In its original skinny-tie incarnation, this raucous fivesome from Springfield, Missouri combined the rough-and-tumble appeal of an ace bar band with diverse pop songwriting talent. Everyone except drummer Tommy Dwyer wrote and sang, displaying the diverse influence of the Stones, Beatles, soft pop, Little Richard, Led Zeppelin and Bowie.
Dale McCoy: Keyboards (Vocals)
Jimmy Frink: Lead Guitar (Vocals)
Jim Wirt: Bass (Vocals)
Brian Coffman: Lead Guitar (Vocals)
Tommy Dwyer: Drums
In the late 1970’s, a band called Fools Face emerged from Springfield, Missouri, and began to build a following across the Midwest. By the early 1980’s, Fools Face was the dominant band on the Mid-western rock music circuit, packing clubs from Minnesota to Texas, from Kansas to Illinois.
Fools Face’s music has been called “high-voltage melodic rock” (Trouser Press), “a revitalization of 60’s high-energy stuff” (Jimmy Frink, in TP article), and “a hybrid of pop, punk and new wave” (the Kansas City Star). Four lead singers and four songwriters made possible the constant changes in vocal and musical textures that kept the band’s live performances fresh and energized.
This was the early 1980’s. The band members wore tiny, long ponytails (”fools’ tails”), and typical rock/new wave outfits (lots of black; slogan buttons; suit coats over T-shirts; skinny neckties; tennis shoes).
Dale McCoy (keyboards, saxophone) radiated an intensity onstage that periodically caused him to whirl like a dervish, necktie flying. His songs brought a dark edginess to social and emotional issues. Jimmy Frink (guitar), long, lean and relatively reserved onstage, wrote danceable tunes with often deceptively thoughtful lyrics. “L-5,” a song about outer space that he penned and sang, became the band’s signature tune and most frequent encore number. Jim Wirt (bass guitar) grinned and leaped wildly around the stage, often breaking a bass string in his exuberance. His snappy songs with down-to-earth lyrics addressed relationships and life in the real world. Brian Coffman (guitar) wrote a cheerful, infectious tune with a reggae beat called “(Gotta Get) A Letter To You.” He sang lead with his technically excellent voice on a number of the other band members’ songs and covers. Tommy Dwyer had a powerful drumming style, and came to the front of the stage on occasion (with Dale taking over the drums) to demonstrate to the audience that he, too, was capable of singing a fine lead.
Jimmy and Dale played together as far back as junior high. Tommy, Jim and Brian played together in high school. Fools Face as a group began to form in 1977, with Jim Wirt leaving Rudy and the Razors to complete the band in 1978. Their musical influences included the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Clash, and Elvis Costello, among many others.
In the beginning, Fools Face played cover versions of other artists’ songs. Soon tiring of that, they began the riskier business of mixing their original material in 50/50 with the covers. The response was enthusiastic. Fools Face’s own sound, together with its strength and energy as a live band, drew audiences that allowed the band to spread out from its Springfield base to Columbia, St. Louis and Joplin, Kansas City, Lawrence Kansas, Iowa City and beyond.
Fools Face released three albums: “Here to Observe” (Bar-Co, 1979), “Tell America” (Talk, 1981), and “Public Places” (Talk, 1983). They also self-released a cassette of eight original songs known as the Red Tape in 1984, and a total of three singles during those years.
Trouser Press ran a strongly supportive article on Fools Face in its July 1982 issue. Billboard hailed them as an acclaimed independent band. They opened for national acts including the Psychedelic Furs, the Stray Cats, Marshall Crenshaw, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
In 1984, Brian Coffman left Fools Face to join another band. The remaining four band members moved to Los Angeles, where after less than a year, they disbanded to pursue individual careers.
Today, Jim Wirt and Brian Coffman live in Los Angeles, where Jim is a successful music producer and Brian is a songwriter. Jimmy Frink and Dale McCoy live and work in Springfield, Missouri. Tommy Dwyer is the drummer for an Irish rock band called the Elders in Kansas City, Missouri.
Fools Face has occasionally played together since its breakup, at personal events and in support of Kansas City’s AIDSWALK. A recent resurgence of interest in them and their music has led to talk of the possible release of one or more Fools Face CDs in the year 2000.
Here to Observe is an irrepressible low-budget debut that demonstrates how a band can get and hold a listener’s attention (by expending nonstop energy). The even-better Tell America finds Fools Face overdue (and anxious) for major-label exposure, with enthusiasm now matched by sophisticated melodies, rich harmonies and razor-sharp musicianship. Highlights include keyboardist Dale McCoy’s “American Guilt” and guitarist Jimmy Frink’s “L5,” a science-fiction fantasy.
Public Places is more of the same: a slick and sophisticated major-league-quality album of flawless high-voltage melodic rock still on the band’s own label. But still no takers from the big leagues.
Recorded as a quartet (without guitarist Brian Coffman, off to join Single Bullet Theory), the so-called Red Tape is an untitled cassette-only album offered to fans, containing eight excellent new songs with a more aggressive rock sound underneath the same attractive pop melodicism.
Fools Face relocated to Los Angeles in late 1984 and later disbanded. Half the band eventually returned to the Midwest; the others stayed in California. Bassist Jim Wirt opened a recording studio and became a successful engineer and producer, working with Fiona Apple, the Plimsouls, Incubus and others.
Adding a delightful coda to the story, the original fivesome — looking solidly adult but none the worse for nearly two decades’ wear in the upbeat insert photo — regrouped to write and record (in LA and MO) the self-titled album, which they issued in a limited edition at the start of 2002. Neither trendy nor nostalgic, Fools Face proffers 16 songs of beautifully sung and loudly played rock melodicism that glows with the evident pleasure of making music for all the right reasons.
Jon Young Ira Robbins
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http://www.garylittleton.com - has many of the albums and songs for download.