Artist: Fastbacks
Album: The Questions Is No
Year: 1992
Genre: Pop Punk
Fastbacks are one of those bands you know exactly what you’re going to get regardless of the record you pop on the turntable. What are you getting, you may ask? The comfortable familiarity of upbeat, sugar-coated pop punk. Not a whole heap of use going into a long-winded, overly detailed description because, as with so many of their peers, this tiger that doesn’t change her stripes. It’s the same as asking what the new Queers or Screeching Weasel releases are about. It’s almost a useless question since you’re pretty much guaranteed that some memorable and hyper melodies are going to blast your eardrums to have you humming along in no time. This is not to imply that Fastbacks are typical in any way. Guitarist Kurt Bloch was creating the modern pop punk framework back in 1979 while Joe Queer and Ben Weasel were still Kiss fans. His guitar work is chock-full of little intricacies that other guitar players would do well to check out. The other standout attribute Fastbacks have to offer is the wonderful female vocal presence of Kim Warnick and Lulu Gargiulo. Do I dare to say that the vocal tone almost sounds “cute?” Yep, I'm going there. The vocals are almost delicate and the melodies complement the powerful attack going on behind them, which makes for a unique approach to a formulaic genre. Fastbacks didn't last past 1999. Their legacy is made up of six wonderful records and more singles and EP's than you can count. All are worthy of your attention.
Listen to "Everything I Don't Need" here.
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