Austin’s Not In The Face Is What Rock N’ Roll Should Be

The 'Live Music Capital of the World', Austin, Texas, continues to spit out some of the best music today. For years bands like Bob Schneider, The Sword, Vallejo and so many more have paved the way of great music to come out of our capital city. You can now add another band to that list. Say hello to Not In The Face!

Not In The Face! is a stripped down two piece band that delivers good ol' fashioned, all American rock n' roll. It's unapologetic, raw, and, simply put, the kick in the teeth that rock needs today.

It's what early Elvis envisioned, what Buddy Holly perfected and what so many more continued to tweak throughout the years. True rock n' roll music is not what it used to be. Thankfully some bands, like Not In The Face!, are trying to keep the true sound of rock around.

Our Digital Managing Editor, Bob Worden, met up with Jonathan (vocals, guitar) and Wes (drums) from Not In The Face! a few hours before their performance here in Lubbock a couple of weeks ago. Here's how Bob said the night went.

I met up with the guys at Triple J Chop House. We sat at the bar and drank and ate and talked music. Everything from Gary Stewart to Reverend Horton Heat to Alabama to Rod Stewart (whose poster is hanging in their van).

After more drinks than we should have had that early, we walked over to the Blue Light (where they performed that night with Uncle Lucius) to see the band load in. More drinks were bought and consumed, including whiskey, and the guys set up to throw down.

The crowd, if you've never been to the Blue Light, was made up of college country fans, Uncle Lucius fanatics and a few older gentlemen sprinkled here and there. Needless to say, they didn't know what was about to hit them. From the the start to the finish, Not In The Face! killed it.

They kicked it off with a rocking tune and by the end of that opener, they were already sweating, a true sign of rocking hard. That didn't slow them down though. For the next 40 minutes NITF continued to do what they do best; rock hard, rock loud and kick a$$.

Throughout the night they slipped in some covers that started to get the attention of those country fans and older gentlemen sprinkled in. I myself lost it after I heard Fats Domino's, 'Ain't That A Shame'.

At times it looked like Jonathan was determined to hurt himself. He threw himself around and bent his body while playing almost reminding you of Jim Carrey doing Vera de Milo from In Living Color (video).

It wasn't typical of what the Blue Light usually has for their performers, but my hat went off to them for booking it. They knocked it out of the park.

Once their set was over, they broke down their equipment and came back to do the hang and have more drinks. After we chatted for a while they walked around and talked to everyone there. They thanked them for coming, listening and enjoying.

The rest of the night was spent listening to Uncle Lucius, two stepping and consuming more cold, tasty adult beverages.

All in all, it was one of the funniest night's I've had in Lubbock in a long while.

Bob was kind enough to record a little interview which we played on FMX during our 9:06 Local Lix. After the songs and interview played, we got calls saying they loved the band.

Check out the interview and listen to their new single 'Walk' we played from our 9:06 Local Lix feature.