Give a brief history of Facing Down.
We started in february 1994 playing covers from bands like face to face, bad religion etc. but we also started directly with writing our own songs. well. as time went by the covers made way for our own songs and now we play on a cover when we feel like it. like every punk band it was hard to get gigs in the beginning but 'till now we have done like 70 shows and we are getting them much easier now than in the beginning.

Which record label slogan do you describe your music as?
Fast melodic punk music. (or melodycore, or softcore punk or whatever)

How did the name Facing Down arise?
It first was Falling Down but when drawing logos the two l's didn't look cool so we threw them out and made a c of them.

What are your 5 favorite albums?
My five favorite albums (at this moment, cuz they change a lot): in random order: MxPx-life in general, Gorilla Biscuits-start today, Adhesive-sideburners, Good Riddance-a guide to..., Screeching Weasel-major label debut. (but i also like to mention that this top 5, if you want to call it like that, is probably completely different when you ask me again when i just bought a new record. as for now i'm really looking forward to new albums from Propagandhi, Face to Face, CIV,etc..)

What is the "punk scene" like in the Netherlands?
Well we haven't got a real punk scene over here. you surely have some cool punk bands here like Undeclinable Ambuscade, NRA, I Against I and so on but it's real hard to get gigs so every band first tries to get gigs themselves and helping others just comes on second place or even lower. i don't blame the bands for it because i know it's hard to get gigs, it's the clubs that are to blame because they don't want to take the risk to put a not that well known band on their stage. and when a "bigger" punk band comes to The Netherlands they always bring their own support band. but we are good friends with all the well known bands in The Netherlands so sometimes that's very useful.

What are some big bands that Facing Down has played with?
We've played with: Voodoo Glow Skulls, Randy, Snuff, Burning Heads, with all the well known Dutch bands, Venerea, Ten Foot Pole.

What makes Facing Down different from other bands?
It's not cool to say that about your own band so i just take a piece out of a record review from a Belgium zine to answer this question: "(we) are quite good in mixing a lot of different punk and hardcore styles in one style without sounding 'forced', and the music always stays very catchy although it sometimes it's really aggressive.

How many albums has Facing Down released?
Two!!!

Tell us about those albums.
Our first one was a mini cd with 8 songs called: Foolish Non- believers. it was recorded in June 1996 and was released by Caesar Records from Germany.our second one is a full length called: No Offence Scorpio and contains 13 songs and was recorded in the end of 1997 and was also released by Caesar Records.

Has Facing Down toured before, and where?
We haven't done like real tours of more than a week because most of us were in school 'till this year but we've done some small tours in The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

Do you enjoy touring? Why?
I can't speak for all of us, because i'm doing the interview on my own, but i myself really like touring because i like spending time with my band and not have to think about anything else than Facing Down. but i think that all the other band members share at least for a bit my point of view and my ideas. (why would they otherwise play in a punk band?)

Does Facing Down have an unusual live show?
We don't have like an unusual live show just like we don't have a usual show. we just step on stage and see what happens. we don't have anything that's the same every time. we don't study moves or such stupid rock star-ish things (well, we play New Direction from Gorilla Biscuit every show. that's the only 'sure' song on our set list, at least 'till now)

Do you have specific lyrical content or just anything goes?
All subjects you can imagine are useful to write a song about, so we don't have any 'general message' in our songs. so anything goes.Where do you see Facing Down in 5 years or so? I (hope to) see facing down five years from now to be one of the worlds biggest punk bands. ha,ha,ha.....wishful thinking.

Any last comments?
Thanx for this interview. It was a real honor to be interviewed by someone so far from our hometown (so maybe we are getting somewhere after all??) and i like to say hi to the following bands so they also appear in a zine from Canada: Of No Avail, Reaching Forward, Against Time check their homepages, i've linked them on our page!!

You can contact Facing Down at:
De Valuwe 37, 5431 AW Cuijk, The Netherlands.
Our web page address: www.student.kun.nl/micha.derks
Email: mide@dds.nl