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Fastball All the Pain Money Can Buy... Hollywood Records Straight from Stevie Ray's backyard to the Showplace Theatre, Fastball hit Buffalo with its brand of tuneful pop. If you've listened to the radio for more than five minutes in the past few months, you've probably heard "The Way," a hip little single that's drawing comparisons to early Elvis Costello and the Attractions. It's also the only song currently on alternative radio that you can sing "Beseme Mucho" over. Either way, the strength of that single alone was enough to fill the Showplace to near capacity. Fastball, a trio out of Austin Texas, is also currently beating out heavy contenders Pearl Jam, the Foo Fighters, Green Day, and Garbage on Billboard's Modern Rock tracks, which reflects radio airplay. "The Way" is currently number one. That has sent their second album, All the Pain Money Can Buy, up the album charts a bit. People are wondering what all the fuss is about. What the band does best is serve up engaging melodies with an energetic burst, and they certainly weren't holding back at the Showplace. They ripped through tracks from their first album, Make Your Mama Proud, and from the current album, rarely slowing down. Besides the big single everyone came to see, some of the best stuff was from the first album. "Are You Ready For the Fallout" was arguably the best song of the evening, again showing that the band has spent more than a little time listening to "Radio, Radio" and "13 Steps Lead Down." When they hit their stride, Fastball is as potent as any band can be, hitting your heart and head at once. Unfortunately, at their worst, they can be repetitive and a bit dull. They can throw as much passion as they want to into some songs, but they still seem like the same mid-tempo overdriven ditties overpopulating the radio these days. The problem with the album was the problem with the show. Tunes like "Better Than it Was" waste their initial appeal by not really going anywhere. "Nowhere Road" bounces along, a pleasant enough way to pass three and a half minutes, but nothing more. Still, even the worst songs have hooks, and the band does a good job bringing that out live. You may get bored, but you won't be bored for long. The two songwriters in the group, bass player Tony Scalzo and guitarist Miles Zuniga, keep the punches rolling well enough to make up for the bare spots. Put into perspective, Fastball is loaded with potential. They know how to craft good songs into great ones, even if that doesn't apply to every song on the album. This band could grow into a monster if they don't waste too much time trying to recapture whatever it was that made "The Way" so successful. After all, the Beatles didn't try to make "Please Please Me" on Sgt. Pepper or the White Album. And Fastball does show a willingness to step out of their sound. "G.O.D (Good Old Days)" blends chomping distorted guitars with one of the catchiest horn parts this side of ska, breaking it up with a quiet organ-heavy bridge. Every song is bursting with harmonies, whether the band is laying back on a ballad or pounding out the song for all they're worth. It's refreshing to hear a band that doesn't chain themselves to their guitars, as well. "Out of my Head" allows the organ and piano parts to lead, the guitar stepping in for a jazzy, mellow solo every so often. Live, it's easy to tell where the band's roots lie. They covered ZZ Top's "Thunderbird" and The Who's "The Seeker," nailing the changes in both. No matter how far out the band went, or how heavy they got, they were always tethered to Texas blues, which had the interesting effect of making them sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan fronting Nirvana at times. The evening definitely belonged to Fastball. When it was all over, the band came out and hung out with the fans, answering questions and signing copies of All the Pain Money Can Buy and T-shirts. The album and the show give us a hint of the Fastball's potential. They've got our attention. Let's hope they keep it. -Nick |
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