Not In The Face

Jonathan Terrell (left) and Wes Cargal (right) of Not In The Face at SXSW 2012

Austin, Texas is home to a plethora of bands, but one band making a lot of noise is Not In The Face.


Wes Cargal wails on the drums and Jonathan Terrell writes the songs, shreds on the guitar and howls out the vocals that he says has been compared to the vocal styles of Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.


Terrell and Cargal draw influences from many different artists.  Cargal's says his influences are Elvis, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, Lightning Hopkins and Howlin' Wolf.  Terrell says he draws influences from Roy Orbison and Tom Petty.


With only two members in the band drawing from a wide variety of influences, makes you wonder what Not In The Face sounds like.  Terrell describes their sound as, "aggressive country with a sweetheart edge."


And that's the kind of sound you can hear on their album, Bikini, which was their debut album in June 2011.

There was a limited edition of Bikini released that Terrell said had match sticks soaked in Aqua Velva Cologne laying in the spine of the album when you opened it up.  "We did it to be different," he said.


Cargal further explained the limited edition album and said,"we just do it entertain ourselves."


After the release of Bikini in June, Not In The Face went on tour with no press at all.  They did 90 shows between June 2011 and December 2011, said Terrell.


Not In The Face performed several shows at SXSW 2012 and even got noticed before SXSW.


MTV released, The ABCs of SXSW:  A Ridiculous Band Name Primer for SXSW 2012.  Not In The Face was...you guessed it, chosen for the 'N'.


"We're amazed to be on anybody's radar," said Terrell, when asked about how he felt about being on MTV's Ridiculous Band Name Primer.

Either way, if you agree or disagree with Not In The Face's band name, one thing we can all agree on is that they are one high-energy band with some awesome music.


If you need proof or what to hear this band for the first time check out the videos below.


Fun Fact:  Terrell said that Way To Go Baby was shot in one day using about eight cards of memory.  A buddy of theirs took the pictures and used about 530 photos to make the music video.

Not In The Face Home Website

Not In The Face Facebook

"Way To Go Baby"

"Brass Tacks"