Fastball is an American rock band. It was formed in Austin, Texas, in 1992.[2][1] The band originally called themselves Magneto U.S.A., and changed their name after signing with Hollywood Records.[1]
In late 2021, Fastball started a Patreon campaign supporting the release of new music, as well as demos of their songs and the stories behind them.[5]
History
Formation
In 1992, Tony Scalzo, Miles Zuniga, and Joey Shuffield formed Fastball in Austin, Texas. Zuniga and Shuffield first played together in a band called Big Car.[1] After a stint with another group called Wild Seeds, Shuffield introduced Zuniga to Scalzo, who had played in a band called the Goods in Orange County, California. The trio decided to form their own band, and began playing around the Austin area.[citation needed]
When they first started out, the band tried out several names, such as Star 69, Magneto, Magneto USA, Ed Clark's Business Bible, and Starchy, before finally deciding to adopt the name Fastball in 1995. Zuniga told Entertainment Weekly that it was named after the band's favorite pornographic film, and said that "It really has no meaning behind it."[6]
Make Your Mama Proud
Fastball quickly built a strong following in the Austin area, and created a regional buzz. As a result, a local journalist spotted them, and suggested that Hollywood Records check them out. They did, and Fastball soon signed a recording contract. Scalzo and Zuniga took turns singing and writing the songs, while Shuffield backed them up on drums. In 1996, Make Your Mama Proud arrived in stores. The album didn't sell very well, but it did win the "Best Pop Band" category at the Austin Music Awards (they tied with another local Austin band, The Wannabes). The following year, the members of Fastball were unsure of their future.[citation needed]
All the Pain Money Can Buy
The members of Fastball still had side jobs as late as January 1998. Tony Scalzo worked the graveyard shift at The Bagel Manufactory in Austin. He, Shuffield, and Zuniga would be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien just four months later. Fastball's second album, All the Pain Money Can Buy, was released on Hollywood Records. Within just six months, it had sold more than a million copies.[citation needed]
The single "The Way" stayed on top of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks, and was a top-five hit on Billboard's Top 40 Mainstream chart. Scalzo was inspired to write the song in 1997 after reading a news article about Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly couple who had disappeared in Texas. Though Lela had Alzheimer's and Raymond was recovering from brain surgery, the couple had been driving to a local festival. They were discovered two weeks later, dead, at the bottom of a ravine near Hot Springs, Arkansas, hundreds of miles off their intended route.[7] Scalzo chose to imagine that they began reminiscing and decided to become ethereal beings on a permanent romantic trip, the answer to the song's question, "Where were they going without ever knowing the way?"[8]
Fastball followed up "The Way" with a second single, "Fire Escape", and a third single, "Out of My Head", which reached the top ten on Billboard's Top 40 chart and was a top ten hit on the Adult Top 40 chart for 29 weeks. The album's promotional tour featured Marcy Playground and Everclear, after which Fastball moved to the H.O.R.D.E. tour.
Tony Scalzo performs with Fastball at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ on April 24, 2024.
In 1999, Fastball received two Grammy Award nominations as a result of All the Pain Money Can Buy. One was for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and the other was Best Long Form Video for "The Way". They also received an MTV Award nomination for Best New Artist.
The Harsh Light of Day
The group headed back into the studio to record their third album, The Harsh Light of Day. Produced by Julian Raymond and Fastball, the album was released in September 2000.
The release included "You're an Ocean", which featured the piano stylings of Billy Preston (who previously collaborated with The Beatles). Singer-guitarist Brian Setzer also contributed to the album with Latin guitar on "Love Is Expensive and Free." "Instead of tailoring the music for short attention spans, we tried to make an album that holds up well to extensive listening... kind of cinematic, where you notice new themes entering the frame each time you see the film," Zuniga said in the band's record company bio.
Although The Harsh Light of Day sold fewer than 85,000 copies (compared to All The Pain Money Can Buy's 1,000,000+), the trio didn't lose steam and chalked it up to lacking a musical category to fit into. "You can't write down what we do in a sentence" Zuniga told Mac Randall at Launch.com. "Marketing us is a problem. But in a way, that's our saving grace also, because you can't find an easy angle to summarize us and exploit us. We might sell more records if you could, but at the same time, it forces people that really want to be interested in us to pay a little more attention to what we're doing."
In October 2000, Fastball began touring in support of The Harsh Light of Day in Amsterdam. Despite the slowed success, the members of the group didn't regret any of their creative decisions, and their aim remained true. "It makes me feel proud that we're one of these song-oriented guitar bands" Scalzo told Richard Skanse in Rolling Stone. "I think there's a couple of bands that are still putting out real good quality guitar rock songs, and I think we're one of them."
Keep Your Wig On
Fastball live at Waterloo Park in Austin, Texas, August 6, 2006. From left to right: Harmoni Kelley (support musician), Miles Zuniga, Joey Shuffield, and Tony Scalzo.
In June 2004, Fastball released their fourth album, Keep Your Wig On, on a new record label, Rykodisc. Keep Your Wig On was home to singles "Airstream", "Drifting Away", and "Lou-ee, Lou-ee", with the last being released as a single in Europe only.
In 2007, "The Way" was voted No.94 on VH1's television special, The 100 Greatest Songs of the 90's.[9]
Little White Lies and solo projects
On April 14, 2009, Fastball released its fifth album, Little White Lies. The album was co-produced by Zuniga and experienced producer CJ Eiriksson, with mixing by Bob Clearmountain.[10]
Scalzo and Zuniga would work on separate solo projects in the following years, with Zuniga's solo album, These Ghosts Have Bones, being released in September 2011 and Scalzo releasing My Favorite Year in February 2013. Both were successfully funded with the help of their respective Kickstarter campaigns.
In April 2013, a new single titled "Love Comes in Waves" was released to digital outlets. The video premiered on YouTube on July 23, 2013.
Step Into Light
On February 5, 2015, the band began recording a new album at The Bubble recording studio in Austin.[11] In March, the band announced that "Love Comes in Waves" would be featured on the band's forthcoming album Step Into Light, which was released on May 19. A video for a second song from the album, "I Will Never Let You Down", was released in early March 2017.[12]
In mid-September 2017, the band played a living room concert at the home of Los Angeles–based comic Chet Wild following a nearly year-long Twitter campaign (#FastballAtChets). The concert raised $12,500 via Indiegogo to assist with Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. Several attendees at the concert took part in the filming of the video for "Best Friend" earlier that day, directed by Nigel Dick.
The Help Machine
In 2018 and 2019, the band debuted new songs "The Girl You Pretended to Be", "Help Machine" and "All Gone Fuzzy," from The Help Machine, their seventh album, which was released on October 18, 2019.[13]
The Deep End
Fastball digitally released their eighth album, The Deep End, on June 17, 2022.
Members
Current members
Tony Scalzo – vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, guitar (1995–present)
Theatre of Pain is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, released on June 24, 1985. Released in the aftermath of lead vocalist Vince Neil's arrest for manslaughter on a drunk driving charge, the album marked the beginning of the band's transition away from the traditional heavy metal sound of Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil, towards a more glam metal style.
Tony Scalzo is an American rock musician and songwriter best known as the lead singer of the band Fastball.
Young Heart Attack (YHA) were a rock band from Austin, Texas, that formed in 2001. Chris "Frenchie" Smith and bassist Steven T. Hall had previously been in the Sixteen Deluxe and Joey Shuffield in Fastball.
All the Pain Money Can Buy is the second studio album by American rock band Fastball, released on March 10, 1998, on Hollywood Records. The album includes the hit singles "The Way" (1998), "Fire Escape" (1998), and "Out of My Head" (1999). The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in June 1998 and went Platinum in September of the same year, making it Fastball's most successful release.
"The Way" is a song by American alternative rock band Fastball. It was released on January 7, 1998, as the lead single from their second studio album, All the Pain Money Can Buy (1998). The song was written by the band's lead vocalist, Tony Scalzo, and was produced by the band and Julian Raymond. Scalzo was inspired to write the song after reading about the disappearance of an elderly couple who were found dead in their car many miles away from their intended destination.
The Harsh Light of Day is the third studio album by pop-rock band Fastball, released in September 2000 by Hollywood Records. It contained the single release "You're an Ocean," which spent eight weeks on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart and peaked at #101 during the fall of 2000. It also reached #25 on Radio & Records.
"God Gave Rock and Roll to You" is a 1973 song by the British band Argent and covered by Kiss as "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II" in 1991, with modified lyrics.
"Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" is a song by American singer T-Pain featuring American rapper Yung Joc. Produced by T-Pain himself, it was released on February 20, 2007, as the lead single from his second studio album, Epiphany.
"Out of My Head" is a song by the American band Fastball from their second studio album, All the Pain Money Can Buy (1998). The song is a rock ballad with gospel influence, dominated by Hammond organ and piano. Bassist Tony Scalzo is the lead singer on the song, with guitarist Miles Zuniga coming in with harmony during the last chorus. The song was serviced to American rock radio in January 1999 and to contemporary hit radio two months later.
Make Your Mama Proud is the debut album released by the rock band Fastball. The track "Are You Ready For The Fallout?" was issued to some radio stations as the single for the record.
Keep Your Wig On is the fourth studio album released by the rock band Fastball. It was released by the indie label Rykodisc and the record was mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Adam Schlesinger produced Someday and Red Light during the band's New York recording sessions.
"Feel the Pain" is a single by alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. from their 1994 album Without a Sound. It was released as the debut single from the album the same year, reaching number four on the Modern Rock charts in the US and number 25 in the UK. A music video for the song was also released, helping boost the song's popularity.
"Best of You" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters, released as the lead single from the band's fifth studio album, In Your Honor (2005). Dave Grohl notes that the song was written following appearances at 2004 American presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign trail and is "about breaking away from the things that confine you". The song holds the band's highest chart peak in the U.S., the UK, and Australia, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The song won the Kerrang! Award for Best Single. It also topped Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for four weeks and Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks. Following the band's performance at Live Earth, the song again entered the UK charts at number 38.
Little White Lies is the fifth studio album by American rock band Fastball. It was released on April 14, 2009, and was recorded through the year 2008. It was originally to be released on March. It was produced by Miles Zuniga and CJ Eiriksson, mixed by Bob Clearmountain. It is their first album since 2004. The album is distributed by MRI/RED Distribution.
The discography of Fastball, an American rock band, consists of seven studio albums, one live album, one compilation album and eleven singles.
One More Light is the seventh studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on May 19, 2017, through Warner Bros. Records and Machine Shop. It is the band's first album to have a title track, as they felt that the song "One More Light" was the heart of the album. It is also the band's final album to feature two of their longtime members: co-lead vocalist Chester Bennington, who died from suicide by hanging two months after the album's release, and drummer and band co-founder Rob Bourdon, who opted to not return for the band's reformation in 2024.
Step Into Light is the sixth studio album by American rock band Fastball and called "the must have album of the summer [of 2017]." Their first album since 2009, it was released in 2017. The album was recorded over a two-week period. The album was produced by the band, Chris "Frenchie" Smith, and mixed by Bob Clearmountain.
The Help Machine is the seventh studio album by American rock band Fastball.
Soundtrack is the first EP released by American rock band Fastball. All four songs debuted previously through their Patreon page before being released on all streaming platforms.
The South Austin Moonlighters is an American Americana band from Austin, Texas. Their album Travel Light charted at #1 on the Alternative-Country charts in 2019, with the single "Machine Gun Kelly" charting at #11 on the Top Alternative Country Song Chart of 2019. They have performed at SXSW and the Dallas International Guitar Music Festival, and have shared the stage with artists including Gin Blossoms, Cory Morrow, Eric Gales, and Sonny Landreth.
References
1 2 3 4 Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5thed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp.341–2. ISBN1-84195-017-3.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
