Fastbacks

Fastbacks
300px The Fastbacks at a 2011 reunion gig. Left to right: Kurt Bloch, Kim Warnick, Mike Musburger (rear), Lulu Gargiulo.
Background information
Origin	Seattle
Genres	Punk rock, pop punk
Years active	1979–2002, 2011
Labels	Sub Pop, PopLlama
Associated acts	Visqueen, Guns N' Roses, Calligraphers
Past members	Kurt Bloch Lulu Gargiulo Kim Warnick Duff McKagan Mike Musburger Richard Stuverud Nate Johnson Rusty Willoughby

The Fastbacks were a Seattle punk rock 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 rock approach to vocals and sound textures with poppy tunes and strong musicianship.

Although these three band members remained fairly 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." For most of the band's last decade, Mike Musburger filled this role, but other Fastbacks drummers before him (or when he took occasional breaks) included Bloch himself, Richard Stuverud (perhaps best known from War Babies, Fifth Angel and 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 (of the Dharma Bums, later of Steven Malkmus's Jicks and The Decemberists), 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 PopLlama Records, who bring a similar mix of strong musicianship and punk attitude to even poppier material.

Contributing to the band's breakup was Kim Warnick's move to the band Visqueen in 2001 through 2004. In summer 2010 Kim Warnick started a new band with Mikey Davis called Cali Giraffes.

The Fastbacks reunited for a one-off live performance 8 July 2011 at the West Seattle Summer Music Festival, featuring the core trio of Kurt, Kim and Lulu, along with Mike Musburger on drums, their first official show together since their break-up a decade ago.

Discography

Album

• And His Orchestra - Pop Llama - 1987
• Very, Very Powerful Motor - Pop Llama - 1990
• Zücker - Sub Pop - 1992
• Answer the Phone, Dummy - Sub Pop - 1994
• New Mansions in Sound - Sub Pop - 1996
• Day that didn't Exist - SpinArt Records - 1999

Singles

• "It's Your Birthday" / "You Can't Be Happy" - No Threes - 1981
• "Wrong Wrong Wrong" / "In America" - Subway - 1989 - UK
• "In The Winter" / "It Came To Me In A Dream" - Subway - 1989 - UK
• "Lose" - Steve Priest Fan Club - 1990 - (Split with Gas Huffer)
• The Answer Is You ("My Letters"/"Whatever Happened to ?"/"Impatience"/"Above the Sunrise") - Sub Pop, 1991 (2-single set)
• "They Don't Care" / "Out of the Charts" - PopLlama - 1993
• "Run No More / "Really" - Who Cares? - 1992
• "Now Is the Time" / "Sometimes" / "Was Late" - Ded Beet Records - 1992
• "Gone to the Moon" - "Go All the Way" - Sub Pop - 1993
• "Wait It Out" / "The Jester" - Munster records - 1994
• Rat Race / I Live In A Car / Telephone Numbers - Gearhead Records - 1995 - Split with The Meices
• Just Say - Sub Pop - 1996
• All In Order / Answer The Phone, Dummy / Allison - Birdtime Bird Co. - 1996
• And After All / Marionette - Birdtime Bird Co. - 1996
• Come On Come On / I Can't Hide - Super Fan Records - 2011

EP

• Fastbacks Play Five of Their Favorites - No Threes - 1982
• Everyday Is Saturday - No Threes - 1984
• "In The Summer/You Can't Be Happy/Everything I Don't Need/Queen of Eyes" - No Threes/SPFC - 1989
• Win Lose or Both - Pop Llama, 1998

Appearances

• "Someone Else's Room" on the Seattle Syndrome Volume One - 1981
• "Swallow My Pride" (Green River cover) on the Sub Pop 200 compilation - Sub Pop - 1988
• "Hit or Miss" (The Damned cover) on Another Damned Seattle Compilation - Dashboard Hula Girl Records - 1991
• "Impatience" on International Pop Underground Convention (live) (1992)

Compilations

• Never Fails, Never Works - Blaster! (UK) - 1991
• The Question Is No - Sub Pop - 1992
• Truth Corrosion and Sour Bisquits - Book Records - 2004

Live

• Bike • Toy • Clock • Gift - self-released as a tape in 1988, re-released on No Threes Records in 1989, CD released in 1994 on Lucky Records.
• In America - Smilin' Ear - 1991 (2x7)
• Here They Are... Live At the Crocodile... - Lance Rock (Canada) - 1996

Further reading

• Stephen Tow, The Strangest Tribe: How a Group of Seattle Rock Bands Invented Grunge (2011), Sasquatch Books (Seattle), especially p. 209-218, "Addendum: The Legendary Fastbacks". ISBN 1570617430.

External links

• 1991 interview, Noise For Heroes No. 20
• "Choosing Fandom" from This American Life No. 31
• on the Trouser Press site
• Former fastbacks.com pages, mirrored at Sub Pop
• Sgt. Major