating for me when I first joined.
Giancarlo: You can tell that the three original members (Danny, Mateo, and Daniel) were friends before bandmates, so there’s always that friendship before being just a band. Because there’s bands out there where it feels like it’s just one dude’s project and everyone else is just like the guy fueling that project, but [for us] it feels like a whole collective effort.
Brandon: We kind of gave them a homework assignment like “listen to this and learn how to do this”, and they were full on about it and embraced it – seeing them get stoked on it reminds me of when I first joined the scene and I was super stoked about everything – I’m seeing it through their eyes and it’s pretty cool to see.
How has the South Florida Hardcore scene been treating you? Has it been a welcoming space for a new band like yours?
Giancarlo: It’s been amazing, it’s super dope being able to work with the people we’ve looked up to and taken inspiration from and all these bands that we just really fuck with. It’s not at all been like this whole “cool guy” thing, there’s a lot of new bands starting up especially now – I think there’s no one else to thank than Jeff and Toby from Equinox Booking and all these bands that have been doing it way longer than we have been.
Brandon: I can confidently say that without Equinox, the South Florida scene would not be what it is right now. These guys hold it down so hard, they’ve brought so many bands down here that probably wouldn’t give us the time of day without [Equinox] reaching out and being like “Yo, check this out”.
Is working on a project in the studio something you have planned for in the future?
Giancarlo: We’ve had our live sets recorded by Wes from Above Death and some of our homies. As for recording in the studio, we’ve started the recording process for our demo and debut EP with the help of Nick Corcillo, dude's the goat.
Brandon: He’s the Rick Rubin of South Florida.
Giancarlo: He’s made the process super dope – it’s our first time recording anything, so it was kind of tough doing things we’ve never done before like I’ve never played to a metronome before – but it was fun.
Brandon: Yeah Nick’s the man, he made the whole recording process so simple and fun.
Giancarlo: It was genuinely the funnest three hours I’ve ever had, just playing music, talking shit, and Flanigan's right after. It was a good day.
Brandon: Music will be out definitely this year..maybe a little later.
Do you guys record all in one take with everyone playing together or do you have someone play their part then you overdub on that?
Brandon: Yeah for the recording process we do with Nick, everyone plays once at a time. They do drums first, then they quantize, and then we add to that; we prefer doing it like that rather than everyone playing together.
Do you feel like the recorded songs have that same feeling when you’re practicing it to when you’re recording them in the studio?
Giancarlo: Nothing compares to playing a song live. It’s cool to record the music but the reaction you get live… holy shit, people are popping off and moshing to this riff I made at 2am on a fucking tuesday.
It seems like, to me at least, the South Florida Hardcore scene doesn’t really prioritize official releases and recordings. Is that something you guys would want to focus on and maybe bring a change to the scene?
Brandon: I think a lot of that has to do with money. I feel like everyone would love to have a demo or like an album out for their band but it’s just money. That’s why people do a lot of live shows, to get money for merch and for recording sessions.
A recording session is pretty expensive, I don’t think people really know unless they do it.
Giancarlo: We also want to put out music that can stand the test of time and be able to look back at it and have it sound like it was recorded that same day.
I don’t really see this a lot in modern interviews, do you guys want to shout out anyone?
Giancarlo: Shoutout Collateral and Sidearm. Domain, Final Warning, Amnio, Mantikore, Xcelerate, and Fallen god. Major shout out to Artistorkiller, Allbutone, and Above Death. Jeff and Toby for putting on the best shows. Shoutout to the straight edge. Shoutout to Esco and Cbass, those boys are family. And most importantly shoutout to my mom, dad, grandparents, my girlfriend, Marko, Sebastian and anyone else who has ever supported me and No Truth, love you guys.
Brandon: On top of that, special shoutout to the Tyily crew, shout out The Crypt, Sunshower, Mindstate, Guttersnipe, Body Blow, Knock Em Dead, Agitate, Resentment, Deepslate, Final Warning 954, Hiraeth Recordings, Sid, Stix, Gabriel, Fio, Esco and Sebass again, my brothers in No Truth, my mom and dad, and the familiar faces I see at shows, too many to name but I love yall.
Future legends
So sick