You never know what might spark a career in music. For John Truth, the unlikely moment came in the mid 1970s, when he was 15 or 16 years old. The epiphany occurred during a visit to a coffeehouse in downtown Portsmouth. 

“I remember there was a kid in there playing guitar, and I didn’t like the kid. He was playing pretty good guitar, and it kind of pissed me off that this guy that I didn’t like that much was able to do that, so it kind of motivated me to get a guitar,” Truth said. “Around the same time, 16, I discovered Bob Dylan, and everything took off from there.”

Truth went on to co-found legendary local punk band The Queers, helm his own rock group The Monsignors, and embark on a solo career. Now, after close to two decades of precious little musical activity, Truth is starting anew. He recently released a solo album, “New Hymns,” as well as a compilation of Monsignors recordings, “The Way It Wasn’t (Songs 1981-1989).” He plans to record a new full-band album this spring.

Reestablishing himself will take some legwork for Truth. He hasn’t performed regularly since the ’80s, and he hasn’t entirely caught up with the times. He doesn’t have a Web site, Myspace account or Facebook page (although he plans to establish a Web presence soon), and he’s disgusted by the mainstream music of the 21st century (“What does Justin Bieber do, anyway?” he asked). Truth is appalled by the technological tricks modern musicians use to make themselves sound better.

“It’s almost like a sign of the apocalypse when people need pitch control to complete a vocal track. It’s not a good sign,” he said.

That’s why Truth is approaching his latest project with the same brazen attitude of honesty and authenticity that made him a staple of the scene for a decade. 

Born Scott Gildersleeve, Truth started his first band in 1978 while a student at Goddard College in Vermont. Called The Objects, the trio played about half a dozen shows and released a single recording. One of their songs, “Is There Life After Sex?,” made it onto “The Way It Wasn’t” as a bonus track. 

He moved to New York after college but later returned to his hometown of Portsmouth, where he reunited with a couple of old friends—Joe King and Jack Hayes. They formed a band, initially covering songs like The Dave Clark Five’s “Glad All Over” and The Monkees’ “You Told Me.” But they soon decided to embark on a deliberate campaign to “shock the community,” Truth said. They began throwing around band names sure to draw instant attention. King suggested The Queers.

“I thought it was good because it had a double connotation,” Truth said. “In the ’50s, if a girl didn’t like a guy, she’d say, ‘That guy’s so queer.’ It wasn’t exclusively about sexuality. It could be taken that other way. I always took it to mean being an outsider, you know, not fitting in. I certainly wasn’t anti-gay, but we were also aware that we wanted to draw attention to ourselves, and it worked.”

For the band’s first EP, released in 1982, Truth adopted the moniker Tulu and played bass. King sang and played guitar as Joe Queer, and Hayes played drums as Wimpy Rutherford. They switched up their instruments on the second EP, with Wimpy taking over as lead singer and Tulu playing drums. 

“I sort of had this Malcolm McLaren idea of turning Jack (Hayes) into Johnny Rotten, and that’s what I did,” Truth said. “I told him to use an over-the-top fake British accent and just told him to do his best, and I did my best on drums.”

Just as the band was beginning to achieve a tight sound, though, they abruptly broke up. Truth said the band members—himself included—didn’t take the music seriously enough.  

“There was a lack of discipline and a lack of seriousness that I kind of picked up on,” he said. “As it turns out, I guess I was wrong, because Joe’s still doing it.”

Indeed, King recruited new band mates and The Queers rose to national prominence in the late ’80s and ’90s, spearheading the pop-punk movement before bands like Green Day, Rancid and The Offspring became radio sensations. They have continued to tour with varying lineups through the 2000s.

Truth and Hayes went on to found The Monsignors, which relocated to Boston in 1985, where they added lead guitarist Nancy Rideout and bassist Greg Hylands. It was that same year that Truth adopted his personal moniker.

“John Truth was the most grandiose, pretentious name that I could think of,” he said. “Now, though, I kind of like the name John Truth. It’s short and sounds biblical.”  Truth said The Monsignors were inspired less by punk and more by the country and blues artists he grew up listening to. “I love punk rock, but I also love George Jones and Johnny Cash and Kitty Wells and Jimmy Reed and Lightnin’ Hopkins, and I just couldn’t do that in The Queers,” he said.

The Monsignors played roughly 100 shows over the next four years, mostly in the Boston area but also around Portsmouth and Portland, Maine. They struggled to attract interest from labels, even after Asa Brebner of The Modern Lovers produced a few of their songs. Their crowning achievement came when the band was a finalist in Musician Magazine’s search for the country’s Best Unsigned Band. The judges, according to Truth, were Lou Reed, Mark Knopfler and T-Bone Burnett. He still has a copy of the issue, a young Sinead O’Connor gracing its cover.

The Monsignors played their final show at The Stone Church in Newmarket on Dec. 10, 1988. The double-disc compilation Truth released late last year includes 28 songs, almost all of which he wrote. Though the recording quality varies from track to track, the album provides a thorough overview of a rock band that successfully blended punk-rock with rootsier genres to develop a strong local following.  

For Truth, The Monsignors’ breakup led to a lengthy musical hiatus that lasted through most of the ’90s, a period he now refers to as “the lost years.” He was married for part of the decade and lived in Massachusetts, where his creative output stagnated. He did, however, have a brief stint with The Queers in the late ’90s, reuniting the original trio along with Geoff Useless on bass.

In 2002, Truth moved to Los Angeles and began work on “New Hymns,” recording on a 4-track in his kitchen. He worked on the album, on and off, for the next four years, but did not release it until a couple of months ago.

The six-song CD mostly consists of Truth alone on vocals, guitar and harmonica. It’s got a pared-down, dark, minimal sound and lonesome lyrics that call to mind some of the folk and country musicians he’s always admired.

“It’s ultra confessional. I mean, it’s brutally honest,” Truth said. “I just wanted to put out an honest bunch of songs and not dress them up fancy in any way.”

But Truth looks forward to once again playing rock songs with a full band. He moved back to New Hampshire in 2006, settling in Exeter to be close to his ailing mother. He’s already written most of the songs for his next album and has found a new drummer and bassist. The record, tentatively titled “The Short Life of Trouble,” will have some Buddy Holly-esque rock tunes mixed with “hardcore country songs.”

“It’s definitely not as personal and as in-your-face (as ‘New Hymns’). Maybe a little more cryptic and certainly a little more rootsy,” he said. “It will mainly be rock ’n’ roll with honest lyrics, but maybe a little more catchy and playful.”

Truth plans to start gigging on the Seacoast after he finishes the new album. Now over 50, it’s been a while since he took the stage with any regularity. During his last year in L.A., he sat in with The Queers one night at the Knitting Factory and played three songs: “I Want Cunt,” “We’d Have a Riot Doing Heroin” and “Nothing to Do.” He’s only seen King once since then, he said, although he still keeps in touch with Hayes.

But Truth has high hopes for his revival. He’d like to get signed to a label, he said, and might move to Boston to get closer to the action. For now, though, he’s excited to simply pick up his guitar and lay down some fresh tracks.

“I really want to get into the studio and do the rock ’n’ roll songs again,” he said. 

“New Hymns” and “The Way It Wasn’t” are available at Bull Moose in Portsmouth and Baldface Books in Dover.