Not In The Face!

Since joining forces in 2009, Not in the Face have been electrifying Austin audiences with infectious high energy live performances, such as the spontaneous guerrilla-style live show in the back parking lot of Koriente at 2 a.m. that many claim was the highlight of SXSW 2 010, and opening for the legendary rebel country artist David Allen Coe. They have recently released their first full-length album entitled Bikini. While they cite The Sonics, Dick Dale, Muddy Waters, Tom Petty, Elvis, and the entire Dirty Dancing soundtrack as minor influences, Jonathan and Wes claim that they make music by “just doing what feels good until we get hooked on a feeling,” and they describe the experience of making music together as “a magical experience like a mythical unicorn hatching from a fuchsia egg.” You can hear an echo of their country roots and influences lurking just below the surface in many of their songs as Jonathan spins cautionary and love-lorn tales set to rock rhythm and blues like imagined scenes from films yet to be made. Yet it’s the versatility of their punk-rock-blues-a-billy sound that begs the question of whether they are but men or are truly mythical, magical souls trapped in human bodies: some songs will have you moving and shaking like you’ve been possessed by a demon, other songs will have you weeping with the angels, and on other songs you’ll find yourself having hot and dirty anonymous sex with mere mortals in a public bathroom.