Local Bands We Miss - Part 2 - Now Face West

Have you ever heard a local band for the first time and fell in love with their music and style instantly? Maybe they were opening for an act you wanted to see or maybe they were included in the large lineup of a festival or all day show. Maybe you just happened to wind up in a bar in which they were playing. No matter how you may have run across them, this is how bands first get fans, some of which become devout followers. Unfortunately, not all bands stick around forever.

While going through my pictures online looking for one to use for another post, I ran across a picture of myself with a band called Now Face West.  Although I only saw them live a handful of times, they quickly became part of the regular rotation in my CD player. Now Face West was from the small town of Shullsburg, WI and played with bands like HURT, Tantric, and Under the Flood. It was at a Tantric show at the Annex in Madison, WI that I saw Now Face West for the first time and bought their CD. Even though it has been at least three or four years since that first show, I still love listening to that CD and it is one of the few that is always at the very least in the case in my car, but is often actually in the CD player.

Now Face West in past lives was called Row 41 and Wet Oscar. After one of the members left to go to college, the band was dissolved, but in 2007 he returned and Now Face West was formed. They were the epitome of a rock band, with a strong vocal lead in the form of Josh Pick and some of the best, fastest bass talent I’ve seen in such a young band in the form of Will Doyle. Attempting to find out what ultimately happened to this band, I came across a YouTube video of Will Doyle practicing a speed bass solo.

Because I did not follow this band as religiously as I did the previous band in this series, I am not sure why they are no longer around. All I know is every once in a while I do a search for them and hope that I run across them at a show, either together or using their talents in different musical projects.  The CD I bought at that first show will remain in my regular CD rotation as a tribute to their talent and hard work. As I’ve said previously, not all bands can succeed in the music world but with any luck, the talented artists within the bands will continue to branch out on their own and keep music in their lives in some way or another. A full bio and on of their songs, "Did You Know," is available at the link below.

Now Face West

Photo from Now Face West's MySpace (link above)