In the late 1990s, Fastball’s hit songs “Out of My Head” and “The Way” were ubiquitous – and the Austin, Texas-based trio are still going strong, releasing their ninth studio album, Sonic Ranch, in 2024. They’re currently on an extensive North American tour with Barenaked Ladies (and either Guster or Sugar Ray, depending on the date – see www.fastballtheband.com/tour for details). Calling from a stop in Washington state, vocalist/bassist Tony Scalzo tells The Big Takeover about these latest developments, and delves deep into the band’s history – and what he sees in Fastball’s future.
How’s the tour going so far?
TONY SCALZO: It’s really wonderful. We’re about to wrap up the first leg, which is with Guster. And then on the second leg, we will be trading Guster for Sugar Ray. So we’re like the little baby band, the first set – a 30 minute set. You can expect that you’ll hear the songs that made us successful back in the ’90s; we’ll be doing all of those. And then we’ll be featuring a few songs off our new album, Sonic Ranch. We’ll be doing our own [headlining] shows in the fall.
When you have songs that are so well-known and you have to play them at every show, how do you keep that fresh for yourselves?
TONY SCALZO: It’s really not been a problem for me. We realize that it doesn’t make any sense to not do them. It doesn’t make us bored or anything. We can play them without thinking – we don’t have to concentrate too hard to stay on track with those songs. The newer songs are obviously more challenging because we’re less familiar with them.
What made you decide to name your new album Sonic Ranch?
TONY SCALZO: That’s the name of the studio where we recorded it. Sonic Ranch is an awesome studio out in west Texas. It’s in the desert, near the Rio Grande. The closest city is about 55 miles away, so it’s fairly isolated. It’s kind of like a villa. There’s a pool in the middle of a courtyard with little rooms all around it, and there’s a main kitchen. Ladies cook breakfast and lunch for you, and then they leave a dinner later in the evening, and there’s always lots of wine and good food. It’s actually super productive because you’re focused on what you’re doing, and it’s a very peaceful environment with zero distraction.
How did you come up with your band’s distinctive sound in the first place?
TONY SCALZO: It evolved. When we started, the stuff we were playing was set in the times they were. We were just making [music] that sounded like pop punk – hard guitars and drums and that kind of thing. That’s what was going on at the time when we recorded our first album Make Your Mama Proud in ’95. But then it started to evolve when we got into the studio for the second album [1998’s All the Pain Money Can Buy], which is the one that has “The Way” and “Out of My Head” and “Fire Escape.” We were searching, and trying to do more than just being a guitar band. Trying more to be more like our influences, like The Beatles or something like that. We really wanted to just follow in those footsteps. Not try to sound like them, but stretch out more, musically, and it doesn’t all have to be loud and fast. There can be acoustic guitars and pianos and organs and all that kind of stuff. So we got to explore it in the studio because we were on a major label, so there was a little bit of money. And our second album was miles beyond what we were doing on the first album, and then we just continued to do that.
What helps you stay inspired?
TONY SCALZO: I’ve got these two guys, my partners [guitarist Miles Zuniga and drummer Joey Shuffield], who are good enough musicians to where we can make it work. Whatever’s in my head, I have the confidence that they can pull it off in the studio. Sometimes, if none of us can do what we need, we go beyond that and go to other people. We try to work with other musicians, and that’s always super fun. That gives us a bit of spontaneity, and brings a new voice or a new color to whatever song it is.
How did you know when you met the other two that you’d work well together?
TONY SCALZO: I had worked with Joey in another project after I’d moved to Austin from California. We went to the studio and recorded with this singer-songwriter guy, and spent some time together and got to know each other pretty well. I realized he was a really good drummer. We got fired from that band, for whatever reason. I can tell you it wasn’t because of our musicianship or behavior. It’s just, I don’t know. But we got fired, so that left us not sure what we were going to do. But it turns out that Joey had been in a band before I’d met him, with Miles. And so he brought his guitar over to my house, and we played a few songs to each other, and I showed him my record collection. We got on real well right away. We ended up rehearsing. That week, we ended up doing a little gig in Austin. I mean, it’s not hard to do. It sounds really like, “Wow, that’s fast!” But the fact is, it’s not that hard to do in a town like Austin, where we know everybody and you can just [say], “Hey, can we play here? I’ve got this new thing I want to try.” So we were doing that right away, playing in front of people. Started building up our set a little bit more. And within a year, we were on Hollywood Records, and we were working on our first album.
What do you think it is about this band that’s enabled you to have such longevity?
TONY SCALZO: It’s only three of us as the core of the band. That simplifies things. Nobody got strung out on drugs. Nobody got some kind of weird scandal, domestic abuse or whatever. Things happen, but they haven’t happened to us, knock on wood. We were already sort of mature when we got together. Like, we were already thirty [years old], on average. I was thirty. Miles is a little younger than me; Joey’s a little bit older than me. But we had already done all of our fucking up, so we were ready to do what we had to do to get successful. It took a lot of hard work that first year. And the first record, we worked really hard out on the road promoting that one, to not much avail. But the good part of those touring times was that we got to play with some better bands. The first band we really had a long tour with as Fastball was Matthew Sweet. That was the first time I’d ever seen a band every night for like six weeks. I saw that band more than almost any band I’ve ever seen, and it was super eye opening. We learned a lot. Some of it negative, some of it positive, but we take it with us today, that first experience of a long tour. It’s been really fun ever since, and we’ve been active and full time. But we’re just not in the spotlight [anymore], so a lot of people don’t notice. And that’s why, when we come out and play now, people go, “Wow, you guys are really good!” Yeah, we’ve been doing it a long time, and hitting it hard. It’s like, we really understand music, and we really love music. So all you have to do is get in touch with that. And you realize that music is universal. If you have a good melody, and you’ve got a good vibe about your music, and you’re not just trying to be trendy, chances are, you are going to have longevity because people are going to like it no matter what era it is and what kind of people they are. And I know this to be true because our fans, they run the gamut on age and cultures. It’s not too hard for me to understand that because I love music so much, and that’s what we really focus on.
I think a big part of Fastball’s appeal is your lyrics, which I think are quite evocative.
TONY SCALZO: Thank you. I read, and I watch films, and I listen to people, and I love the language. Almost everything I do is influenced by something else, either indirectly or on purpose. I don’t think about the lyrics as much as I think of the melody and the feel and the chords underneath, and the way melodies work together. Because I grew up playing classical music, and there was a bridge between that upbringing and learning how to play the piano and listening to The Beatles and bands like Yes and Pink Floyd. I was really into prog when I was very young, like when I was in fifth grade. And then punk came along, and they were tearing down all that stuff and deconstructing things and getting more simple and back to the roots of things. I discovered early rock and roll, and I learned about garage rock. So I was able to touch on all those things when I started writing [songs] myself.
How old were you when you started writing your own material?
TONY SCALZO: I was pretty old. I was like 22 or 23 when I really wrote my first song that I brought to some guys to play. From about age 14 until right up to that point, I had either been a bass player or a guitar player in some older kids’ bands, because I was kind of proficient. So I got to play with older guys, and I got to play at parties where they had kegs and girls, and I really took to it. I really dug the whole rock and roll thing. I’m like, “This is fun – this is what I want to do all my life.” And there you go: I have done that.
What made you decide to play bass?
TONY SCALZO: When I was 14, my friend’s older brother was a drummer in this band, and all these guys were 18, 19. But they had a bass, and I picked it up. I knew how to play guitar, but I didn’t know how to play bass. And so I just started playing it, and I just took to it. I thought it was really easy. And then I got into listening to music and hearing the bass parts in other people’s music and going, “Wow, you can do all kinds of stuff with this instrument.” And then I also wanted to play guitar all the time, so occasionally I got into bands that had me as the guitar player. But I didn’t really start singing my own songs until much later, when I was in my early 20s and I was working with younger guys at that point. They were younger than me, and I was the old guy with the songs. [laughs]
What do you think about the legacy that you’ve created with this band so far?
TONY SCALZO: I think we’re still at a point in this band where we can do whatever we want, probably, as long as we keep playing those other songs that everybody knows. I kind of like that. It’s a lot of freedom. I don’t feel pressure to maintain anything in this band, other than our health and our happiness and the way we get along. And just basically keep the machine going until it totally breaks down – and the only way I can see it breaking down is if somebody couldn’t do it, like physically. And we’re all doing pretty good!
