Fastbacks


Fastbacks were a Seattle, Washington, punk rock band. Formed in 1979 by songwriter/guitarist Kurt Bloch, and friends Lulu Gargiulo and Kim Warnick, they disbanded in 2001. Their sound mixed a generally punk rock approach to vocals and sound textures with poppy tunes and strong musicianship.
Although these three band members remained fairly constant, they went through numerous drummers, including Duff McKagan, later of Guns N' Roses. MTV's web page on the Fastbacks says that estimates at the number of Fastbacks drummers "range from 12 to 20." For most of the band's last decade, Mike Musburger filled this role, but other Fastbacks drummers before him included Bloch himself, Richard Stuverud, Nate Johnson and Rusty Willoughby, John Moen, Jason Finn, Dan Peters of Mudhoney, and Tad Hutchison of the Young Fresh Fellows. Several of these people also served at times as drummers in The Squirrels, a similarly long-lived band, and the Fastbacks' sometime label-mates on PopLlama Records, who bring a similar mix of strong musicianship and punk attitude to even poppier material.
Contributing to the band's breakup was Kim Warnick's move to the band Visqueen in 2001 through 2004. In summer 2010 Kim Warnick started a new band with Mikey Davis called Cali Giraffes.
The Fastbacks reunited for a one-off live performance at the West Seattle Summer Music Festival, featuring the core trio of Kurt, Kim and Lulu, along with Mike Musburger on drums, their first official show together since their break-up a decade ago.

Discography

Albums