Keep Your Wig OnIt has been a four year wait for Fastball to step up with a new album. Following the incendiary success of their breakthrough album, All the Pain Money Can Buy, a new album has to be a challenge for this rock group. But, by all accounts, Keep Your Wig On (2004) was worth the wait. Band co-leaders Miles Zuniga and Tony Scalzo deliver stunning songwriting, Beatles-esque charms, and buoyant garage rock with Keep Your Wig On.
album coverIn September, 2000, Fastball's album Harsh Light of Day was released. Weeks before its expected released date of Sept. 19 a media buzz was building as fans eagerly await the album.
Tony Scalzo, Miles Zuniga and Joey Shuffield made their mark on Austin as Magneto. The next thing anybody knew they were Fastball, a hit on MTV and going platinum. "The Way," a song written by Scalzo, was Fastball's entry into the fast paced world of stardom. The album was All the Pain Money Can Buy.
Fastball album coverThe last Austin act to go platinum (a million sold) with a new release was the Fabulous Thunderbirds in 1988, and before that Christopher Cross in 1981.
Followers of the Austin music scene know that Zuniga, Scalzo, and Shuffield each have more than 15 years invested in rock & roll. As Magneto and later Magneto USA, the trio played local live music venues like Flamingo Cantina, Electric Lounge, and the Hole in the Wall before signing with Hollywood Records
Early in 1998, after hearing Fastball at SXSW, a Newstimes.com reviewer said, "Here's my contribution to the Next Big Band sweepstakes: Fastball is going to be huge. 'The Way' has already conquered modern-rock radio with its irresistible pop hooks, and during an acoustic in-store at Waterloo the band proved it has many more and different-sounding hit singles where that came from."
Their 1996 debut album, Make Your Mama Proud. won best pop band category at the 1995/6 Austin Music Awards.
"Melody is important to me, and it's what I look for in most styles of music," says Scalzo, who's been playing music since he took up classical piano as a kid. "I look for it first -- even in jazz or crazy stuff like Sun Ra or Sonic Youth. In the midst of all this cacophony, there's this melody that just jumps out and grabs you."
Impressionmag reviewed them by saying, "Fastball is a unique band in that Scalzo sings catchy power-pop, radio-friendly songs that sound better on CD, but Zuniga is better live." The trio are all comfortable in the role of sideman or lead, sharing the songwriting chores and staying on the same musical wavelength.
Visit fastballmusic.com for more information and an appearance schedule. Get music at Amazon or at CDBaby.
