“At first, the success seemed strange since it occurred so quickly,” drummer Joey Shuffield says. “We were continuously playing, sometimes several concerts per day, but the real game changer for me was when we showed up to an Atlanta festival in our small van and parked behind the Foo Fighters' bus.
We couldn't see the audience from backstage, but when we got to the stage, there were around 20,000 people there, eager to hear all of the music for the day.
All of a sudden, I knew it was going to be much greater than I had anticipated, and it was a massive lifting of the veil.” The record shot to platinum-plus sales in less than six months, thanks in part to the chart-topping smash "The Way," the top five track "Out Of My Head," and the top twenty favorite "Fire Escape." Fastball received two Grammy nominations, an MTV Music Award nomination, and consistent play on the late night talk show circuit along the way (Conan, Letterman and Leno to name a few).
“There was Japan, Italy, Mexico, Germany, France, Holland, and Belgium, and it was all a blast,” says Tony Scalzo, co-vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/co-songwriter. “We traveled to Peru with Mike Peters from The Alarm and Cy Curnin from The Fixx for a 20,000-foot-high mountaintop concert and performed on ‘Top of the Pops' with Boy George and the reformed Culture Club.
After that, he invited us to a pub where he was spinning records, and when we arrived, we discovered Bjork, Liam Gallagher from Oasis, and The Chemical Brothers hanging around- everything you'd expect from a rock n' roll night out in London!” That momentum carried over into the next decade, beginning with 2000's The Harsh Light of Day, which featured not only the equally infectious single "You're An Ocean," but also a slew of guest stars including the late great legend Billy Preston, Stray Cats singer Brian Setzer, and former Wallflowers guitarist Michael Ward.
Painting the Corners: The Best of Fastball was released in 2002. encapsulated the gang's tremendous achievements up to that time, while also ushering in a completely new highly praised chapter.
“From what I've seen on our message boards, The Harsh Light of Day is one of the fans' favorite albums, even though I think artistically we've grown a lot better with time,” co-vocalist/guitarist/co-songwriter Miles Zuniga notes.
“What's really wonderful today is that we'll run into a 17- or 18-year-old kid who will ask, ‘Do you know you guys have a legacy?' I never know how to respond to it, but I would say that we've become a lot better as songwriters. I now know how to tell a three-minute narrative and really stick the knife in!
Our recordings have just become better with age, but we still know how to rock, so it's all there.” Fastball found their stride with 2004's Keep Your Wig On, produced by Spoon colleague Mike McCarthy and Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger.
The album drew on inspirations ranging from the British Invasion to power pop and roots rock, building on its radio-ready identity for some of its most brilliant compositions to date. “There was a gap between new Fastball records when we were all working on different projects, and some people could have believed we split up,” Scalzo adds.
“But we were always doing performances in some manner, whether it was full band shows, acoustic shows, or at songwriting conferences.” “There has never been a period when Fastball has not been played, and every year on the road attests to the fact that we have been playing consistently since the beginning.” By 2009, the trio had released Little White Lies entirely on their own terms, earning the veterans not just the greatest praise of their careers, but also numerous performances at the annual tastemakers' haven South By Southwest.
Fastball's future on the road is undoubtedly primed to offer yet another historic chapter, with those current compositions and a famous archive packed full of classic rock n' roll that always emanates a smart pop sense. “I think we've evolved into a pretty fantastic rock n' roll band that is far superior to anything we've ever done,” Zuniga says.
“I consider myself a lifer, a journeyman who thoroughly likes the entire process. We've had a loyal following for years, and performing never seems like work since it's so much pleasure.
We know people want to hear the classics, and we absolutely do, but we also try to play something from each record, have some improvisational moments without turning into a jam band, and half the time, I start shouting out the set list as we go.
It all depends on the time of night and the audience's barometric pressure.” Shuffield adds: “Our entire atmosphere is determined by the room. We try to rock out and make it as exciting as possible when we perform a huge festival, but we're also known to vibe a little more when we're in a smaller, more intimate situation.
We always mix it up so it never becomes boring, and now days we all communicate much better than before, and we have more musical depth as a group. After being in a band for 18 years, they are the things I truly appreciate and value.”
