Fastball
Fastball Bio
What the band has done steadily through the years is continually hone its voice and sound, which has further evolved on its new self-titled album, recorded in far west Texas at Sonic Ranch Studio with acclaimed producer David Garza. Fastball is the fourth album the band has made during a 10-year streak that founders Zuniga, guitarist/singer Tony Scalzo, and drummer Joey Shuffield agree has seen them at their most creative and open-hearted as a trio of musicians and lifelong friends.
That talk led them to the most open and easy communication they’d had since before they achieved life-altering success. Step Into The Light paved the way for future collaborations with Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin on The Help Machine.
“We started just ramping it up and coming up with more ideas of how we want a next record to be. And then after that, we went into the studio with someone that we’ve admired for years,” Scalzo said of Berlin’s role as a producer, which extended into some of the material on 2022’s The Deep End. “We each put in a bunch of amazing songs, and we also sat back and let Steve do a lot of things that I don’t think would have occurred to us sonically to make a record that showed an unexpected texture for us… I’ve always been pretty adamant in my songs about how it’s going to sound. For me, it’s sort of like the idea of giving up a little bit of control and letting him do his producing.”