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Jingle Ball: Listen to the FreeCreditReport.com singer’s real band, God Against God

A few years ago, the Free Credit Report dot com band captured the heart of a couch-surfing nation with their quirky and catchy-as-fuck television commercial jingles. Chances are you can still recite some of the lines, either from the Pirate Restaurant bit or the used car spot. Around the time they aired, in the late-2000s, there were all sorts of rumors about the “band” — and one in particular about the singer not being able to even speak English.

>> Listen to all nine FreeCreditReport.com ads here

It seems that last bit is partially true, as Pigeons & Planes has tracked down the band’s frontman, Montreal musician Eric Violette. In a pretty great profile, it details how the ad execs didn’t even use his own voice because of his thick accent.

P&P also uncovered Violette’s real band, the industrial-rock God Against God, which sounds a bit like a sort of poor man’s Stabbing Westward.

Check a highlight from the P&P post, with some God Against God clips after the jump…

It’s impossible not to be charmed by Eric Violette. His infectious smile and slightly crooked teeth (which he says Hollywood casting agents hate), are just as powerful now as they were when his image first splashed across America’s televisions. But the first thing anyone who has seen the ads will notice is his voice, in particular his heavy French-Canadian accent. What? Yes, the first illusion from the ads Violette shatters is that he is the one singing.

The Montreal-based casting director had initially planned to have Violette sing, but his accent was simply too foreign for the “everyman” tone the ads were going for, so his voice ended up being dubbed. The person you actually hear in most of the commercials is the jingle writer himself, Dave Muhlenfeld of The Martin Agency (more on him later). Though Violette didn’t sing, it turns out he was hired partially because the casting director knew he had his own band. And in an odd twist, the runaway success of the ads has allowed him to focus most of his recent energy on his music career, and away from acting.

Amazing.