ZapTown

Face To Face
Self-Titled
1996 – A&M

Origin: Victorville, California
Style: Punk

After their song “Disconnected” — from the album Big Choice — became popular enough to land in the movie soundtracks of Tank Girl and National Lampoon’s Senior Trip, the band finally had a major label knocking on their door. Face To Face packed their bags from Victory and moved to A&M.

For many a fan at the time, this could have been a bad and cautionary decision, possibly ruining the band. Looking back, it appeared that they took what they wanted from the label and moved on as this was their only release on a major.

Unlike many bands who tried this method and failed, Face To Face created a successful venture that ended up being some of their best work.

After the release of Big Choice and extensive touring with bands like NOFX, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and others, bassist Matt Riddle left the band and moved to 22 Jacks, Pulley, and then settling with No Use For A Name.

In came the then unknown Scott Shiflett, and it was like the band never skipped a musical beat. However, you may notice a difference in the songwriting as Riddle played an important role, collaborating with vocalist/guitarist Trevor Keith. Where Don’t Turn Away had an edge and more frumpy overtone yet pointed to the listener, this self-titled release ends up being more contemplative.

With the band close to the production aspect of this album and bringing back in Jim Goodwin to assist, there really is not much of a difference from Big Choice to this album. However, you will notice a distinct change from this album to their Vagrant work as their musical tastes began to mix around and drummer Rob Kurth left the band.

What makes this album work is that stylistically, nothing is changed. The band uses the exact same formula since the beginning: driving pop punk rhythms, the socio-personal lyrics, and the charm of harmonies in the chorus that is found in many So-Cal pop punk bands to this day. From “Blind” — a song that plays on the aspect of realities and the realism of situations that fall into personal regret — to the Bad Religion-esque “Can’t Change The World,” all of this is exactly what you would expect from a Face To Face release.

What keeps an album like this relevant is that the band took themselves seriously and believed in what they were creating. As a side note, it should be made aware that upon searching for information on this album through the Internet, there are a few inconsistencies in regards to the band (i.e., the Wikipedia article has the band disbanding in 1994, two years before this album was released – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_to_Face_(punk band)). Unintentionally, Sputnik Music has a complimentary and proper retrospect on this album – http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=6120.

Cross-Reference: Bad Religion, No Use For A Name, Descendents