Face Yourself are the sort of band that the modern deathcore scene has been yearning for. Only active for two years, they have already established themselves as one to look out for, most recently pricking up the ears of the legendary Sumerian Records, who have signed them and put out their furiously fun and devastatingly dense new EP ‘Martyr’.
So, what is it that sets these Trans-Atlantic troublemakers out from the rest? Well, it’s all about balance. Reminding us all that heavy music is allowed to be a little bit silly sometimes whilst not hiding away from using their music as a vessel for speaking about vulnerable topics; their output feeds off the yin as much as the yang, and that’s the sort of foundation that greatness is built on.
To learn more about how the band have worked towards this extremely exciting position, Rock Sound chatted with vocalist Yasmine Liverneaux Tucker and discovered how her personal journey has lent so much to who Face Yourself have become…
Rock Sound: When you look back to the band’s beginning, particularly when you joined, what do you feel the main ambition was? How has that changed over the course of the last few years?
Yasmine: The thing is that when Face Yourself started, it was all about just doing something serious with the band. We didn’t expect to blow up or anything, but we wanted it to be serious in a way that we could actually tour or write and record songs we were happy with. Something we were happy with people consuming when we put it all out there. We never expected to get signed, Sumerian just turned out to be a cool team who were convincing. Having additional people around us who are able to point us in the direction of someone to help rather than us doing everything on our own in Eric’s [Decarlo, Drummer] basement is a good thing. That outside perspective from people not directly associated with Face Yourself, who are here to help you make something sound good, is the main thing that has changed with the new songs we are writing.
However, how I have written lyrics is different, too. I moved to the United States a year ago, and waiting for my work permit to be reviewed was long. I had months of doing nothing because wasn’t allowed to, and it was a long and lonely time sitting alone with myself and my thoughts. Moving to a different country is difficult mentally, and it made me approach some dark wounds that haven’t healed. Spending all that time with myself and thinking about moving into my first apartment and getting married, you have to think about being an adult. You need to try and heal the stuff from when you were younger that you may have put to one side because you’re trying to avoid some pain. A lot of that I have now put in our songs. A lot of lyrics are based on poems that I then paired with the instrumentals we had. My personal life and personal situation allowed me the chance to try writing in a different way.
RS: For you to feel as though Face Yourself is a project that you can speak about those things within is a big step in a lot of ways. What did it feel like to know you had a vessel to accommodate those personal admissions?
Yasmine: It’s a good thing. For the longest time in my life, I have been quite an unhappy person. Within music, this project and our friendships from it, it is so different when you’re at a point where you have emotional and personal stability. Even though I go through these challenges in life, I now have the right people around me to be able to confront them. It feels more healthy to confront those things where I am now. This is the thing that brings me happiness in my life now. And now I’m happy; it changed so many things for me. So, no matter how long Face Yourself will last, every bit of time with it will feel special.
RS: And how has it felt sharing such things with the world, things which you probably never thought you would tell anyone?
Yasmine: They say that when you go through traumatic experiences, your brain can have amnesia from it. Recently, I feel like a lot of things came back for me and have put them in the songs. It’s something that helps. We recently recorded a new music video for a song on our next release and invited people down to be a part of it. When I explained the meaning of the song and, that’s very much based around mental health, seeing people relating to it and saying to me, ‘I know someone who has been through things like this’, it felt like a new way to connect with people. I’m not really the most socially comfortable person, to be honest, so things like music are what have always helped me to meet people. That was the case with the band because I met them and auditioned as a vocalist because of Facebook.
RS: It often gets understated just how powerful heavy music can actually be. Most of the time, it’s, “If you get it, you get it. If you don’t, you don’t”, but you have found your best friends within the extremities of what it is possible to create. And it feels like you are showing with this new EP that you’re not going to dilute just how important that is and how much making music like this has helped you…
Yasmine: It sounds selfish, but I make music for myself. And in saying that, I’m glad some people connect with it, and I’m totally fine with people not liking what we make. In the end, any art or entertainment is there to bring distraction from the shitty things we have in life. I guess I should be pressured by what people think, but I’m not. More than anything, I feel like when you make music, you yourself should be satisfied with your project. If you weren’t in a band, heard your music being played, and knew you would like it, you’re already doing something right. That’s how I see Face Yourself. But for a long time, I cared a lot about what people had to say. I have started to now try and be more emotionally detached from the comments. If you’re hurt whenever someone dislikes what you do, it will always affect you. Now I’m okay with people thinking whatever they want about me. As long as an artist is having fun that’s all that matters. I do this because it makes me happy.
RS: And you can feel how much fun you have in making these songs. Deathcore is a genre, especially in the modern iterations of it, that so often does take itself way too seriously. But alongside writing the most brutal things you can conjure, including how much you push your vocals, you aren’t afraid to throw jokes and memes into the mix, from Vine references to air horns. How important is it to create that yin and yang with your output?
Yasmine: We wrote most of these songs a year ago, and I feel like, more than anything, we were just excited to record. We have already recorded much more because doing it is so much fun. We do things because it feels right. And I feel like a lot of it is also thanks to Joey [Sturgis, producer]. The thing about Face Yourself is that everyone we end up working with helps to be a good vibe. The minute he was in the studio with us, he understood the sort of people we were. He saw that we were a bunch of goofy people who joke between takes and like spending time together. During the recording of ‘Martyr’, we would always go out for lunch during breaks, and I would bake cookies to bring into the studio before vocal takes. And Joey became a really good friend within the band because of that vibe, more than just someone we worked with. And through all that, he has also helped us take things to the next level. Chill enough to be on board with the ridiculous things that we do but also being able to bring us back around to be really serious and help share what these songs mean and the vulnerability they are built on.
RS: So, as you reflect on what Face Yourself has been able to become over these last few years, what are you most proud of?
Yasmine: It’s a conversation we have a lot as a band. When we recorded the vocals for ‘Martyr’, Kyle [Muenzner, Bassist] stayed at my apartment, and we had long conversations every time we drove home from the studio. He would tell me how he dreamed of being signed to Sumerian Records one day as a teenager and how he had been the biggest Joey Sturgis fan for so long. If things had to stop tomorrow, we would know we had to do so many cool things, accomplish many goals and meet so many amazing people. We would love to take the band towards even more things and make a living from it, but I’m proud of everything we have been able to do already. It’s incredible. Before Face Yourself, I worked as a make-up artist in the film industry. I was really unhappy because it’s a very difficult industry to be a part of. You need to have a certain mentality. It’s based around a culture of working long unpaid hours on not a lot of sleep, and it was not what I had ever dreamt of. But after moving away from it, I auditioned for Face Yourself because of my mentality of this being the one life we have. Because of taking that chance, I have been able to meet so many amazing people who do such amazing things and find a healthy work environment. It has changed so much for me, and I’m so thankful for that.
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