Face to Face - 'Laugh Now... Laugh Later'

In a sense, Face to Face’s break-up never quite felt real. The band called it quits after the 2003 Warped Tour, then decided to reunite a year later for a proper farewell tour. Two years later, they released Punk Rock Eats Its Own, a documentary about the group’s history. Just two years after that, the group reunited and started touring again. Now in 2011, Face to Face has finally issued a follow-up to their supposed swansong, How to Ruin Everything.

While it wasn’t billed as such when it was released in 2002, Ruin sounds like a fitting final record, and its legacy looms over new record Laugh Now… Laugh Later. Ruin had a raw, live sound and the band’s fastest songs in years. Some tunes had a nostalgic air to them, like “Shoot the Moon.” The acoustic concluding title track had finality to it. The record just felt like such a great closing chapter.

Laugh Now thus has a few strikes against it. Self-produced by members Trever Keith and Scott Shiflett, the record lacks the punch Chad Blinman brought to Ruin. Face to Face always had a strong bass presence, but the low end doesn’t strike me anything special this time out. Laugh is also a lot slower, something made more obvious when hearing the new material performed live. Maybe it can be chalked up to time away from the studio, but it’s not like the members stopped making music. Really, the Face to Face moniker was just retired so Keith and Shiflett could return to exploring the more experimental, ambient textures of Ignorance is Bliss with acts like Viva Death and Real Space Noise.

But forget the whole “preserving the legacy” thing and Laugh Now becomes something else: A pretty catchy pop-punk album. It’s definitely more melodic than Ruin. It even boasts a first for Face to Face; “All For Nothing” is a genuine ’80s style love song on par with Modern English or Psychedelic Furs. There are glimmers of aggression on opening track “Should Anything Go Wrong.” Taken overall, it’s a solid record.

Laugh Now isn’t the worst F2F release (My pick: Reactionary), but it also doesn’t dislodge their finest works either. But for those of us missing them something fierce, it’s a welcome return from one of the ’90s best punk bands. I can only hope it educates a new generation of fans.

Face to Face / Rise Against - split

Welcome to facetofacenews.org, your source for all things Face to Face, from pop-punk to pompadours. The California quartet has been on a heck of a comeback in 2011, with an amazing new tour and a solid new album. Further sweetening the deal is a split with Rise Against in which the two bands cover each other. While the seven-inch is a little uneven, it’s still a fun listen. Like the Bouncing Souls/Hot Water Music split from earlier this year, it’s a neat release for fans of both groups.

Face to Face’s take on “The Good Left Undone,” from The Sufferer & The Witness, is straightforward, almost to the point of redundancy. But it has two things going for it: Trever Keith’s voice and a slightly quicker tempo. It’s in keeping with the band’s other covers, in that it’s a solid, faithful job and a catchy tune to boot.

The same cannot be said for Rise Against’s take on “Blind,” from Face to Face. One of Face to Face’s strengths is uncomplicated songwriting. Keith finds a melody, the band adds some catchy chords and then they rock it out. Rise Against takes a bells ‘n’ whistles approach to “Blind,” and it just sounds inferior. Everything from the acoustic intro/outro to the added breakdown distracts from what was originally a simple, fun pop-punk song. Put it another way, now that I’m done reviewing this split, I will probably never listen to the Rise Against side again.

Still, this split is part of the celebration of Face to Face’s return, and it’s a good curio for fans. Just don’t spend too much time on the Rise Against side.

Face to Face / Strung Out at the Trocadero

The drunks were at the bar; the punks were in the pit. Between the two there was a clear divide in energy levels at the Face to Face/Strung Out show Sat., May 21 at Philadelphia’s Trocadero. Kids on the floor maintained a constantly swirling mass for both bands without tiring (and surprisingly few fights). The old heads up at the balcony drank their drinks and took some abuse from the bands. There wasn’t any real hostility, though, just a kinship formed over fast beats and snotty vocals.

After opening sets from the Darlings (SoCal pop-punk) and the regrettably named Cerebral Ballzy (thrash punk), Strung Out emerged to big applause and an even bigger mosh pit. While the band has tweaked its sound over the years, the tunes segued nicely into each other as guitarists Jake Kiley and Rob Ramos peeled off solo after solo. Frontman Jason Cruz frequently interacted with the crowd during and between songs, offering high fives and fist bumps while occasionally tweaking the adults at the bar. After a tight 45-minute set, the band bowed out to make room for the night’s main event, Face to Face.

While Face to Face has officially been reunited since 2008, 2011 feels like their true comeback. Their new, pretty good album Laugh Now… Laugh Later just dropped. More importantly, their promotional tour for the record boasts the best Face to Face set I have ever seen.

I’m not going to pretend to be an old vintage punker, but I did catch the band twice before their break-up, and while both performances were exemplary, tonight had a raw energy and enthusiasm that surpassed previous stops in Philly. Maybe it was the rambunctious crowd. Maybe it was the fact that the returning members look exactly the same (Well, Trever Keith and Scott Shiflett anyway. Drummer Danny Thompson is new and I don’t know who the second guitarist was, but he wasn’t Chad Yaro). Or maybe it was just a really, really well-picked setlist.

Tonight, the band played “the hits.” That means a lot of stuff off the first three records, plus “Bill of Goods” from How to Ruin Everything. Four tracks from Laugh Now were shown off (Set opener “Should Anything Go Wrong,” plus “It’s Not All About You,” “Bombs Away” and “All For Nothing”), and they sound much better in a faster, live setting. I’m one of the few who actually loves the group’s experimental Ignorance is Bliss record, but I didn’t mind seeing it passed over, along with Reactionary, in favor of tracks like “Won’t Lie Down,” “A-OK” and “Walk Away.”

The band kicked things off with new tune “Should Anything Go Wrong” and the crowd erupted. They didn’t quite know the words yet, but they sure kept time. Then Keith counted into Don’t Turn Away’s “You’ve Done Nothing,” and the audience sure knew the words to that one. The show seemed to deal out songs by period. A Face to Face suite yielded “Ordinary,” “Walk the Walk,” “Won’t Lie Down” and a particularly roaring version of “Blind,” for example. Big Choice, of course, got the biggest reaction, with songs like “Disconnected” and “Big Choice” setting off the crowd.

Keith took the time to chide the drunks, galvanizing them to a minimal amount of exercise by standing up for the entirety of “Bill of Goods.” But after an hour-long performance plus a two-song encore, Face to Face left the stage to applause from everyone in attendance. Fans were promised another show within a year, plus they scored Laugh Now for free if they bought anything at the merch table. All kidding aside, Keith and co. were good to Philadelphia.

REGARDING NEW FACE TO FACE SON.

Seminal punk act Face to Face is finally releasing new music again. Check out their official site for a free download of "Should Anything Go Wrong," off of their new album Laugh Now... Laugh Later, due in Jan. 2011.

This is song is class F2F. It could have been on the self-titled record from 1995. I've been skeptical about all the '90s band reunions going on right now - I don't want all my favorite bands to ruin their legacies - but "Anything" is a legitimately good song. Hell, this could be the track that introduces the band to a new generation of fans.

...also the group is going to be on LA Ink tonight on TLC, which could go either way...