Johnny Truant

by Stewart Mason
Although metalcore is usually thought of as being native to the malls and skate parks of suburban America, its reach has turned global: witness Johnny Truant, a quintet of emo kids from the seaside resort town of Brighton, England, the United Kingdom's answer to Atlantic City. Originally called Severance, the band quickly renamed themselves after the main character in Mark Z. Danielewski's 2000 novel House of Leaves, a screamingly pretentious avant-garde gloss on H.P. Lovecraft-style macabre fantasy. Singer Olly Mitchell, guitarist and second vocalist Stuart Hunter, bassist James Hunter, and drummer Paul Jackson self-released their first EP, Insecta Evolution, in late 2000. Signing to the British metal indie Undergroove Records, Johnny Truant released their proper debut, The Repercussions of a Badly Planned Suicide, in late 2002; nearly half of the album consists of remixes of songs from the aforementioned EP. After a lengthy delay, Johnny Truant went into the studio in 2005 with producer Adam Dutkiewicz (guitarist with the Boston-based metalcore outfit Killswitch Engage) to record their second album, In the Library of Horrific Events. Following the album's late 2005 release, Johnny Truant signed with the American label Modern Records, which reissued In the Library of Horrific Events the following year. Also in 2006, Johnny Truant added a second guitarist, Reuben Gotto.