Line-up

Venue

The Novo Theather

800 West Olympic Boulevard, 90015, Los Angeles (LA), CA, US

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Additional details

Tour name: Celebrating 35 Years of FACE TO FACE

Doors open: 20:00

Concert in your area for Indie & Alt.

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Face To Face biography

Face to Face (formed in 1991) is an American punk band, fronted by Trever Keith from Victorville, California, in the U.S.

Originally comprised of friends Trever Keith on vocals and guitar and Matt Riddle on bass, the two started a group called Zero Tolerance. With the addition of Rob Kurth on drums, and later Mark Haake on guitar the band began practicing and played a number of local shows, until the departure of Haake, when the band changed the name to Face to Face and began playing as a three-piece.

Playing shows in the Inland Empire and Orange County, California, U.S areas Face to Face soon found fame alongside bands like The Offspring and Guttermouth. The band recorded a number of songs for their debut album “Don’t Turn Away” (1992) after meeting Bill Plaster of Dr. Strange Records and Jim Goodwin who offered Face to Face studio time.

After an intense touring period, Face to Face signed with the label Victory Music and added an extra guitarist by the name of Chad Yaro. Ahead of their sophomore album release, the band released an EP “Over It” to test the waters, featuring the track “Disconnected”. Due to a steady steam of airplay on KROQ, the single became instantly popular, Face to Face became a recognisable name, and the band’s follow-up album “Big Choice” (1995) sold over 100,000 copies.

Given the success of “Big Choice” Face to Face singed to the major label A&M and released their self-titled album in 1996. The album had moderate success and saw bassist Matt Riddle replaced by Scott Shiflett. The band’s 1999 follow-up “Ignorance is Bliss” on Beyond Records moved the band in a new hard-rock direction, puzzling a few fans who were expecting a more pop-punk influenced sound, made famous by the likes of Blink-182 and Lit.

Returning to their original sound on “Reactionary” (2000) the album allowed fans to hear select snippets of songs and choose which they thought should belong on the new album. The band lost guitarist Yaro and released a cover album “How to Ruin Everything” in 2001 on Vagrant Records after the deal with Beyond Records went sour.

The band split in 2004 but reappeared in 2008 to play a select number of shows in the U.S. and internationally. After much speculation and anticipation and appearances at the Australia’s Sounwave and 2010 Warped Tour, Face to Face released a new album entitled “Laugh Now, Laugh Later” on May 17, 2011.

Unwritten Law biography

Unwritten Law are an American rock band from Poway, California, and based in San Diego, California. They formed in 1990.

After forming and finding themselves amidst a slew of acclaimed rock bands fron the San Diego area in the early nineties - Rocket from the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu and Blink-182 can all be counted amongst their initial contemporaries - Unwritten Law didn’t actually release a debut record until 1994. When ‘Blue Room’ dropped, though, it encapsulated the aggressive, pacy style of punk rock that the band had become known for on the local scene with countless rapturously received gigs. By the late nineties, they were gradually edging toward stardom, with two more studio albums ‘Oz Factor’ and ‘Unwritten Law’ placing them on the map internationally, thanks to a slot on the Vans Warped Tour that, at the time, covered Europe and Australia as well as North America.

They could potentially have been accused of failing to strike whilst the iron was hit, leaving it until 2002 to return with a fourth album - ‘Elva’ - but the time they spent realigning their punk rock sound, making it more accessible and hard rock-oriented, paid dividends as they made TV appearances and saw their single ‘Seein’ Red’ top the US modern rock charts. They’ve retained a strong cult fanbase the world over since then, despite a slew of lineup changes affecting the band - frontman Scott Russo was, for a while, the only remaining founder member, although drummer Wade Youman rejoined the fold in 2013.

Live reviews

Although some say that California punk music reached its peak in the 80’s, Face to Face’s music showed that the 90’s punk scene had a unique and exhilarating style that should not be forgotten.
Trever Keith has been the driving force behind Face to Face since the band’s beginning and remains as the band’s only original member. Face to Face undoubtedly draws influence from the hardcore punk scene that was so vibrant in the 80’s, but they also have a more accessible sound to their music. They often perform songs in a catchy and lighthearted manner that allows their audience to sing along with them in the choruses. Trever Keith often sings part of his songs in a call and response manner, where he calls out a lyric to his song, and the audience then sings it back to him.
Face to Face is highly energetic throughout their whole performance. They are head banging to their music and shouting out their lyrics at the top of their lungs. Fans are highly excited to see Face to Face perform. They run up onto the stage and then lunge into the audience to go crowd surfing. Songs like “Disconnected” clearly show Face to Face’s talented songwriting abilities. They are able to create a heavy tune that delivers an intense sound, but are still able to keep it catchy with vocal harmonies and simple chord progressions.
Face to Face play a wide variety of their songs when they perform live. They play several songs from their self-titled album such as “Blind” and even perform some cover songs by such bands as the Descendents. Face to Face have been known to participate in festivals such as Warped Tour, and frequently embark on headlining tours throughout the world. Face to Face will be sure to play an in your face type concert that will be both highly fun and exciting.

Report

wjmcc

From the first "What's up, San Diego?" amidst the screeching of guitars, I knew I was in love. The drums picked up, as did the guitars, and Unwritten Law's concert had begun. The stage was simple, which was nice for me, because I don't like to see artists get drowned out or eclipsed by fancy visuals or technical elements. I'd much rather be able to focus on the musicians' energies and how they're contributing to a live performance. They contributed fantastically.

Each of the four members poured their heart out onto the stage and into their instruments, and the crowd went nuts. With each surge and each scream from the audience, the band members got even more into rocking it out, and truly magnified their performance into something almost transcendental. Seeing this passion on stage and the love for performing and their music is half the reason to see Unwritten Law life, I think. Their performance of "Save Me," especially, is one where there's truly all of the passion pouring out of these artists. Frontman Scott really gives it his all on stage and pours his heart into "Save Me," an event that sent tingles up my spine. If given the chance, do not miss out on seeing Unwritten Law live.

Anonymous