Face to Face

It’s been two years since Face to Face dropped the Shoot the Moon: The Essential Collection DVD, a double-disc farewell to the shining `90s pop-punk vets who bowed out in 2004. The set combines a documentary of the band’s career, Punk Rock Eats Its Own, with the last show of the band’s farewell tour, The Only Goobye. Given Face to Face’s recent pseudo-reunion, though, much of the DVD rings kind of hollow now. First off, this clearly wasn’t the only goodbye. And the documentary’s conclusion that the members had done all that they could with the F2F name, clearly doesn’t hold in 2008, either. But hey, the package still contains a bitching live set, interviews with band members past and present and all the group’s music videos.

Punk Rock Eats Its Own makes up most of the first disc, and as punk rock docs go, it’s pretty solid. Frontman Trever Keith and Vagrant Records founder Rich Egan track down all of the members and it’s interesting to catch each person’s perspective long after all the bad feelings and fights have subsided (although, why the fuck was former drummer Rob Kurth filmed at a trade show? He looks like a used car salesman).

The documentary looks static, though. The only non-band interviews are with Egan and sound engineer Chad Blinman, so a lot of stories have to be taken on good faith. Compared to something like, say, Do You Remember? 15 Years of the Bouncing Souls, the F2F doc also lacks imagery. It’s mostly just the dudes talking, which is entertaining in its own right, but Do You Remember? is stuffed with home videos, photos, artwork and friends of the Souls. Punk Rock Eats Its Own isn’t bad by any means, but it lacks variation. The general format goes: Keith talks, someone else talks, cue live footage from Germany circa whenever to segue into the next story point, back to the talking heads.

The first disc also includes all of the band’s music videos, with commentary from Face to Face and Egan. By the act’s own admission, the early videos are rough and, well, kind of bad. But in a charming way! Watching the guys try to hack it as fast food employees in “Debt” or just act as cool as the other side of the pillow in “The New Way” will be fun for fans.

The second disc, The Only Goodbye contains the last show of the group’s last tour (minus, ya know…Bamboozle Left and a proposed summer tour this year). I caught the band’s last Philadelphia performance at The Troc with My Chemical Romance and Operatic, so for me, and all the people like me who saw this final tour, The Only Goodbye is a chance to relive a great show. For all the suckers who missed out, Goodbye is a second shot at celebrating these underrated pop-punk masters. The crowd is great, the band is clearly having a good time, and the set list rocks hard. Face to Face fans old and new should enjoy Shoot the Moon. Now could we all please, please, please agree that Keith and co. should relearn Ignorance Is Bliss?