One can indeed begin Trust's official adventure on September 9th and 10th 1977, the group's first concert when they opened for Bang at the reopening of the famous Golf Drouot in Paris. Formed by Bernard "Bernie" Bonvoisin on vocals, Norbert "Nono" Krief on guitar, Raymond "Ray" Manna on bass and Jean-Emile "Jeannot" Hanela on drums, Trust quickly made its way onto the French music scene.

Bernie Bonvoisin tried his hand at the drums before becoming a singer, but it's undeniably in the latter role that he's the best. Like his hard rocker Anglo-Saxon counterparts, he has the feel for performing, the ability to give a hundred percent when he's on stage. This first experience at Golf Drouot allowed Trust to sign a record contract with Pathé-Marconi. At the end of October 1977, the group recorded its first 45 which cannot be found today. At this point in time Bernie made an important acquaintance when he met Bon Scott the singer of AC/DC.

The release of a second single in January '78 entitled "Prends pas ton flingue/Paris by night" had a limited audience. On September 24th, Trust opened for AC/DC.

Changing record labels enabled Trust to release their first album. Having broken with Pathe, Trust signed with CBS in November 1978 with CBS' new president Alain Levy. "Trust" their first opus which was recorded in London came out in May '79. Dennis Weinreich (Jeff Beck, Supertramp, etc) mixed it. The lyrics were powerful and founded in social reality. As Bernie reminded us he himself came from the working class which largely influenced his writing. His spiteful anger came out in songs such as "Bosser huit heures" or "Police-Milice" backed up by solid guitar riffs. Between June and November 1979, Trust did their first tour which turned out to be a big success even if the conditions weren't always favorable. Certain towns afraid of the amplitude of this phenomenon and the fighting spirit flaunted by the group, forbade the concerts or hurriedly called for a strong police presence on the scene. Trust even performed at the prison in Fleury-Merogis because as Bernie said "If it wasn't for Trust, we'd all be in prison"

With a certified platnum album, Trust became an indispensable group of the French scene. They drew 10,000 fans at the Pavillon de Paris on January 12th, 1980. That year was the death of Bon Scott-AC/DC's singer. Trust's second album was dedicated to him. Recorded in the same London studios "Repression" came out in May. It contained the famous song "Anti-Social (tu perds ton sang froid)" the symbolic cry of revolt which ended up being played on all the radio stations. "Tu bosse toute ta vie pour payer ta pierre tombale/..." A simple and effective text which caught on with a lot of young people. "You work your whole life to pay for your tombstone/you hide your face by reading your newspaper/you walk like a robot in the underground's hallways."

Trust is also known for its unbridled consumption of drummers! In fact, difficult to stand up against the Bonvoisin/Krief tandem, Jeannot Hanela is put aside. Then came Kevin Morris and then it was Nico McBrain's turn and still others to come!

Made strong by their success with "Repression" Trust set off on a tour of France between the beginning of October and December 6th 1980. One evening, one of the most important English agents, John Jackson, came to see them and decided to sign them. "Repression" came out in English with lyrics by Jimmy Pursey in England and as early as February 1981 the group opened for Iron Maiden. They returned a bit later as the headliners for 19 shows.

"Pré-fabriqués" an extract from an album from 1979 was recorded in English and came out in 1981 on the American movie soundtrack "Heavy Metal". Undoubtedly, Trust wanted to win and to rival the Anglo-Saxon Hard Rock groups. True Stakhavonists, the group's musicians recorded a new album in French in Stockholm which came out in October 1981. "Marche ou crève" was produced by Tony Platt (AC/DC). Trust immediately followed this by a tour in November and then recorded their third album in English renamed "Savage" at the very beginning of 1982 and had some concert dates in England and Germany.

Arriving at this stage in their young career, a certain number of misgivings, even criticisms were put forward. The incessant changing of drummers, a more well-groomed production on their last album (so it was less "hard") and a certain decline in aggressiveness sort of turned away a public who up until then had totally supported the group.

Moreover, the fourth album was more difficult to put together. It took several months in the studio to finally come out with "Trust IV" in September 1982. Produced this time by Andy Johns (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones) this opus seemed more rock than hard rock, a symphony orchestra was recruited for the occasion. To continue with the drummer saga, Trust hired Clive Burr this time from Iron Maiden and Nico McBain joined Iron Maiden.

Caught between concerts and recording sessions, Trust began to run out of steam. In November 1983 the group embarked on a 100-day tour. The following year saw the release of their fourth album in English "Man's Trap" in England and Japan. In the autumn, the group released their final album before their break-up "Rock n' Roll" fifth opus which contained the group's last hit "Serre les poings".

It was at a concert in Brittany on July 31, 1985 that Bernie announced the end of the group. The adventure was finished, times had changed and Trust didn't seem to be in the style of the day anymore. The social and political context were no longer the same (François Mitterrand arrived in office in May 1981). What made Trust's reputation, such as refusal of authority (of the police among others) the denunciation of censorship, the defense of the underprivileged etc was no longer topical. Besides the management problems seemed to have gangrened the life of the group already a bit weary of itself.

So each member of Trust took a different road. Bernie released a solo album in 1986 and appeared in some films as an actor before embarking on directing himself. As for Nono, who transformed himself into a high-flying musician, he put himself at the service of Johnny Hallyday.

But nostalgia is never far away. Trust got back together for a concert opening for Iron Maiden two nights in a row in September 1988. The following year "Paris by Night" came out which is a live extract of one for these concerts. A tour of about 20 dates was organized despite the fact that Bernie and Nono didn't force continuing. The fans were a little confused, waiting no doubt for a definitive reforming of the group. But the main characters involved would decide otherwise, even if the appearance of a mini-album called "En Attendant"(while waiting). The question everyone asked was waiting for what?

But we must admit that they seemed to have a lot of trouble staying apart, without big rock masses and without fame. Playing thus on the nostalgia of their fans, Trust released a new live album whose songs dated from the 1980 tour "Repression" and put it on the market in October 1992. Obviously very representative of Trust's style this record was of very good quality.

In fact at the demand of Epic records, the group's former label, Bernie Bonvoisin and Nono Krief got together again in 1995 to write some new songs. They were appointed a new drummer (!) Nirox and a new bassist David Jacob. It was in fact Warner who allowed the release of this new album "Europe et Haines" giving them a very interesting contract.

The way of handling the different themes is more or less the same, virulent and direct lyrics and the music was still as energetic-bodybuilt. Trust sold more than 100,000 copies of this record, proof that there were still fans of the group. On February 21 1997, the group played a sold out show to 6000 at the Zenith in Paris before heading out on a tour of France.

Besides the fact that Nirox hadn't belonged to the group since the release of the previous album and Bernie Bonvoisin preferred to dedicate a bit more time to cinema, Trust nevertheless released a new album in April 2000 "Ni dieu ni maitre". But the discord between Bonvoisin and Norbert Krief raised its ugly head. In fact Bonvoisin sued Krief and asked for the removal pure and simple of the album from the record shops under the pretext that he wasn't satisfied with the result.

Trust or the only real hard rock French group of all times? Without a doubt, even if it seems a bit exaggerated. However, since the middle of the 1980's, no artist has managed to hold this much coveted place.

September 2000