Fastball (band)

Fastball is an American rock band. It was formed in Austin, Texas, in 1992. The band originally called themselves Magneto U.S.A., and changed their name after signing with Hollywood Records.

In 1998, their album All the Pain Money Can Buy reached platinum sales within six months of its release, and stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for a year. Their songs "The Way" and "Out of My Head" reached No. 1 and No. 14 on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart, respectively. In addition, the group has been nominated for two Grammy Awards – Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "The Way", and Best Long Form Music Video for their promotional video "The Way". They also received five The Austin Chronicle awards: 1998's Album of the Year, Best Video, Best Single/EP, Band of the Year, and 1995's Best Pop Band.

In late 2021, Fastball started a Patreon campaign supporting the release of new music, as well as demos of their songs and the stories behind them.

In 1992, Tony Scalzo, Miles Zuniga, and Joey Shuffield formed Fastball in Austin, Texas. Zuniga and Shuffield first played together in a band called Big Car. After a stint with another group called Wild Seeds, Shuffield introduced Zuniga to Scalzo, who had played in a band called the Goods in Orange County, California. The trio decided to form their own band, and began playing around the Austin area.^{[citation needed]}

When they first started out, the band tried out several names, such as Star 69, Magneto, Magneto USA, Ed Clark's Business Bible, and Starchy, before finally deciding to adopt the name Fastball in 1995. Zuniga told Entertainment Weekly that it was named after the band's favorite pornographic film, and said that "It really has no meaning behind it."

Fastball quickly built a strong following in the Austin area, and created a regional buzz. As a result, a local journalist spotted them, and suggested that Hollywood Records check them out. They did, and Fastball soon signed a recording contract. Scalzo and Zuniga took turns singing and writing the songs, while Shuffield backed them up on drums. In 1996, Make Your Mama Proud arrived in stores. The album didn't sell very well, but it did win the "Best Pop Band" category at the Austin Music Awards (they tied with another local Austin band, The Wannabes). The following year, the members of Fastball were unsure of their future.^{[citation needed]}

The members of Fastball still had side jobs as late as January 1998. Tony Scalzo worked the graveyard shift at The Bagel Manufactory in Austin. He, Shuffield, and Zuniga would be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien just four months later. Fastball's second album, All the Pain Money Can Buy, was released on Hollywood Records. Within just six months, it had sold more than a million copies.^{[citation needed]}

The single "The Way" stayed on top of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks, and was a top-five hit on Billboard's Top 40 Mainstream chart. Scalzo was inspired to write the song in 1997 after reading a news article about Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly couple who had disappeared in Texas. Though Lela had Alzheimer's and Raymond was recovering from brain surgery, the couple had been driving to a local festival. They were discovered two weeks later, dead, at the bottom of a ravine near Hot Springs, Arkansas, hundreds of miles off their intended route. Scalzo chose to imagine that they began reminiscing and decided to become ethereal beings on a permanent romantic trip, the answer to the song's question, "Where were they going without ever knowing the way?"