False Witness

False Witness

By: Scott Garite


It’s been five years in the making but False Witness, a local band out of Downey finally has a set line-up led by vocalist Joe “the cool” Hernandez, a Cerritos College student.

On Thursday, Cerritos College students were given a chance to witness first hand, the music of False Witness when Hernandez’s stage building and live sound class called on him to have his band perform.

False Witness, with a sound that drummer David “Crash” Simpson defines as “Dopeness on Fire," will be performing again Thursday, giving Hernandez’s class to get another chance to work hands on with the band, giving students in the class a chance to put class knowledge into action.

“I don’t know what else to call us. We’re not straight-up metal, we’re dope and if something is dope, then it should definitely be on fire, therefore dopeness on fire,” Simpson stated.

“None of the members have the same taste in music. Our tastes range from jazz and blues, to metal bands differ with bands like Testament to Slipknot, but the one band everybody in the band can agree on is Red Hot Chili Peppers,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez, originally of the band Brown Stripes, says that he’s been on a mission to create great music with great people, and through a strange course of events False Witness has a group of guys that are ready to back up this mission.

Simpson said, “I was smoking at a gas station, and I guess Hernandez felt compelled by that fact that I would do such a thing, to randomly ask if I knew of any drummers.

“I told Hernandez I played and just like that I ended up in the band.”

Matt Griswold, the lead guitarist of the band, is the only other original band mate left from the starting line-up besides Hernandez. He went on to recruit Hernandez, bringing him to collaborate with other musicians.

I just knew that Hernandez was as passionate as I was about making music. I introduced him to some other musicians and that’s how we ended up together.

False Witness would go on to have three different drummers in the band, but according to Hernandez, each one eventually disappeared into the “Twilight Zone” before adding Simpson to the band.

The original bassist fell out due to personal issues giving an opening for Chris Griswold, Matt’s younger brother to fill the void. Second guitarist, Eddie Espinoza is the latest addition; joining the band last November.

“I work with Espinoza building guitars,” the older Griswold added, “and I knew that he played guitar and also like the same kind of music so I asked him to audition. There were other guitarist’s in the running but Espinoza blew them out of the water.”

Now that there is nothing stopping False Witness from focusing on its music. The band says that it is looking forward to writing new material, playing as many shows as possible and creating relationships with fans.

Visit False Witness on Myspace to find out more about them and their future