3 Feet High & Rising: Members of The Gaslight Anthem, Bound, Midtown, None More Black & Kid Dynamite Form New Band Town Liars; Share Lies: One Through Seven EP (self-released)
Town Liar's members include drummer Benny Horowitz (The Gaslight Anthem, WAX BOTTLES, The Killing Gift, Full Circle Swing, The Low End Theory, Yellboy, Bottomfeeder, Antarctigo Vespucci, ex-Mercy Union,) guitarist Nick Remondelli (Autumn, Bound, The Break In Mile, ex-None More Black,) bassist/vocalist Heath Saraceno (Midtown, ex-Senses Fail,) and vocalist/guitarist Jason Shevchuk (Kid Dynamite, None More Black, Former Member, Bound, OnGuard, LaGrecia, The Break In Mile, ex-R.A.M.B.O.) Shevchuk & Remondelli played together in New Jersey Vegan/Straight Edge Hardcore band Bound around 1996. They briefly played together again in a band short-lived band called The Break In Mile, which Remondelli says, "never went off the ground."
Shevchuck, then, formed Kid Dynamite and soon after, None More Black, the latter of which Remondelli briefly joined as bassist and appeared across their demo that helped get them signed to Fat Wreck Chords. Shevchuk would go on to form solo project OnGuard in 2008 followed by LaGrecia with one-time Bound drummer Dana Burkowitz. Just about 10 years later, Shevchuck started his next solo project/band, fittingly titled Former Member, with Will Yip serving as producer, engineer, and drummer and Jason doing just about everything else. Former member shared Old Youth (2018) and Manageable Scratches (2022) and at some point during the recording process for the latter, Shevchuk reach out to Remondelli about forming and playing together in a band once more.
Following a brief trial period with a number of talented drummers, Benny Horowitz was suggested amongst the two long-time friends and bandmates. They reached out on a whim and, admittedly, didn't think Benny would agree to do it because of his commitment(s) to his other band(s). However, as Remondelli expalined it to The Witzard, "to our amazement, surprise, and elation, he was interested in hearing what we were working on. I sent it over to him and he was down. We got together a few times to hash out songs and it was immediately apparent that Benny was "the guy.'" Jason, Nick, and Benny swapped song sketches, demos, ideas, etc. back-and-forth via email and attempted to all get in a room together once a month to continually hash out the recordings.
Remondelli had re-connected with Heath Saraceno around the same time via social media and bonded whilst nerding out about guitars. Remondelli shares, "besides being one amazing musician, Heath is probably one of the nicest people out there" and added that from his experience, "guitar players make the best bass players." Saraceno (typically, a guitarist) was asked to join the piecemeal-formed band now known as Town Liar as bassist and it was immediately apparent he was the perfect last piece to help fill out the band. Remondelli explained that Saraceno helped breathe new life into the song sketches he, Jason, and Benny were working on and transformed them into something new and even better.
"He is the best bass player I have played with. I don't want to speak for everyone, but I feel like we are on the same page regarding the band. It is [four] guys, who genuinely really have a great time making music together," Remondelli gushes. Town Liar quietly dropped their debut seven-song EP, Lies: One Through Seven, in October of 2022 and to be completely honest, we oly heard about Town Liar (@townliar) because they popped up a Friend/Follow Suggestion on our Instagram feed earlier this week. It's perfect timing, though, because we're ahppy to help promote their fantastic EP, which is vaguely evocative of their previous projects and has a bit of a Heartland Rock sound, à la Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers or The Gaslight Anthem, running through it.
Town Liar is playing their first official show together on April 14, 2023 at THE GRANDER CANYON in New Brunswick, NJ. It will run from 7-10:00 with a cover of $7.00 and Freezeheads/FRZHDS (@freezeheads,) In Blue (@inbluenj,) No (no.justnothanks,) and No Ring as openers. Anyone wanting to attend the show should Direct Message (DM) either Heath Saraceno or Peter August on Facebook for the address and/or additional details. Town Liar are hoping to record more songs together for an eventual second releas this summer and plan to play more shows together. Nick Remondelli told us he just wanted to say one last thing: "the best part of Town Liar is making music with some of the greatest friends I have had in my life and, obviously, amazing musicians. It is inspiring and amazing." Town Liar's Lies: One Through Seven EP is now available exclusively on Bandcamp.
Town Liar at THE GRANDER CANYON show flyers (SOURCES: Facebook)