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The history of Face to Face begins in Victorville , CA a small desert community about 60 miles Northeast of Los Angeles. Friends since high school, Trever Keith (vocals, guitar) and Matt Riddle (bass) get tired of the local metal bands they've been playing in and decide to put together a punk rock band. They find Rob Kurth (drums) through mutual friends and start writing and rehearsing under the name "Zero Tolerance." Rob's friend Mark Haake comes on as an additional guitarist for a couple of months before getting orders to the Middle East with the Air Force. As a 3-piece, the band plays a show at Spanky's in Riverside, CA and a couple other local shows. When Mark Haake returns, the band decides to stay a 3-piece and changes the name to "face to face."
The band continues to play frequently throughout the Inland Empire and Orange County and quickly becomes a local favorite alongside bands like; The Offspring, Guttermouth, Voodoo Glow Skulls, etc. At one of the local shows, the band meets Bill Plaster of Dr. Strange Records. They decide to do a record together and Face to Face goes into Westbeach Recorders in Hollywood , CA to record songs for their first full length record, "Don't Turn Away." Once the recording is finished (in 2 weekends) there is trouble getting it released and in the interim the band meets Jim Goodwin who is a young aspiring recording engineer. Jim Goodwin offers to record the band's new songs for free and they go in and record songs like, "Nothing New," "Pastel," and "Disconnected." These new songs are added to the original line up for "Don't Turn Away" and the record comes out on Dr. Strange Records in 1992.
As Face to Face continue to gain local popularity, the demand for the CDs becomes more than Dr. Strange Records can handle. Trever had been introduced to Fat Mike from NOFX and knew that he had recently started his own label called Fat Wreck Chords. Trever asks Mike if he would be interested in re-releasing "Don't Turn Away" on his label and Mike agrees. "Don't Turn Away" is re-released on Fat Wreck Chords and instantly becomes one of their biggest selling records. With the help of Fat Mike, Face to Face goes on their first tour, to Germany .
After a three-week tour in Germany supporting Lagwagon, Face to Face returns home broke and a little wiser. They decide to add an additional guitarist to fill out the sound of the band. Chad Yaro, a local friend of a friend, comes onboard and Face to Face is now a four piece. They continue to tour in the US and Canada with NOFX in support of "Don't Turn Away." When it became time to make a new record, the band makes a decision to go with a new label that has major label distribution. Their new label, Victory Music/JVC puts them in the studio with producer Thom Wilson (The Offspring, Dead Kennedys) and they record their second full-length release, "Big Choice." The label is nervous about their new distribution deal and wants a "test" release to run through the system, so the band puts together an EP of songs from 7"s and other rarities called "Over It." The EP is released weeks before "Big Choice" and the label gets a remixed version of the song "Disconnected" on the play list at KROQ in LA. Because of the success of the single at radio, the label convinces the band to add "Disconnected" to "Big Choice" as a bonus track (a third recording of the song) and a cover of The Descendents' "Bikage" is also added as a bonus track.
Face to Face enjoys national radio and touring success for "Big Choice" and continues to tour with the likes of NOFX, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and The Offspring during 1995. The heavy amount of touring begins to take a toll. Matt Riddle feels the band is going in a different direction than he had wanted. Matt leaves Face to Face in 1995. Matt goes on to play in 22 Jacks and Pulley before settling on No Use For A Name.
Scott Shiflett (bass) replaces Matt Riddle in late 95. At Scotts first show in the bands (and Matt Riddles) hometown, Victorville, he is well received and the show is amazing. After the end of the year, the band goes to work writing their third album, Face to Face. This being the first record without Matt who had been Trevers songwriting collaborator, Trever writes the lions share of the songs with a little help from Scott and Chad. They recruit Jim Goodwin again to record and produce the record. Their current label, Victory Music/JVC, goes bankrupt leaving the bands contract in the control of their distributor, PolyGram, who assigns their contract to A&M Records. Now on a major label, the band gets a ton of backlash from the punk rock community. But despite the criticisms, Face to Face becomes a defining album for the band and they find themselves at the apex of their career. Although there is little radio airplay for the single, I Wont Lie Down, and in spite of many other obstacles placed in front of them by A&M Records, Face to Face continue to grow in popularity and play to an ever-expanding live audience. After spending about two years on the road on their own headlining tours, The Warped Tour, and in support of No Doubt, Face to Face record a live album over two shows at The Roxy in Hollywood, CA, which is released on their long-time managers label, Vagrant Records. Not long after, the band decides that Rob Kurth is not holding up to the standard set by the band for live shows and recording. After attempts to patch up the dispute fail, Rob Kurth leaves the band in early 1998. To finish out the touring cycle for their self-titled record, the band takes drummer Jose Medeles out with them on a co-headlining US tour with the Reverend Horton Heat before taking a break to write their next album.
Although Face to Face has become well-known throughout North America, Europe, and Japan as a So Cal pop-punk band, they decide their next record will take the band creatively in a new direction. Trever, Scott, and Chad audition nearly 25 different drummers before settling on Pete Parada. With the new line up complete, the band begins writing and recording demos for what will become, Ignorance is Bliss. Chad Blinman, who had mixed the live album, was brought on as producer/engineer for this, their fourth studio album. The bands label A&M was about to be gobbled up by a corporate merger, so manager Rich Egan gets them out of their deal just in time to beat the bureaucracy. With some borrowed money from Vagrant, and no label deal in place, Face to Face records their most ambitious album, Ignorance is Bliss in early 1999. They eventually find a home at Beyond Music, who releases the record later that year. Initially, none of the fans appreciate the new direction of the record and the following tour is a disaster. The tour is cut short after less than two weeks. A beaten up and weary Face to Face comes home to figure out what to do next. Chad Yaro, after years of threatening to quit, finally makes it official.
After some real soul-searching, the band decides they need to return to their signature pop-punk sound. They set out writing songs for their fifth album. Although Chad has quit, the remaining members and manager Rich, convince Chad to show up for the photo shoot and play his guitar parts in the studio, but it was all just for show. The band completed Reactionary, again with Chad Blinman as producer/engineer for Beyond Music in 2001. With the explosion of the internet and the way it was changing music, the band takes advantage of the technology and the DIY spirit by offering the entire album on the internet before its release. The fans are invited to log on, listen, and vote for their favorite songs. Only the songs with the most votes make the album. This was an unprecedented move for a punk rock band at the time and it got a lot of attention. The band also does a tour in support of the highly controversial Napster for the Reactionary album. Although there was hope that Chad would join the band for the touring cycle, it never happens. The band again decides to stay a three-piece.
Now Trever, Scott, and Pete, go to work writing their sixth and final studio album. Working with trusted producer/engineer Chad Blinman, they decide to take a completely different approach to recording. This time the band is recorded live off of the floor. The result is the most raw and aggressive record since Dont Turn Away. After getting out of a less than desirable deal with Beyond Music, Face to Faces last album, How To Ruin Everything is released on Vagrant Records. The band headlines, joins The Warped Tour again for the first time in over 5 years, and generally enjoys the devoted and loyal following theyve cultivated by non-stop touring over the past 13 years. But at the end of it all, its decided that Face to Face has run its course as a band and the remaining members decide to schedule a farewell tour, which is met with mixed feelings by the fans in Fall 2004. The final shows at House of Blues in Hollywood feature a guest appearance from Chad Yaro and are documented in an upcoming retrospective DVD. The DVD and CD collection of essential Face to Face songs will be released on singer Trever Keiths Antagonist record label in 2005.
Taken from F2F.com
Other Links.
www.antagonistrecords.com/artists/facetoface/index.html
