By: Avalon Lee
Being the winner of the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands is a big deal. Being the winner of the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands two years in a row is practically unheard of. Unless, of course, you’ve heard of Face The King. Composed of front man Eric Zirlinger, Dan DelVecchio (lead guitar), Joey Dammacco (bass) and the “Randylion” Palumbo (drums), this quartet’s talent is practically kicking down doors. They’ve been given slots in both Van’s Warped Tour and Rockstar Energy’s Uproar Festival, as well as invitations to the NAMM Convention and a full sponsorship from DBZ Guitars.
And with so much success and talent, you would expect these guys to be off in their own world, right? Wrong. All of their talent aside, there is something much more to Face The King. Their center of gravity revolves around making their fans happy throughout every step of the way. “We do this because we love it, but more importantly we want to make the fans happy – it’s the only way we know we’re doing it right,” DelVecchio explains to me. And if you merely browse through any of their multiple social media platforms, you’ll witness just how in touch with their fans they truly are.
Is it even possible for these guys to get any sweeter? I didn’t think so, until I heard about their plans for an upcoming Hurricane Sandy benefit raffle. With gear donated by some of their sponsors, such as DBZ Guitars, Pigtronix, VOX Amplifications and BEHRINGER, they will be holding raffles in which all of the money will be donated right back to the community affected by Hurricane Sandy. Additional details will be given in a press release the band will be revealing soon. Right now, just plan on being at Spike Hill in Brooklyn, NY on December 21st if you want to help out.
However, when I asked about the band’s pending album release, DelVecchio explains that Face The King has to keep an air of mystery on some subjects. “You, Me & The Sound”, which was just recently released in October, is the band’s first single since their 2011 EP, The Burning and the Falling Down. While we will have to continue to wait for a release date, I was able to extract a little bit of information from DelVecchio about the upcoming record. “We’re constantly writing new material,” he explains, “and we’ve been so happy with it that we’re considering either making our next EP a full length, or beginning work on the following EP immediately after “You, Me & the Sound” is released.”
So, for those of you who wish to hear the new material but can’t possibly contain yourselves long enough to find out when the album will be released, DelVecchio has some advice: “the best place to go is to a Face The King live show.” And since the band has several pending offers from companies attempting to put them on the road full time (that’s right, with full-backing), they may be playing in your area before you know it!
My interview with Dan touched on an array of different topics, including what it was like to work with producer Steven Haigler (Brand New, As Tall As Lions, Pixies, etc.) as well as determining who the biggest goofball in the band is.
