Pour some high energy punk riffs over chill ska beats.. and you've got Facing Up. Emerging from their wildcard win at Supernova’s PlayMusic Festival Qualifiers, this young 4-man indie band is more than your a typical punk outfit. From their angst-driven acoustic track Never Happy to the heavy hardcore sound of I Have To Pick Up My Son, these boys change musical gears faster than they rip guitar chords.
Facing Up first caught my eye with their videos, which both seem to have been shot in their Oakville schoolyard against a backdrop of portables. Don’t be fooled by their calm performance; when they get up on stage for Supernova’s PlayMusic Festival Finals this Saturday at Playdium, they’ll totally tear it up. It’s the only place these young artists have ever played outside of school, and they owned their set in the qualifying round.
Facing Up - Don't Act Like You Don't Know
As the boys get ready to take the stage at this Saturday's PlayMusic Festival Finals, I asked them a few questions about where Facing Up started, and how they have been influenced in their music.
How do each of you individually fit into your band?
Alex Keklikian - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Greg Delorey - Vocals, Bass
Jeff Delorey - Lead Guitar
And our newest addition for the time being, Nick Keklikian - Drums
Alex: I would like to say that each individual does more than others but in all honesty, we all put forth the same effort towards the band. When it comes to the music, Myself and Greg usually write the lyrics and Jeff and I are responsible for the guitar riffs. My brother Nick just sits back and lays down incredible drum lines
to the music we come up with.
Other people that help out with the band are friends like Mike Krueger and Cory Proulx who help promote our band and create graphics for our up and coming self designed Ep called Heads or Tails.
Facing Up all started just this year in May of 2009. Our school had a little music show and my friends and I decided to get a band together. Back then our drummer was a good friend of ours Peter Karakashian, We all quickly learned cover songs that we could play at this show. After this show we created what people know today as Facing up.
Soon after we realized that our original drummer was not good enough for the stuff that we wanted him to play (since he had just started playing months ago), it was all too rushed so we put him on temporary leave and replaced him with my own brother Nick Keklikian. Peter will join again once he improves of course!!
Heh... Harsh but fair. How would you describe your band’s sound?
Facing Up's sound is some-what unique in a way that we incorporate the softer side of punk with more hardcore music like screamo. We usually use punk as our base and fuse it with other styles of music like ska and such. But to answer this question completely i would say that Facing Up sounds like Facing Up.
Haha... bands always say that! But it shows you're trying to do something original. So what's been the best thing about being in a band so far?
The 2 most rewarding things about being in a band are the fact that we get to write and create our own style of music. Have you ever listened to a song and been like "it would have been so much better if they did this instead of that!"? Well we get to do that when we create our won music, we get to make music the way WE want it to sound. The combinations of guitar riffs and lyrics are absolutely endless! The other rewarding part about being in a band is when someone enjoys our music. When we hear that someone likes a song or enjoyed our show it makes being in a band THAT much better.
A while ago my friend had a band on here and I went to one of his shows at Playdium, so when we first started Facing Up I thought of Supernova and my friend's band. We researched it online and signed up!
Supernova is a GREAT way to start playing shows and get noticed by people in your area and others! Like Myspace, it is a wicked place for people and artists like yourself to get heard.
Where is your favourite place to play?
Our favorite place to play would have to be Playdium, since that has been the only place we have played outside of our school.
Ok then... if you could choose, who would you most like to tour with?
We would like to tour with a band like Rise Against, because they play amazing venues and have a similar style of music to us. It would also be awesome to open for a band that famous!!
What if you had to listen to one album on repeat for the rest of your life, what album would it be?
Because all of our influences are so different from one another we couldn't choose just one album to listen to. So I'll break it down individually...
Anything else that makes your band unique that new listeners should know?
We write music about our own lives and things we've been through already at the young age of 17; from the occasional girl to scratch card addiction, our music can relate to anyone.
Listeners should know that when our Self made Ep comes out, and they don't buy it for the low price that it is gonna cost, WE WILL HUNT THEM DOWN! WE ARE FACING UP!
I just love their music. I went a couple of times to hear them and think their music is great. You get pumped when they start playing - makes you think - ok, let's get the party going now!!!
I just love their music. I went a couple of times to hear them and think their music is great. You get pumped when they start playing - makes you think - ok, let's get the party going now!!!
Alex Keklikian - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
