Credit: Fred Fischer

Fuckface was founded in 1990 by Dave Szolwinski, proprietor of Milwaukee record store Earwaves.  A man with a vision, he culled the members of the band from the numerous eclectic personalities that frequented his store, eventually settling into a more or less stable lineup featuring three drummers — no cymbals or snare drums allowed — two guitarists, a bassist and a scrap-metal percussionist, with Szolwinski’s unique personality and vocal delivery out front.

Featuring members of legendary Milwaukee groups Die Kreuzen, Boy Dirt Car, The Crusties and others, Fuckface grew from its roots as a sort of percussive art experiment into one of Milwaukee’s most potent rock bands of the ’90s. With a sound comprising raw, propulsive pounding, eddying guitars and tales of mayhem, car wrecks and alternate realities, Fuckface grabbed and held audiences all over the region, selling out two pressings of its single, “Thorn” — most of them the hard way: in person, after shows.

In early 1995, at the height of its powers and popularity, Fuckface recorded a nine-song, self-titled album that, as fate would have it, went unreleased. Contract disagreements and personality differences within the organization left the completed work unheard when the group finally disbanded in 1996.

Now, nearly 15 years after final mixdown, this document finally surfaces on Latest Flame Records, adding seven bonus tracks to the original nine, including both sides of the “Thorn” single, the lost remake of Frank Zappa’s “Why Don’tcha Do Me Right?” and an early live re-engineering of Die Kreuzen’s hardcore classic, “All White,” inviting longtime fans and the uninitiated the chance to once more tap into the energy of this powerful ensemble.

Dave Szolwinski - vocals
Dave Raeck - guitar
Tammi Wirta - bass
Dan Kubinski - guitar
Karl J. Paloucek - metal percussion
Jed Chrysler - drums
Erik Tunison - drums
Paul New - drums
Dwain Flowers - drums

Digging Up the Past

Over the last 15 years, the myth of Fuckface has accreted mass and picked up speed, but some of the best insight into what made this band what it was comes from the recollections of those who were in it. “We ruled the stage. That rarely happens for a drummer,” remembers Paul New. “At my first show, I approached the stage wearing drummers’ gloves.  I was unceremoniously stripped of those gloves before the show began. If I wanted to be part of Fuckface, my hands were going bleed. I thought I knew my stuff, but Fuckface stripped me of my ego.  I had to learn to express rhythm without a snare drum, hi hat, or cymbals.  Those things make drumming easy. Fuckface made drumming hard — and rewarding.”

“These were not happy songs. These were not funky beats,” New continues.  “This thunder would turn your guts into liquid if you dared to move up to the stage. Dave may have wheeled a little red wagon up to the stage, but it was filled with metal and steel that made angry sounds that rose above the throbbing drum core.”

“I remember how shows used to just happen,” metal percussionist Karl Paloucek recalls. “No one knew who booked them, but we’d see our name listed in the local rag, show up and play the gig. It was a great band to be in, but at times, you felt like you were in a car, throttling along at lethal speed, only to look over and realize that there was no one at the wheel.”

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