Fastbacks

The Fastbacks were a pioneering Seattle band. Formed in 1979 by songwriter/guitarist Kurt Bloch (born August 28 1960), and friends Lulu Gargiulo (guitar and vocals, born October 12 1960) and Kim Warnick (bass and vocals, born April 7, 1959), they disbanded in 2001. Their sound mixed a generally punk approach to vocals and sound textures with poppy tunes and strong musicianship.

Although these three band members remained constant, they went through numerous drummers, including Duff McKagan, later of Guns n' Roses. MTV's web page on the Fastbacks says that estimates at the number of Fastbacks drummers "range from 12 to 20." [1] (http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/fastbacks/bio.jhtml) For most of the band's last decade, Mike Musberger filled this role, but other Fastbacks drummers before him (or when he took occasional breaks) included Bloch himself, Richard Stuverud (perhaps best known from Three Fish, side project of Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament), Nate Johnson and Rusty Willoughby (both of whom also played in both Flop and Pure Joy), John Moen (later of the Dharma Bums), Jason Finn (of the Presidents of the United States of America), Dan Peters of Mudhoney, and Tad Hutchison of the Young Fresh Fellows. Several of these people also served at times as drummers in The Squirrels, a similarly long-lived band, and the Fastbacks' sometime label-mates on Pop Llama Records, who bring a similar mix of strong musicianship and punk attitude to even poppier material.

Contributing to the band's breakup was Warnick's move to the band Visqueen. She has subsequently announced her retirement from performing.

Kurt Bloch, who also runs his own label No Threes records, has since gone on to form Sgt. Major, with bassist Jim Sangster, drummer Rusty Willoughby, and vocalist Carmella. They have released a record entitled "Rich Creamery Butter" on Book Records.

Discography

• "It's Your Birthday"/"You Can't Be Happy" (single), No Threes, 1981
• "Someone Else's Room" on the Seattle Syndrome compilation, 1981
• Fastbacks Play Five Of Their Favorites (5-track, 12" EP), No Threes, 1982
• Everyday Is Saturday, No Threes, 1984
• Fastbacks....And His Orchestra (album), Pop Llama, 1987, also released on UK Subway, 1987
• "In The Winter"/"It Came To Me In A Dream" (single), UK Subway, 1989
• "Wrong Wrong Wrong"/"In America" (single), UK Subway, 1989
• "Lose" [Fastbacks]/"King of Hubcaps [Gas Huffer] (single), SPFC 1990
• Very, Very Powerful Motor (album), Pop Llama, 1990
• "In The Summer/You Can't Be Happy/Everything I Don't Need/Queen of Eyes" (EP), No Threes/SPFC, 1990
• Bike-Toy-Clock-Gift, first released as a tape on Bus Stop, 1990; (album), Lucky, 1994
• The Answer Is You ["My Letters"/"Whatever Happened to ?"/"Impatience"/"Above the Sunrise"]' (2-single set), Sub Pop, 1991
• Live in America (2-single set), Smilin' Ear, 1991
• In America, Live in Seattle 1988 (album), Lost and Found (Germany), 1991
• Never Fails, Never Works (album), Blaster (UK), 1991
• "Run No More/"Really" (single), Who Cares, 1992
• "Now Is the Time"/"Sometimes"/"Was Late" (single), Ded Beet, 1992 [recorded 1983-1985]
• The Question is No (album), Sub Pop, 1992
• "They Don't Care"/"Out of the Charts" (single), PopLlama, 1993
• "Gone to the Moon"/"Go All the Way" (single), Sub Pop (Germany), 1993
• Gone to the Moon (EP), Sub Pop (Germany), 1993
• Zücker (album), Sub Pop, 1993
• Gone to the moon (album), Sub Pop, 1993
• "Wait It Out"/"The Jester" (single), Munster (Spain), 1994
• Answer the Phone Dummy (album), Sub Pop, 1994
• New Mansions in sound (album), Sub Pop, 1996
• Alone in a Furniture Warehouse Scaring You Away Like a Hotel Mattress (album), Munster (Spain), 1996
• Here They Are... Live At the Crocodile... (album), Lance Rock (Canada), 1996
• Win Lose or Both (EP), Pop Llama, 1998
• Day That Didn't Exist, spinArt, 1999
• Truth Corrosion and Sour Bisquits, Book, 2004

External links

• 1991 interview (http://www.nkvdrecords.com/fastback.htm), Noise For Heroes #20
• on the Trouser Press site (http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=fastbacks)
• Former fastbacks.com pages, mirrored at Sub Pop (http://www.subpop.com/bands/fastbacks/new_website/)