THOSE WERE THE DAYS – THE EX-FACES INVOKE NOSTALGIA AT THE VIXEN IN MCHENRY, IL

By: Brian Serra 

“Boy, the way Glen Miller played / Songs that made the Hit Parade…”


Some lyrics instantly invoke an air of nostalgia. That sense of melancholy and longing for a time that encompassed all that we held dear. “The good old days,” so to speak. A time when we enjoyed life to the fullest, without a care in the world. Most would attribute those opening lines to Archie and Edith Bunker from the ‘70s sitcom All In The Family; for me, it conjures remembrances of a certain masked metal band from the Midwest that rose to popularity in the early 2000s… no, not THAT masked metal band from the Midwest that rose to popularity in the early 2000s! I’m referring to MUSHROOMHEAD. You see, one of their earliest songs, “2nd Thoughts,” opens with those lines, and, wow, do memories come flooding in when I hear those words.


The “Ex-Faces” are playing tonight. Now, here’s a peculiar oddity… they’re a band that’s made up of former members of Mushroomhead. I can’t, for the life of me, recall any other band that was able to re-form from past members while the original band was still active and touring. It feels like they should get a Guiness World Record for… whichever category that would fall under. Look… there are basically THREE versions of Mushroomhead at the time of this writing. There’s Mushroomhead, the actual band, with only one original member left (Steve “Skinny” Felton on drums). There’s Jeffrey Nothing (original vocalist who left in 2018) who still performs some Mushroomhead songs with his solo band. Then there are, of course, The Ex-Faces. That’s right. There are THREE versions of this band actively touring. Again… hello? Guiness World Records? I think we have something here…


So, who exactly is in The Ex-Faces?
There’s Daniel “Lil Dan” Fox on drums, one of the most prolific drummers in the industry today. He’s been a touring member or behind-the-scenes drum tech for several bands including: Marilyn Manson’s live band, Mudvayne, Static-X, Rob Zombie, Crossbreed, and Dope, just to name a few. Though most Mushroomhead fans will recall his duties in the band as an additional percussionist, Dan was always part of Mushroomhead’s crew in one form or another.


Waylon Reavis, one of The Ex-Faces’ dual vocalists, is joined by the member of Mushroomhead that he originally replaced in 2004, the inimitable Jason “J Mann” Popson.


There’s Rick “Stitch” Thomas on samples and keyboards. Along with Dan, Rick has also been in about half a dozen bands or more and is currently in Ventana with Dan and in A Killer’s Confession with Dan and Waylon. On a side note, the new mask that Stitch debuted on this tour is a mix of all his previous masks.


Dave “Gravy” Felton returns to guitar duty. As someone who has seen every lineup of Mushroomhead for the past 20 years or so, I can tell you that their early songs only sound right when Dave plays them. Of course, I’m not knocking any guitarist who came after him. It’s just that, in music, what matters isn’t the notes or chords that you play, but how you play them.


Last, and certainly not least, is Joe “Murdernickel” Kilcoyne. Get it? “Kilcoyne?” “Kill coin?” “Murdernickel?” Anyway, for longtime fans, this inclusion was one of the biggest reasons to see The Ex-Faces live. Joe, a founding member of Mushroomhead, left the band in 1995, so fans outside of their hometown of Cleveland most likely haven’t seen him perform with the band yet.


I know it might sound like you’d need a cork board and several meters of red string to connect the dots and keep track of which members came from which era of the band, but don’t worry. All you need to know is that the gang is all here. Well, okay, not everyone from this era of Mushroomhead is here. Notable members that were absent from this reunion are: Thomas “Shmotz” Schmitz (keys), Marko “Bronson” Vukcevich (guitars), of course, Jeffrey Nothing (vocals), and Jack “Pig Benis” Kilcoyne (bass). Jack, Joe’s brother, was only set to appear on a few specific dates for this tour. Why were there holdouts? Who knows? Maybe they’ve moved on from the music industry entirely. Maybe there were still lingering issues between some of the band members. I don’t know. I don’t do drama. I’m not TMZ and it’s not any of my business to probe, prod, or assume anything. As a fan, you simply have to respect their decisions, give them the benefit of the doubt, and just enjoy the lineup that was eager to show the world what made this era of Mushroomhead so memorable and distinct.


So, let’s get to the meat and potatoes. The show itself. You know it’s going to be a great show when (a) there’s no photo pit (the absence of a photo pit means that there is no barrier to impede that vital interaction between the artist and their fans. Sorry, not sorry… even as a concert photographer, I can admit that shows with no photo pits are more enjoyable), and (b) the floor was densely packed and active. You couldn’t just saunter over from one side of the room to the other.


We were treated to a smorgasbord charcuterie spread of a setlist. As expected, material from Mushroomhead’s self-titled first album up to Savior Sorrow made up a significant portion of their set. Nostalgia hit hard as they interspersed deep cuts like “Crazy” (a cover of a song by Seal that was also a hidden track on their album XIII) and “These Filthy Hands” in with fan-favorites like “Sun Doesn’t Rise” and “Solitaire/Unraveling.”


One of my personal favorite songs of the night was the track that I mentioned at the very beginning of this article, “2nd Thoughts.” Back in the day, Mushroomhead would sneak in little deviations in their songs live to differentiate them from the recorded album versions. Well, J Mann frequently inserts lyrics from other songs into “2nd Thoughts.” Tonight, I recognized Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping,” Madonna’s “Vogue,” and “Get Down Tonight” by KC and The Sunshine Band in there. I know that certainly sounds like a confuddling mish mash of songs that don’t mesh well together, but J Mann makes it work. That is the beauteous brilliance that shimmers from every aspect of Mushroomhead; this “anything goes” mentality that’s applied to their music, their visuals, and live performances.


What happened after the final song of the night is something that’s going to be ingrained into my brain forever. Let me set the stage. If you attend concerts frequently, you know the drill. The band on stage waves to the crowd and walks off to the side of the stage while the lights dim after the final song. They they’ll spend a few moments building the anticipation to what the crowd is already expecting. The lights illuminate the stage once again, the band members walk into their designated spots on the stage and take their respective instruments for the final, FINAL song. For realsies this time. Okay, back to The Ex-Faces show…


After the last song, the house music played and the band proceeded to high-five the fans, throw out guitar picks, and hand out setlists. The crowd had already begun to disperse. I myself was already packing up my lenses and camera equipment. Waylon had walked through the crowd and headed off to their merch table. It felt like the night was over. What happened next seemed like it came straight out of one of those big extravagant music biopics. A small chant made up of maybe 3 people started: “One more song!” I giggled, thinking it was an impossibility at this point. But wait… then a few more people joined in: “One more song!” Even more, and now with feeling and emphasis: “ONE… MORE… SONG!” “ONE MORE SONG!” Before I knew it, the energy was undeniable. "ONE MORE SONG!” I join in: “ONE MORE SONG!” “ONE MORE. SONG!” “ONE MORE SONG!” From the corner of my eye, I see several band members heading back to the stage. A crew member hurriedly retrieves Waylon from their merch table and directs him towards the backstage area. It was happening. From an eager audience clamoring for more and a band genuinely blindsided by their fans’ support and devotion, we got it. Not just “ONE MORE SONG.” A TRUE encore.


While the art of the encore has become less like a genuine act and more like artificial posturing, tonight, on August 7, 2026, at The Vixen in McHenry, Illinois, I do believe that we witnessed a bona fide unfeigned encore from The Ex-Faces. And speaking of encores, boy, they could not have chosen a more fitting song to end the night with.

“Never Let It Go.”
I feel sorry for any fans who left the venue during the brief lull before the encore. You know those moments I’ve referred to in which the live version differs from the recorded versions? During the outro of “Never Let It Go,” there are moments of silence in between screams by J Mann. Live, it’s one of the most cathartic sing-alongs you’ll ever experience. Waylon leads us as we sing each line of the chorus to fill those empty spaces.


What a moment. What a statement. It felt like the band was saying “thank you for sticking with us” through all the lineup changes, through all the drama, through all of the nonsense.


In the final moments of the encore, the band AND the fans, in complete unison with one another, ALL sang the night’s final words:


“Goodbye, but I cannot forget it / No, I’ll never ever let it go.”
After over 20 years of listening to this band and witnessing their growth, their success, their pitfalls, and their stumbles, I can’t help but feel pangs of nostalgia as I walked out of The Vixen. The Ex-Faces reminded me of what Mushroomhead was like at their finest. They brought me back to those late nights walking to the train station after catching a show of theirs at The Metro or House Of Blues in downtown Chicago. They brought me back to a time when I would stoutly stick up for them against any naysayers on messageboards. A time when it felt like I had found a new underdog to root for and a band that I would listen to for years to come.


Those were the days.