Despite the band name, Facing New York hail from the punk rock mecca of the San Francisco Bay Area scene, a second-generation emo band with some progressive and post-rock tendencies that grew out of two minor earlier outfits. Singer and guitarist Eric Frederic and keyboardist Rene Carranza's band, Locale A.M., had released two albums, 2001's The Sounds of Spring and 2003's Breaking the Fourth Wall, before splitting. Their labelmates on the local Pop Smear imprint, Tragedy Andy, had released 2003's It's Never Too Late to Start Over before guitarist Matthew Fazzi and drummer Omar Cuellar took its titular advice and left to form Facing New York with Frederic and Carranza in early 2004, adding bassist Brandon Canchola to complete the lineup. Joining the 2004 Vans Warped Tour and recording a self-released EP, Swimming Not Treading, the band raised its profile enough to sign with the indie label Five One Records. Following two more singles, one of them a split EP with Amity, Facing New York released their self-titled debut album in the summer of 2005. Work on the follow-up was delayed when Rene Carranza announced in the summer of 2006 that he was leaving the band to return to school. With Fazzi and Frederic splitting keyboard chores between them, Facing New York chose to continue as a quartet. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi