Trust (French band)

This article is about the French band. For the Canadian and Belgian bands, see Trust (Canadian band) and Trust (Belgian band).

Trust
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	Heavy metal, hard rock
Years active	1977–1985 1988 1996–2000 2006
Website	http://www.trust.tm.fr/
Members	Bernard "Bernie" Bonvoisin Norbert "Nono" Krief Iso Farid Medjane Yves Brusco Deck (DJ)
Past members	Fred Guillemet Nicko McBrain Clive Burr David Jacob

Trust is a French heavy metal band founded in 1977 and popular in Europe in the first half of the 80s. The band was best known for guitarist Norbert "Nono" Krief's prowess, for Bernard "Bernie" Bonvoisin's voice reminiscent of AC/DC's Bon Scott and for his lyrics about social and political themes. Iron Maiden's drummers Nicko McBrain and Clive Burr were part of Trust line-up in the 80s. The band disbanded in 1984 and reformed in the 2000s for live shows and new recordings.

History

Trust was founded in 1977 by Bernard "Bernie" Bonvoisin (vocals, lyricist), Norbert "Nono" Krief (guitar, composer), Raymond "Ray" Manna (bass guitar) and Jean-Émile "Jeannot" Hanela (drums). The band released its first single "Prends Pas Ton Flingue" ("Don't Take Your Gun with You") in the same year. This record was re-released when the band made its first short-lived comeback in 1992.

Trust rose to fame in 1979 and 1980 with their music, which mixed hard rock influences, acerbic social and political commentary, anarchist undertones and a renegade attitude à la MC5. Trust's success was also due to Krief's stature as a French guitar hero and Bonvoisin's sincere and mature lyrics, as well as his raw energy in live performances. Their 1980 hit song "Antisocial", taken from the album Répression, criticized the frenetic, dehumanizing pace of modern life and work in large cities. Its English adaptation by Anthrax on the 1988 Album State of Euphoria is pretty rough and mild compared to the original lyrics: "You spend a lifetime working to pay for your own tombstone, You hide your face behind the newspaper, You walk like a robot in the subway corridors, Nobody cares about your presence, It's up to you to make the first step". Trust were helped on English lyrics for the Répression album by Jimmy Pursey of British punk band Sham 69, who may have helped translate the songs' aggressive political messages. Songs such as "Le Mitard" (1980) attacked what Trust claimed was an excessively repressive handling of juvenile delinquency, featuring texts from public enemy number one Jacques Mesrine. Other major political songs includes "Darquier" (1980) commenting on notorious Nazi Germany collaborator Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, and "Mr Comédie" (1980) criticizing Ayatollah Khomeini, who was in exile in France at the time, depicting him as a "torturer". "Les Brutes" (1980) describes the savage acts done by the Warsaw Pact military forces at the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, "H & D" (1979), with "H & D" standing for "Hôpital & Débiles" ("Asylum & Psychos"), accuses the Soviet Union and its secret services (KGB) of suppressing dissent by sending political opponents to psychiatric hospitals under fake diagnoses.

The style of singer Bernie Bonvoisin was compared to that of Bon Scott from AC/DC, with whom Trust had a friendly relationship. "Ride On" by Bon Scott's AC/DC was covered in Trust's '79 debut album. 1980's Répression dans l'Hexagone live album, featured the covers of the AC/DC songs "Problem Child" and "Live Wire". The live album was released as Trust Live twelve years after its recording by Sony Music France to coincide with AC/DC's famed Live album release in France. However, the band members denied using such a marketing strategy, claiming the masters they thought were lost had been found the same year by coincidence.

From 1983 onwards, the band came under increasing criticism for its less "incisive" sound and the frequent changes of drummers (e.g. Nicko McBrain quit the band after Savage to join Iron Maiden).

Trust disbanded in 1984, but Bonvoisin and Krief later re-formed occasionally for records and concerts, eventually "compromising" their typical hard rock sound with 2000s French rap acts including Suprême NTM.

The band's most successful song "Antisocial" was covered by Anthrax on their 1988 State of Euphoria album (adapted to English, although a French version of the song is also available) and became one of their most popular songs and videos. A live version of the 12" single for "Make Me Laugh" features Bonvoisin on vocals with Anthrax singer Joey Belladonna.

In early July 2008, Trust's original line-up reformed to perform a 1979 to 1986 best of gig at the Festival des Terres Neuvas. In September 2008, a new album, 13 à table (Thirteen at the Table) was released.

In 2012 Bernie stated that there will be no Trust reunification and also no remastered albums. However, later in the year the band was added to the Sonisphere France line-up.

Discography

Albums

• 1977 Prends Pas Ton Flingue / Paris By Night [SP] France
• 1979 Trust I (L'Élite) France, United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, Japan
• 1980 Répression France, Germany
• 1980 Repression (English version of Répression) United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, Japan, Canada
• 1981 Marche Ou Crève France, Germany, Italy[ (with Nicko McBrain on drums)
• 1982 Savage (English version of Marche Ou Crève) United Kingdom, United States, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Japan (with Nicko McBrain on drums)
• 1983 Trust IV (Idéal) France, Germany (with Clive Burr on drums)
• 1984 Man's Trap (English version of Trust IV) United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Netherlands (with Clive Burr on drums)
• 1984 Rock'n'Roll France, Canada
• 1988 En attendant... [EP] France, United Kingdom, United States
• 1992 Prends pas ton flingue [EP] France
• 1993 The Back Sides [EP] France
• 1996 Europe et Haines France
• 2000 Ni Dieu Ni Maître France
• 2008 13 à table France

Live albums

• 1988 Live: Paris By Night (recorded during the Monsters of Rock) France, United States
• 1992 Répression dans l'Hexagone (Live) (Répression dans l'Hexagone 1980 tour) France
• 1997 A Live Tour 97 (Insurrection dans l'Hexagone tour) France
• 2000 Still A-live (German edition of A Live Tour 97, contains a bonus 6-track EP) Germany
• 2006 Soulagez-vous dans les urnes! (2006 tour, contains 3 new studio tracks) France
• 2009 A L'Olympia (2008 tour, Rockpalast 1982 gig added in the limited CD + DVD edition) France

Compilation albums

• 1981 Heavy Metal Soundtrack - Includes a version of "Prefabricated".
• 1997 Anti Best Of France, Germany
• 2001 Les Indispensables De Trust (Original versions) France
• 2002 Les Plus Belles Chansons (Canadian edition of "Les Indispensables", original versions) Canada
• 2004 Le Meilleur Des Années CBS (Original versions) France

Boxed sets

• 1997 Trust I / Repression France, United States
• 2008 "Les Anees CBS", EU (11CD Boxset)

Tribute

• 2001 Tribute to Trust [VA] France

External links

• Official forum (fr)
• A comprehensive article about Trust in German online fanzine "zine with no name" (in German)