King Face

King Face is Punk band from Washington, D.C., United States. Formed in 1985, King Face put the Rock back in Punk Rock in Washington, D.C.'s Hardcore Punk scene. The group combined the emotionalism and highly melodic Punk style of D.C. contemporaries Scream and Dag Nasty with the Hard Rock swagger of Van Halen, circa David Lee Roth. The culmination of these two different styles along with singer Mark Sullivan's soulful crooning and bluesy harmonica jams, not to mention the group's tight musicianship made it easy to see why King Face stood out amongst the rest of the D.C. Punk music scene.

The dread-locked and highly charismatic Sullivan penned lyrics that were a departure from the political message common with most D.C. Punk groups at the time in favor of a more poetic and philosophical prose that was in a class of it's own. Guitarist Patrick Bobst had a real flair for laying down flanger-laden riffs that again evoked the spirit of Van Halen in their prime. While bassist Andrew Rapoport and Drummer Larry Colbert anchored down the group's melodic high-energy sound.

The band recorded their first self-titled debut album in April of 1986, which was produced by Ian Mackaye at Inner Ear studios and released by the band itself. In 1989 the group released their second album Everywhere You Look on the Dutch Punk label Konkurrel. Shortly there after the band called it quits. Then in 1995 King Face, in conjunction with Dischord Records, compiled and released a self-titled anthology, which included previously unreleased and compilation tracks. The fall of 1996 saw the return King Face in the form of a string of reunion shows in their hometown of D.C. as well as in New York City.

King Face made brief returns to performing in 1996 and 2012 before starting on new material in 2018. Over the span of five years which included a worldwide pandemic and working in new drummer Pete Moffett (formerly of Government Issue), the group wrote nine songs that were recorded with J.Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) in July of 2023. The results further their heavy and heartfelt sound while vocalist Mark Sullivan’s profound and wry lyrics appear just as evocative as they did decades ago. 40 years since its inception, King Face continues on with a timeless intent and a sound matchless to any other band from the nation’s capital.

King Face 7'' (1986)

01 - Crawl Into Tomorrow

02 - I Don't Want To Be Anything

03 - Lull-A-Bye

04 - Anyone

05 - Lick The Moon

06 - Like A King

Mother'fucker Read My Back 7'' (1989)

01 - Body And Your Mind

02 - Life Keeps Getting Longer

03 - Read My Back

04 - Crawl Into Tomorrow

05 - Lick The Moon

06 - Lull'a Bye

07 - Everywhere You Look

Everywhere You Look (1989)

01 - One Truth

02 - Words Taste Good

03 - Read My Back

04 - My Only Sin

05 - Life Keeps Getting Longer

06 - Jealousy

Complete (1995)

01 - Tired

02 - Lick The Moon

03 - My Favorite Movie Is Life

04 - Dirty Wings

05 - Crawl Into Tomorrow

06 - I Don't Want To Be Anything

07 - Lull-A-Bye

08 - Anyone

09 - Like A King

10 - One Truth

11 - Words Taste Good

12 - Read My Back

13 - My Only Sin

14 - Life Keeps Getting Longer

15 - Jealousy

Live At The 9:30 Club (2010)

01 - Life Keeps Getting Longer

02 - I Don't Want To Be Anything

03  My Only Sin

04 - Lullabye

05  Joy And Posion

06 - Body Is Your Mind

07 - Crawl Into Tomorrow

08 - Lick The Moon

09 - Dirty Water Come

10 - Words Taste Good

11 - Everywhere You Look

12 - Read My Back

13 - Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love

Demos (2024)

01 - Lick The Moon

02 - Tired

03 - My Favorite Movie Is Life

04 - Dirty Wings (Remix)

King Face (2024)

01 - Not Pretty Anymore

02 - Starvation Food

03 - Bad Mood

04 - Something To Me

05 - Kingdom Come

06 - Solution By A Thousand Cuts

07 - Stormy Weather

08 - Ipso Facto

09 - Time To Go

pass: freepunk77