Face To Face, Unwritten Law, et Down By Law

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.

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.