Vine(yl) Club #2 - Fastbacks "Zücker"
For our 2nd release of the Sleight of Hand Cellars VINE(YL) Club (ok, to be truthful, this was SUPPOSED to be the 1st release, but, well, you know….vinyl), we are excited to be presenting to you the album “Zücker” by Seattle legends, the Fastbacks. Originally released in 1993 by Sub Pop Records, the label is VERY excited to bring this album back to life for us! Pressed at RTI in Oregon on colored vinyl, exclusively for us, our great partner Matt Vaughn and Easy Street Records in W. Seattle, AND YOU!
The Fastbacks are about as “Seattle” as they come. Founded in 1979 by then 19-year-old Kurt Bloch and his friends Lulu Gargiulo and Kim Warnick, they have been putting out incredible music for the past 40 years. They’ve moved through more drummers than Spinal Tap (including Duff McKagan of G-N-R fame). And just like the Seattle scene, you can’t pigeonhole the Fastbacks into any one genre. They brought elements of punk rock, sugary pop music, and the 60’s girl groups, and wrapped all that up into perfectly ferocious 2-minute songs.
In 1993, the Fastbacks released one of their finest albums to date, titled “Zücker”. While in any other world, Zücker would have catapulted the Fastbacks to fame and fortune, it unfortunately was released when Seattle was sitting on top of the “Grunge Mountain”, and this album did NOT fit into that genre. That lack of fame for the Fastbacks was really their hallmark…being underappreciated was their M.O. But fame really isn’t something the Fastbacks have been chasing. Kurt Bloch is also a record producer (Mudhoney, Nashville Pussy, Flop, and many others), Kim Warnick worked for Sub Pop (the bands original label for Zücker), and Lulu Gargiulo worked as a camera operator for a production company in Seattle.
The Fastbacks used this album to expand on their fast paced “pop” songs. What we mean when we say that is if you were to slow some of these songs down a notch or 2, you’d be listening to candy coated pop hits that Casey Kasem would be proud of. Instead, you get a full on assault of Kurt’s signature guitar sound, working his way up and down the frets, Rusty Willoughy’s energetic drumming, Kim’s steady bass, and the combo of Lulu and Kim’s vocals. 3 minute pop songs condensed down to pure punk-pop magic. Don’t believe me? Listen to their cover of the Bee Gee’s “Please Read Me” (not the disco Bee Gees but the 1960’s pop Bee Gees). You’ll see the influences immediately.
Trey was fortunate enough to see the Fastbacks live on several occasions. They opened for Pearl Jam in 1996, and he saw them again in 2018 at the Sub Pop 30 Festival in West Seattle. To see the Fastbacks live was like watching a tornado cut a path of destruction through whatever was standing in its way. Imagine opening a bottle of electricity and letting it go free…that’s what a Fastbacks show was like. Unbridled energy. And Zücker represented the Fastbacks at their absolute best. We are so honored to be able to re-release this album for the first time in 28 years with our friend Matt Vaughn from Easy Street Records. We hope you enjoy this album, and make sure to turn that volume all the way up!
Cheers!
Trey, Jerry, Keith, and the entire team from Sleight of Hand Cellars
