Face to Face

With singer/guitarist Trever Keith and bassist Scott Shifflet dedicating their time to their rock supergroup Viva Death with Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle) and Shifflet's brother Chris (Foo Fighters), Face to Face has announced its dissolution. Coming out of the Southern California punk rock hotbed home of Bad Religion and The Descendents, like its O.C. peers, Face to Face combined pop melody with raw, churning guitars and rhythms. It broke out in 1995 on the heels of Green Day with the hit "Disconnected," but while Blink-182 and Sum 41 were capitalizing on the sound, Face to Face put out a hard rock album, 1999's Ignorance Is Bliss, presaging the current emo-metal hybrids. The band's songcraft continued to evolve, absorbing the influences of The Jam, Fugazi, and The Clash, and its Vagrant swan song, How to Ruin Everything, will stand as one of its best albums -- something many bands can't say when they call it quits. Trever Keith also remains one of punk's great unsung singers, with a clear, anthemic voice that recalls Keith Morris.