Day 10: Fastbacks- Live In Seattle 1999 "Believe Me Never, Hate Me Forever"

On my summer vacation, my summer reading consisted more than the Smugglers book, re-reading High Fidelity and reading issues of Record Collector magazine. I dug up a book I received a couple of Christmases ago that I never got around to. The Strangest Tribe: How A Group Of Seattle Bands Invented Grunge by Stephen Tow, analyses the story behind the phenomenon of the "Seattle sound" that was more than the breakthrough of Nirvana and alternative music becoming mainstream and the word "grunge". When I originally put this book on my Christmas list (yes I know, my in-laws insisted we have lists) it was because I hoped it wasn't another book about Grunge, Nirvana, Soundgarden or Pearl Jam. I listened to and enjoyed several Seattle-based (and area) bands for years before Nevermind came out and I felt there was nothing really written about the alternative music scene in Seattle as I love bands like the Fastbacks, the Squirrels, the Posies, Jimmy Silva, Mudhoney and of course, the Young Fresh Fellows. Lo and behold, this book gives a background history of the Seattle music scene from the 80's until the mid-90's and there is much mention of the Young Fresh Fellows (one of the first Seattle bands in the 80's to tour nationally), the Squirrels, Fastbacks, Mudhoney, as well as lesser known early bands, the U-Men, the Heats, the Blackouts and Green River.

In those pre-internet days when you wanted music that wasn't available at your local chain record store it took more effort to search out new and interesting music. You could place a special order with the store, sight and unseen and take a chance or you could shop directly from the record label (or band) via mail order. I chose that option, basically you sent a letter to the label (getting the address from another record/CD/tape from that label) requesting a catalog or newsletter (usually printed on newsprint), they mail it to you, make your choices, get a money order from the post office or bank and mail it back and hopefully the record (s) arrive in a couple of weeks to a month. I actually found this method a lot of fun and I'll tell you there's almost no better feeling than receiving a packet in the mail with music in it. I've ordered almost all the products from the PopLlama Records catalog and I've received a couple orders directly from Estrus and Empty Records. Most of my Young Fresh Fellows items are directly from the band or from PopLlama including albums, 7"s, tapes, t-shirts and the Hits From The Break-Up album box set. Small labels are the best because you actually get real personal service, a good example was Bogus Records in Pittsburgh to track down some Frampton Brothers albums. Letter correspondence and phone calls directly from the label and Sean and Ed from the band were helpful and appreciated. I bet Madonna couldn't provide that kind of customer service.

The first LP I bought of the Fastbacks was Very, Very Powerful Motor that I ordered from PopLlama. At the time I didn't even realize Kurt Bloch was in the Fastbacks and the Young Fresh Fellows and when I did, this gave me another band to add to my favourites. Needless to say I was blown away and placed another order with PopLlama to buy the And His Orchestra CD and the live cassette, Bike-Toy-Clock-Gift. This lead to a string of excellent records on SubPop and they seemed to be gaining more exposure touring with Pearl Jam and you'd think they would have made it big commercially, but never quite hit any mainstream success. Which might be a good thing, they were together (on and off) for over 20 years and their career spanned several eras of the Seattle scene from the early 80's when nobody outside of Seattle cared, through Grunge and the 90's when Seattle was the "scene". They are one of the most underrated bands and least pretentious. In The Strangest Tribe, Stephen Tow dedicated ten pages to the legendary Fastbacks, "Twenty three years. that's how long Seattle's Fastbacks remained a growing concern---remarkable for a band of any ilk, but especially so for an underground punk act. From 1979 through 2002, the Fastbacks created amazing art. The band made music that lacked pretension, writing songs that became classics. In short, the Fastbacks were Seattle's Ramones." (Stephen Tow)

I'm posting a very nice soundboard quality Fastbacks show from 1999, the same year they released their last studio album. A solid show opening for the Posies, so it's short and sweet. I've previously posted some other Fastbacks shows and it might be a good time to explore those as well. On March 2, 2002, they played their last show (not counting the reunion shows) at the Bottom of The Hill in San Francisco. (Fastbacks- Last show) It's pre-FM sourced which means the sound quality is excellent. Nine years later in the same place and same city, the Fastbacks were back on stage for a much anticipated reunion show. (San Francisco 2011) Since then, the Fastbacks have released some compilation albums of unreleased, rare and early tracks. The latest, If You Want To Slow Down, Step On The Gas was just released in July. A good time to be a Fastbacks fan, keep the music coming!!
Enjoy!
#12daysoftrouble

Please do NOT sell or convert to lossy format (except for personal use)
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FASTBACKS
Arospace
Seattle, WA
October 22, 1999
Soundboard

01. Only At Night
02. As Everything
03. Fortune's Misery
04. Believe Me Never
05. Like Today
06. Went For A Swim
07. What's The Use
08. Goodbye, Bird
09. New Book Of Old
10. Gone To The Moon
11. Don't Cry For Me
12. Set Me Free

FASTBACKS- 1999-10-22 Arospace, Seattle, WA FLAC. rar