(RockAndMetal.com) (06/09/04)

By Michael Bennett

BEVERLY, MA, USA - Platinum recording artists FASTBALL have returned with their Rykodisc debut, "Keep Your Wig On," their loosest and strongest collection yet.

Recorded at Viewpoint Studios in Austin, TX, the bulk of the album was produced by Mike McCarthy (Spoon), with production contributions from Sheryl Crow songwriter Jeff Trott ('Our Misunderstanding') and Fountains Of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger ('Someday,' 'Red Light').

The album was mixed by the legendary Bob Clearmountain.

On "Keep Your Wig On," Fastball co-leaders Miles Zuniga and Tony Scalzo are in fine form, delivering stunning songwriting, Beatlesque charms and buoyant Garage Rock.

There are also nods to soulful R&B ('Drifting Away'), British Invasion Pop ('I Get High') and Dylanesque Folk/Rock ('Perfect World').

There are even hints of Honky-Tonk Country ('Mercenary Girl') and a Latin feel that became one of the Fastball's definining characteristics in their big smash, 'The Way' ('Falling Upstairs,' 'Red Light').

In the song 'The Way,' Fastball's Tony Scalzo sang of an elderly couple that suddenly up and left their home, never to return:

"They just drove off and left it all behind 'em/But where were they going without ever/Knowing the way?"

That song became a runaway hit, and paved the way to Fastball's 1998 breakthrough album, the platinum-certified "All The Pain Money Can Buy."

And now, as the band releases "Keep Your Wig On," it serves as an apt metaphor for the last four years, in which Fastball have tried to regain their balance.

"So many of the characters in our songs suffer from always wanting to go someplace else, never being satisfied with where they are," explains Miles Zuniga, who founded the Austin, TX-based trio nearly a decade ago with fellow singer/songwriter Scalzo and drummer Joey Shuffield.

Then suddenly, amidst their success, the band morphed into characters of their own design.

"The strangest part was ending up in a place you didn't sign up to go to," adds Miles. My heroes were people like Lucinda Williams and Joe Ely."

"We thought, experiencing the success we had, we would have more freedom to do what we wanted."

"Believe me, I'm not complaining. Nobody was telling us what to do. But the pressures and expectations got to us."

"We're not interested in what's hip or trendy," says Scalzo.

"This time around we're only going to do the stuff that's important, not just something that offers publicity, money or promotion."

That stuff is really important -- the blood cells of your career -- but I'd like to be more selective this time."

Fastball is also raring to get back out and play. "It's a fresh start and it feels real organic," says Miles.

"The best thing about it is, we've already been through the 'having a hit single' phase."

"And while we'd love to have another, we don't necessarily need to go down that road."

We want to make sure we're going about this thing the way we want to. And I think on this album, we have."

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