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Comment: To blame for my temporary loss of motor skills was that one of the greatest rock bands of my teenaged punk rock youth was playing a reunion show and we were to be a pair of good-goddamned failures if we were going to let this opportunity to get them in the pages of our modest rag slip away.
Comment: Anyway, phone calls were made, strings were pulled, favors were called in, and in two weeks time, we'd parked ourselves at the bar with Kingface frontman Mark Sullivan for what wound up being a really great interview in the eventual zine. And more importantly, the show was absolutely riveting. As someone who's seen more than a few bands embarrass themselves and piss on their own legacy by reuniting for the purpose of grabbing frantically at the old glory, I can say with some authority that Kingface's reunion show in New York was an obvious example of four modest guys with incredible talent doing it one more time just for the fuck of it, to have a good time with some old, disconnected friends and fans, and damn the consequences anyway.
Comment: Fast forward to 2003: Kingface axeman supreme Patrick Bobst and I connect thanks to the miracle of Googling and we swap some recollections of the band, I tell him how proud I was to have them in the pages of my (now defunct) magazine, and I lay on a substantial amount of rock star hero worship... Patrick -- Ace guy that he is -- rewards me by sending along an absolutely incredible assortment of Kingface swag, including a live-off-the-board recording of the band performing live at Washington DC's storied 9:30 Club, in 1988. After a few listens, it's evident that it needed to be played on the air in its' entirety, and this archive is the result of that decision.
Comment: Friends, ounce for ounce, Kingface rocked harder than any half dozen of their contemporaries did. They played no-frills hard rock with a ferocious DIY aesthetic, released two incredible EPs (that are now sadly out of print and pretty much impossible to get), they shared the stage with revered DC compatriots like Scream, Fugazi, Government Issue, and Beefeater, and they left behind an exemplary legacy that reflects the wildly different world that independent rock bands were reckoning with 15 years ago. It was an honor to have been there, and an even greater joy to be able to bring this incredible recording to the WFMU listenership. I extend hearty pats on the back and warm handshakes to Mark, Larry, Andy, and Patrick. Enjoy! [UPDATE: You can now download the entirety of this live session in MP3 by going here.]
WFMU is an independent, listener-supported, freeform radio station broadcasting at 91.1FM in New York, 90.1FM in the Hudson Valley, 91.9FM in Rockland County, and online at wfmu.org