The Told

Co-founders J.R. Lee, Guitarist/Vocals/Songwriter and Daniel Bruehl Guitarist/Songwriter met while in their twenties. "We were at a concert in my hometown," Bruehl recalls. "During the opening group we met thru mutual friends and years later the members of my old band decided to invite J.R. to play, it took no time at all before J.R. was singing for us. I was pretty much blown away, so we asked him to join a band with us". Since that day, the musical relationship has remained dependably loyal. "We have the same exact vision regarding what we love about music," J.R. says. "When it comes to song writing, we finish each other's thoughts." On working with Daniel, J.R. Lee says that they dove into a new realm together. “We wanted to give the band a unique sound”. “It’s like taking the Deep Purple keys and combining it with a mixture of Seattle ‘Grunge’ and Tool’s ‘Groove’. We think it is pretty cool”.
“The Told” first took shape in Saarlouis, Germany at the beginning of '06. Arising after months of intense song writing came the strong, rich, melodic, and driving Alternative Rock-style that is "The Told“ today. Predictably, the band didn't quite fit the mold of most others lingering around the old town. "It's typically folk, metal or really soft, older-people music there," says J.R., "I don't even know of any local bands that have female singers or a real concept for breaking new ground."
Influenced by a wide-ranging collection of artists such as Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Tool, Pearl Jam, Creed, Dream Theatre, The Doors, Sabbath and many others, the band started releasing Demo’s and an EP of its material. Even without the benefit of to many live performances, “The Told” began to establish a reputation.
"A lot of it developed by being elusive," Bruehl remembers. "The second song we ever wrote was this 4-minute, unbelievable song called ‘Stop Crying’. And for some reason, the local people took to the song with strong acceptance. We suddenly gained this huge popularity around Europe, even though no one knew who we were or where to find us. It was because we could never afford to play to many shows."
“All About You” was tracked in Ensdorf with J.R. and the band producing, Erik from Texas and Michael from Deathtone Studios Engineering. The EP successfully finds that intangible balance between intelligent melodic groove and driving heaviness. Typical of the record is the first single, “Stop Crying”, a melodic guitar/Keys balanced song with riff-driven Guitar work and accented with flowing vocals.