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Day & Night Magazine
April 14, 2006
"Breath taking"
by Mark T.R. Donohue
When performing live, the vocal rock group Face has all the force you would expect from a virtuosic seven-piece lineup. When the drums drop out or the bass kicks in during their winding arrangements, you can feel it in your gut. When all the members are working together, you can practically feel yourself being blown back from the stage.
Few groups with enormous amplifiers and state-of-the-art sound systems can rival Face for intensity. What’s really impressive is that this band draws its power from the use of just seven voices and seven microphones.
“We’re not an a capella group,” Face tenor/vocal percussionist Mark Megibow says. “When people hear ‘a capella,’ they think of barbershop or vocal jazz; no one thinks of what we do. ‘A capella’ literally means ‘all vocals,’ but we prefer ‘all vocal rock.’ People don’t understand right away.”
Indeed, you shouldn’t let a bias against all-vocal music or an irrational fear of men in matching bowler hats keep you away from Face’s live show, which stops in Longmont on Thursday. The band’s self-released EP, “Wake Up,” sounds crisp and professional, nut it’s nothing compared to seeing the band live.
Face creates a “wall of sound that you don’t typically hear from a vocal group. It leaves people wondering ‘How did they do that?’” Megibow says. Megibow, Cody Qualls, Jayson Throckmorton, Ryan Driver, Forest Kelly, Ben Lunstad, and Stephen Ross were all members of on-campus a cappella groups in college but with Face have taken things to another level entirely.
“We all wanted to do something professional, top-notch, extraordinary,” Megibow says. “We had lots of turnover, but the better we got, the better people we could attract.”
The current lineup, about two years old, reflects the high standards and talents of all the singers. The band’s feeling of consistent improvement was vindicated with a second place overall and audience favorite award in the 2005 Harmony Sweepstakes National Finals.
Winning such high honors “grants legitimacy to our marketing,” Megibow says, but also served as a huge “confidence boost” to the men of Face. The band performed only three songs at the national competition, but the work they put into those three pieces made everything else in their repertoire sound better as well.
Face performs sometimes radically altered versions of Top 40 hits, ‘70s and ‘80s oldies, and the odd show tune. Hearing the band tackle a familiar song like Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breathe” or Train’s “Calling All Angels” is anything but predictable. The band breaks its song selections down and reconstructs them from the ground up. “Direct translations don’t work,” Megibow says. “If there is a way to make it work, we haven’t found it.”
What he means is that taking the song as originally recorded – having bass Kelly echo the bassline, Megibow the drumbeat, and the rest the guitars, keyboards and lead vocals – doesn’t add up to a satisfactory arrangement. “Something else has to develop in the music,” Megibow says.
Face uses a wide variety of tools, from gospel harmonies to hip-hop breakdowns, to keep its music fresh and interesting. As such, it’s a tremendous challenge for the band member who chooses to try to adapt a given song.
“Most of our arrangements were done in a few nights of hard work, because the arranger was inspired and loved the song,” Megibow says, adding that members of the band usually work alone on arrangements.
Face is, however, beginning to experiment with writing compositions of their own. One singer might come in with a hook or melody, and the rest will try to complement and expand upon it.
Although the Face repertoire has expanded to some 25 songs, the band is beginning to play lengthy gigs during which they need to perform every single one. Plus, there’s constant pressure to develop new material for “repeat customers.”
One of the most interesting aspects of Face’s sound is Megibow’s remarkable ability to keep a strong beat coming using only his mouth over the course of a five- or six-minute song. He says there’s a trick to it.
“Some sounds are produced on the intake of breath. It takes practice just like anything else,” he says. “Now I could do it forever…Well, eventually my mouth might get dry.”
Boulder Weekly, 12-29-2005 - download - doc (29KB)
"About Face"
by Ari Armstrong
I have no gifts to bring..." Never before had I so strongly felt the beat of the little drummer boy. A poor child, with nothing but his simple, dinged-up instrument, has to compete with the mysterious Magi from the East who lay out their finest gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. He probably doesn't even know what "myrrh" is.
And so there's Mary under the bright stars, with her newborn baby, surrounded by the stately and wealthy Magi and some shepherds, and all eyes turn to the little boy. So, what did you bring?
Uh, deep breath. "Sh-shall I play for you?" The kid looks like he may keel over from nervousness, but he's got guts. One of the Magi puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. Mary nods. And he plays his very best. And the little one smiles, at him and his drum.
The funny thing is that the version of the song that got to me (no, really, that was just an eyelash) didn't even involve a drum. It involved an ex-drummer, Mark Megibow. Now he performs percussion vocally with the Boulder a cappella group Face.
But saying that Face is an "a cappella group" is sort of like saying Jimi Hendrix is a "guitar player." It's true, but it doesn't really get the point across. Face rocks. So put out of your head the stereotypes about vocal groups. "Edge and attitude," faceonline.biz claims with understatement, "an all-vocal rock band." They cover everything from Journey to Men Without Hats to the Pink Panther theme. I saw them early this month, so they mellowed their usual lineup with some sweet Christmas songs.
They obviously love doing it, and they're really good at it. So what sparks this creativity? What drives them to spend so much time and energy practicing and arranging music, traveling and performing? Why does the little drummer boy drum?
A lot of people continue to think of creativity as something you're either born with or not, or else something that just mysteriously strikes some people. But, reading the bios at Face's web page, it's obvious these guys have worked very hard for a long time to create such music.
Sure, some people are naturally more talented in some areas than in others. But the key is the development. Some years ago I had the good fortune to meet Michael Newberry, who has painted some extraordinary works. He told Navigator, "In college I discovered that I could paint, draw, and sculpt easily." But something becomes easier if you do it all the time. Newberry said he "needed to master essential attributes of painting, such as human anatomy, composition... color harmony, form, and spatial depth." Newberry, who endured years of poverty, added, "if your passion to create outweighs your obstacles, you've arrived as a 'real' artist."
This creative spirit is not unique among artists. Thomas Edison created a thing or two, and he said, "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." Andrew Bernstein, the creator of The Capitalist Manifesto, who visited here some weeks ago, discusses Edison's inventions. In addition to the quadruplex telegraph, Edison invented the "phonograph (1877), the incandescent light (1879), the electric power plant (1882), the motion picture camera (1893), the storage battery (1909) and numerous other devices."
Bernstein writes that creativity is all about the application of the mind: "By what means did George Washington Carver revolutionize agricultural science? How did John Roebling improve the design of suspension bridges and create his masterpiece, the Brooklyn Bridge? What instrument did George Eastman employ to utterly transform the field of photography? In all of these cases and in many others the answer is: the reasoning mind. The great achievements of science, technology, industry, as well as those of philosophy, literature and the arts, that uplift men and carry them from the caves to the skyscrapers, are the products of genius, of superlative thinking, of rationality."
Generally, I'm against resolutions for the new year. Why wait? But it's as good a time as any for reflection. A lot of people seem to be stuck with the idea that values are something we "have to" create at work, and then we go home to have "fun," which means to watch television or find some other diversion. I stick myself in that rut too often; I procrastinate and find ways to waste my time and avoid doing good works. Of course, rest and relaxation are essential to a value-rich life, but rest and relaxation should complement creativity, not stifle it.
So the lesson of all these creative people is that the pursuit of values is hard work, but rewarding work. And it's totally within your control. Whether you mindlessly watch television or passionately pursue your goals is entirely up to you. Of course, creative work requires the development of good character and habits.
By the way, the remaining founder of Face, Ben Lunstad, Ph.D., is also a biochemist with a local firm (apparently his co-workers have adjusted to his vocal experimentations), and his wife just had a baby. Though I've talked with him only briefly, he has all the signs of somebody who knows what's valuable in his life and who pursues those things with vigor. Scientist, musician, proud father: he's playing his best.
Boulder Weekly, 10-06-2005 - download - doc (23KB)
"Sexual healing"
by Ari Armstrong
"When I get that feeling, I want sexual healing." If a cappella leaves you cold, you haven't heard the hot Boulder band Face. Face gave the crowd some oral stimulation at a party I attended last month, when the all-male group sang a sultry rendition of "Sexual Healing." The energy among the audience was palpable. Faces were flushed. Bodies were grooving. Significant glances were exchanged. A couple people laughed, I suppose in anticipation.