Standard-Radio Post contributor
By the time Fastball co-founder Tony Scalzo arrived in Austin in 1994, he had already been in a couple of bands in the Southern California region. Encouraged by friends to make the move to Texas to join their band at the time, Scalzo found himself in the middle of Texas alone when things didn’t work out.
Still, he wasn’t discouraged. In fact, quite the contrary.
“I got here (Austin), and went, ‘wow, this is fertile ground,’” says Scalzo. “I could work here.”
A few months later, Scalzo formed his own group along with fellow vocalist and songwriter Miles Zúñiga.
A native of Laredo, Zúñiga came to attend the University of Texas at Austin. The chill life of Austin, he says, appealed to him as a major change of pace from the formal, macho, sometimes violent drug world he saw along the border.
“I went to college at UT, but, in my mind, I was just going to school to please my parents,” says Zúñiga.
Since the age of 13, Zúñiga says, he wanted to make rockn- roll, but he couldn’t find enough people in Laredo who knew how to create music. So, the vibrant 1990s Austin music scene was mesmerizing to him.
“I had been writing music in Laredo but there was no place to play, except like backyard parties,” Zúñiga recalled. “Suddenly there were all these clubs where bands could play, and more importantly, play original music.”
Joined by drummer Joey Shuffield, Scalzo and Zúñiga became the creative team behind the Austin-based power pop trio that came to call itself Fastball. Influenced by the local scene and inspired by such bands as The Beatles, the group started to get a following. And record labels took notice.
Signed by Hollywood Records, Fastball put out an album in 1996 titled Make Your Mama Proud. While the LP didn’t sell well, the release earned them “Best Pop Band” at the Austin Music Awards.
But everything changed in 1998 with the release of their second album titled All the Pain Money Can Buy. With a million album sales and two Grammy nominations, the album scored a top-five hit called, “The Way,” scoring heavy airplay and a coveted MTV Award nomination. Additional hits, “Out of My Head” and “Fire Escape” also received radio play.
Musical success brought accolades and fame, allowing the band to participate in major tours and even gig internationally. But such commercial success didn’t roll over to their follow-up album, a year 2000 release titled, The Harsh Light of Day, which only sold about 85,000 copies, a far cry from the million-album sales of their previous release.
Dropped by Hollywood records, Fastball continued to independently release albums over the next two decades. While they never captured the same commercial play of their 1998 release, Scalzo says the experience was a learning moment.
“Yes, we were on a major label. Yes, we had hits on that label which I think wouldn’t have come unless we were on the major label just because of the machine,” says Scalzo. “And we happened to be marketable.”
With support from Hollywood Records, the band went all over the world, touring extensively in 1998-1999. It was a hectic pace and lifestyle, one that Zúñiga says is hard to maintain.
The years that followed, Fastball released music independently. Much of their self-released material was available on patreon.com, a site that supported creatives. And band members continued to work, both individually and with other artists and bands.
Fastball’s new album is being released June 17 and is titled Sonic Ranch after the recording studio just outside Tornillo, Texas where record producer David Garcia, a long-time Austin musician, recorded most of the album.
Ironically, the first release, a single titled “Rather Be Me Than You,” was the only song on the new album not recorded by Garza. The single, which Scalzo says reflects the band’s power pop roots, was released April 2 and is currently available on YouTube and other online outlets.
In support of the new album, Fastball begins their 30-year anniversary tour on April 8 as part of the Arch Ray Eclipse Musicfest in a lineup that includes Switchfoot and the Goo Goo Dolls.
For the first time in years, the new album is not an independent release, being put out by Sunset Blvd. Records.
Zúñiga says producing music today is very different from the early days with advances in technology and computerized experimentation. But it’s not just technology that has changed.
“For starters, I’m so much more experienced, I know what I’m doing now,” says Zúñiga, recalling how in the early days he didn’t know enough about music and about himself to figure out why some things just weren’t working musically.
While band members sometimes drifted apart and worked on solo projects and material with other bands, both Scalzo and Zúñiga say that in the last few years they’ve come to refocus on Fastball and believe their new album reflects that focus.
“I like what we do. I’m glad I’m still in this band. I’m very happy that it’s still the same three guys,” says Scalzo, adding that guitar player Dave Scher, a veteran of the Eric Johnson Band, has been added for the band’s 30th anniversary tour.
Zúñiga echoes much of Scalzo’s reflections, adding that the band’s musical journey can be seen interpersonally as a big adventure.
Case in point, before booking the Arch Way Eclipse Musicfest, Zúñiga says he had no eclipse-watching special focus.
“This is the thing I love the most about my job,” Zúñiga says. “I really had no plans except maybe to watch the eclipse from my yard. Instead, now, because of this gig, I’m going to be right in the best place to see it.”
Fastball is scheduled to perform at 5:40 p.m. Monday, April 8 at the Arch Way Resort, 4160 U.S. 290 East, Fredericksburg.
Visit archrayresort.com/ eclipse-fest-2024/ for details.
For tickets and festival information go to archrayresor t . com/ecl ipse-fest 2024/ YOUTUBE “Rather Be Me Than You” (2024) https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=YTDGVul_guk “The Way” (1998) https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=X5jlTlUTWfQ
