Face to Face, Live in a Dive
Long-running SoCal punk band face to face released a live album back in 1998, when the group was only seven years old and had a trio of full-lengths to its name. Two decades, eight studio albums, and roughly a million shows later, it’s high time face to face recapture their ferocious live performances on an album and remind everyone why they’re icons.
The ninth edition of Fat Wreck Chords’ Live in a Dive (Oct. 18, 2019) captures face to face blasting through 12 songs from their storied career in 39 minutes.
“I think that the reason to do a live record when you’re this long in the tooth as a band is really to make a statement to the world,” says vocalist/guitarist Trever Keith. “We’re still playing this vital, intense music. We’re here.”
Aside from a short hiatus in the 2000s, face to face never really left. In fact, 2016’s Protection was the band’s most blistering album yet, which Live in a Dive perfectly captures in “Bent But Not Broken,” “Double Crossed,” and “I Won’t Say I’m Sorry.” The live recording also pulls from the 1992 classic Don’t Turn Away as well as Face to Face, Reactionary, How to Ruin Everything, and Laugh Now, Laugh Later.
face to face’s lengthy discography could’ve easily filled a live double album, but Keith wanted to keep it concise: The band selected highlights from their three-night stand at Brooklyn’s St. Vitus in early 2019, 12 songs that fit neatly on one vinyl album.
“I think the biggest challenge for this one was to figure out how to make a good track listing for it without repeating ourselves, because we’re still playing a lot of the same songs we recorded for our first live album,” Keith says. “But we put that one out in the first quarter of our career. It’s been a long time, but we’ve still been playing and active this whole time.”
Live in a Dive is a stark reminder that face to face remains a force, even as they approach their 30th anniversary. Take note, world.
Live in a Dive: Face to Face track listing:
Resignation
Bent But Not Broken
Bill of Goods
Double Crossed
What’s in a Name?
No Authority
I Won’t Say I’m Sorry
You Could’ve Had Everything
Should Anything Go Wrong
All For Nothing
Disappointed
Disconnected