Face To Face

In the opening years of the 1990s, Southern California punk group Face to Face surfaced, channeling the same aggressive yet tuneful approach favored by peers including the Offspring, Bad Religion, Pennywise, and NOFX. Their material consisted of compact outbursts of defiant self-reliance, driven by the spare, buzzing tone of electric guitars, the unyielding crack of the rhythm section, and Trever Keith’s forceful, emotive singing. The band’s interpretation of the regional punk aesthetic, documented on their first album, 1992’s Don’t Turn Away, earned them listeners once “Disconnected” gained traction at Los Angeles’ KROQ-FM, prompting a move to a major label. A pronounced change in direction arrived with 1999’s Ignorance Is Bliss, which replaced rapid punk tempos with a denser, weightier sound shaped by hard rock. That adjustment proved short-lived; subsequent releases such as 2002’s How to Ruin Everything, 2016’s Protection, and 2021’s No Way Out But Through reflected ongoing efforts to refresh the group’s established style.

Face to Face came together in 1991 with singer/guitarist Trever Keith, drummer Rob Kurth, and bassist Matt Riddle. Their debut, Don’t Turn Away, appeared the next year on independent Doctor Strange Records. Financial difficulties at the label hindered distribution, so Fat Wreck Chords quickly acquired and reissued the album. After second guitarist Chad Yaro joined, the band maintained a heavy touring schedule and gathered singles and compilation cuts into the 1994 collection Over It. Airplay on KROQ turned “Disconnected” into a regional success, leading the group to include a new recording of the track on 1995’s Big Choice; originally issued by Victory Records, the album transferred to A&M and surpassed 100,000 copies sold. Following Matt Riddle’s departure, bassist Scott Shiflett came aboard for the self-titled third album, released on A&M in 1996. The band switched to the BMG-distributed Beyond label for 1999’s Ignorance Is Bliss, which amplified the guitars and incorporated hard rock elements while introducing drummer Pete Parada.

In 2000, Face to Face reverted to their foundational sound on Reactionary, issued on their own Lady Luck Records through Beyond. A partnership with MP3.com let fans vote on the track listing by downloading song snippets, generating nearly two million votes over six weeks; the album reached stores on June 20, 2000. Early the next year, Vagrant released the covers collection Standards & Practices, featuring the band’s versions of material by the Smiths, the Pogues, Fugazi, the Jam, and additional acts. Also in 2001, Keith and Shiflett participated in Viva Death, whose self-titled debut arrived that September. Face to Face collaborated with Dropkick Murphys on a split EP, while their sixth studio album, How to Ruin Everything, surfaced in March 2002.

After twelve years and six albums, Face to Face disbanded in fall 2003. The 2005 retrospective Shoot the Moon: The Essential Collection appeared on Keith’s Antagonist Records. In 2008, Keith confirmed that the musicians responsible for Ignorance Is Bliss and Reactionary would regroup under the Face to Face name, although scheduling conflicts required Uprising drummer Danny Thompson to replace Pete Parada, who was touring with the Offspring. This configuration remained intact through 2015, producing Laugh Now…Laugh Later in 2011 and Three Chords and a Half Truth in 2013. Guitarist Dennis Hill replaced Chad Yaro in 2015, and the band rejoined Fat Wreck Chords.

Fat issued the tenth album, Protection, in early 2016, highlighted by the single “Bent But Not Broken.” The following summer brought the 7-inch “Say What You Want” b/w “I, Me, Mine.” Marking three decades, the 2018 acoustic retrospective Hold Fast: Acoustic Sessions presented ten unplugged renditions of earlier songs including “Disconnected” and “Blind.” In 2019, the ninth volume of Fat’s Live in a Dive series documented a March performance at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus Bar. The group returned to the studio for 2021’s No Way Out But Through, again on Fat Wreck Chords and produced by Seigfried Meier.