Face To Face
Hits And Pits is almost upon us and one of the big inclusions is seminal Californian punk band Face To Face. With seven albums to their credit they remained a outfit until 2004 where they called it day before reuniting in 2008. Things since have really looked up for the band releasing two new albums since they’ve reformed. Front man Trevor Keith is looking forward to exploring Australia’s finest vineyards and talks more about the band to Across The Ocean in the lead up to Hits And Pits in May.
Are you excited to be heading down under for the Hits And Pits Festival in May?
Looking forward to it, you’re in Adelaide right? You’re only about an hour away from my favourite vineyard Mollydooker. That’s what I think of when I remember Adelaide. Won’t have much time to get there this time but if there are days off in Melbourne I hope to get in to the Yarra valley.
Do you think these smaller festivals like Hits And Pits have a sense of competitive rivalry between the bands?
I’m not sure as I haven’t done the tour before but my instinct tells me it will be a relaxed vibe with a bunch of guys playing music together. I couldn’t imagine it being competitive, it might be for some people, it won’t be for me! I’m there to have fun and give the best possible performance as possible.
Is it hard to cram the whole Face To Face discography in to forty five minutes or so to give the best representation of the band?
Certainly, we’re eight albums into our career so it is hard to get that down in to a forty five minute set. We try and hit the highlights and over the years we’ve worked out which are the ones people actually want to hear from the set. The shorter the set the obviously more difficult it is to squeeze them in but we’ll manage.
Looking back at the band’s history and members have come and gone do you think the line up now is the most settled and happiest the band has ever been?
I do actually, since we have reformed in 2008 it certainly has been the happiest we’ve been in the band. We’ve managed to put the band back together and not be pressured or stressed. We’re not trying to achieve anything, just play and make good music, put on good shows and have fun with it. I think when we were younger we were trying to be super competitive and compete with other bands and try to get added to this radio station or selling this many records or whatever. We found over the years that stuff wasn’t really that important as long as you have a supportive fan base, which is something we have had throughout the years and something we’re lucky to have. I don’t think we have a lot of stress with it these days.
Is the band dynamic the main attributor to the resurgence with the band?
Yeah, we added a new member in 2008, our drummer Danny, who has now been in the band for six years, which is a long time. He is really the only new comer. Scott and I have been together since 95 and Chad has been in the band longer than Scott. It is a pretty long term line up.
Do you think there have been some subtle changes in Face To Face sound over the years?
I think we’ve got better and what is interesting is Danny our newest drummer, there were three previous to him and sounds a bit Spinal Tap, has been able to incorporate a bit of the style of each of our previous three drummers. They’re pretty different style and he has mixed that in to one thing as well as putting his own signature on it as well. I think Danny has been the guy who has tied it all together and for the rest of us it’s doing what we do, hopefully getting a bit better at it every year through experience and repetition.
Another new album Three Chords and a Half Truth must top things off nicely?
Absolutely, we’ve released two records since we have reformed so this will be our first trip to Australia with this new record. I’m looking forward to playing a couple of new tracks off of it but we’re not going to bang the audience over the head with new songs but a good mix of old and new.
Face To Face
http://facetofacemusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/facetoface
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
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