Strange as it sounds, Bowdoin student band Call It The Truth traces its roots to Oberlin College in Ohio. At the Cleveland airport, on their way to an admitted students weekend in the spring of 2009, Nate Joseph '13 and Fhiwa Ndou '13 met for the first time. The two quickly discovered that they shared similar musical tastes and decided that, if they ended up at the same school in the fall, they would get together and play. A few months later, they were both at Bowdoin.
In the fall of 2009, Joseph performed at a coffee house at the Café. The only other act of the night was Mikel McCavana '12, who was also in Music 151 with Joseph. Around the same time, Joseph and Justin Foster '11 met at the first meeting of the Bowdoin Music Collective (BMC), a student group "dedicated to improving the musical culture at Bowdoin," according to its Facebook page.
Finally, after so many serendipitous meetings, the four students formed the high-energy band Call It The Truth, with Foster on vocals, Joseph on guitar, McCavana on bass, and Ndou on drums.
The band performed about a dozen times last year, including at MacMillan House and at the Cold War party. They continued to write original pieces, a process McCavana describes as "a complete mystery but so much fun to be a part of."
Ndou added that as the band got closer, their writing became more collaborative. While initially one of the members might come in with instrumental parts and Justin would work out vocals, over time they began working together more organically.
During Senior Week last year, the group recorded a five song EP, "Fight for Your Life," in Studzinski Recital Hall with the help of Chris Watkinson, the technical director of Studzinski and an adjunct music lecturer.
Ndou said making the album was "a three-day whirlwind that was a lot of work and a lot of fun."
Joseph agreed, saying, "A lot of the time, living together is what gets bands in trouble. But we just had fun, no drama."
The album is available for free download from the group's website www.callitthetruth.com. The band also has pages on Facebook and Myspace.
As a senior, Foster has been thinking about jobs in the entertainment industry in order to get a sense of what happens behind the scenes before deciding how seriously to pursue music. The other three band members also hope that music will be an important part of their futures. For the moment, though, the band is focused on having fun and playing music.
In fact, fun seems to be the band's favorite word. Not only did they use it to describe making their album and writing together, but also to describe the atmosphere and energy they bring to every show, because more than anything, Call It The Truth loves playing live.
The band was essentially on hiatus during the fall semester, as McCavana was studying abroad in Dublin, and now all four members seem ready and eager to get back to the music. This semester they hope to expand their circle of venues beyond the Bowdoin bubble. They are currently working on plans to play other Maine colleges with a band called Canary from Berklee College of Music. First though, the band is playing a comeback concert tonight at MacMillan House.
Ndou said he was excited to introduce the band to new students. After Fixed Million—also a Bowdoin student band—opens the show, Call It The Truth will play a two-hour set starting at 9:30w p.m. that Ndou said will have a little of everything. Individually, members of the group have been involved in jazz, rock, R&B, hip-hop and pop endeavors, so their inspirations are many and varied. The band's press kit advertises that their music will appeal to fans of The Black Keys, the Raconteurs, and N.E.R.D., but Foster said that everyone can enjoy their songs.
"We write about grief and heartache and we also write stuff to excite people and get them dancing," said Foster. "I want people to be taken on a kind of emotional journey, and really I want people to feel related to, understood, and inspired."
Call It The Truth will perform tonight at 9:30 p.m. at MacMillan House.