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Sunday Old School: Fastway

One of the great things about the internet is that younger headbangers can find all sorts of bands so much easier than they could twenty years. Where once fans may have wondered what happened to certain members of bands, they are now able to find their subsequent or side projects with much greater ease. One such band who achieved success in their time but for a while were swept away featured a very important member of the classic lineup of one of metal’s most important bands, Motorhead, whose guitarist Eddie Clarke would leave for a new group, Fastway.

Fastway was formed in 1983 when "Fast" Eddie Clarke became disillusioned with Motorhead and teamed up with UFO bass player, Pete Way, who had also become disgruntled with his band. They recruited former Humble Pie drummer, Jerry Shirley and Irish singer Dave King. Despite Way being a founding member and half of the group’s namesake, he decided to leave the project early on because he was unable to escape his record deal with Chrysalis Records and instead opted to join Ozzy Osbourne’s band, later forming a new group, Waysted.

The same year they formed, Fastway released their self-titled debut album, which featured session musician Mickey Feat on bass in an uncredited role. The album was a success, both critically and commercially, spawning three singles, "Easy Living," "Say What You Will" and "We Become One" in the process. They eventually recruited a full time bassist, Charlie McCraken, formerly of Rory Gallagher’s band, Taste, who made his only recording appearance with the band on their sophomore effort, "All Fired Up."

"All Fired Up" was deemed to be another success for Fastway, selling well and earning good reviews but the pressure and tensions that come with touring took their toll on the band, leading Shirley and McCraken to quit the group. They were replaced respectively by Alan Connor and Paul Reid, as well as the addition of a second guitarist, Shane Carroll and the quintet released their third album, "Waiting for the Roar" in January of 1986. It was considered something of a disappointment owing to the more commercial direction it took, leaning more towards album orientated rock than the previous two releases.

Nevertheless, the group earned enough attention to be asked to write the soundtrack album for the 1986 horror movie, "Trick or Treat," which was centred around heavy metal and featured appearances from Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons. The movie itself was a failure but the soundtrack proved very popular, staying on the Billboard Album charts for almost a year, however the success proved detrimental to their stability and led to infighting over the little money they received for their efforts, causing the band to call it a day soon after.

While King went on to be a part of the heavy metal supergroup, Katmandu, which garnered some success with their one album, before forming the very popular, Flogging Molly, Clarke reformed Fastway in 1988 with singer, Lea Hart, along with a collection of session musicians, releasing the album, "On Target" that same year. It was a poor selling effort, as was the succeeding album, "Bad Bad Girls," which was released in 1990 and led to Clarke disbanding Fastway for a second time in 1991.

For a long time after that, Fastway were relegated to a "did you ever hear of..." band, experiencing a small revival of interest thanks to the internet, along with many other rock and metal bands of the eighties. This new intrigue led to Eddie Clarke reforming the group for performances at the Download Sweden Rock festivals in 2007, this time with Little Angels vocalist Toby Jepson fronting the band, with the guitarist confirming later at the Hard Rock Hell festival that they would be attempting to write new material soon after. They took their time with the material, with Jepson meanwhile performing vocal duties for the Scottish band, Gun, before a new album, "Eat Dog Eat," was finally released in 2011. It's unclear whether the band will continue, with little noise being made since the 2012 single, "Leave the Light On," and Eddie Clarke going on to release a solo album, "Make My Day – Back to Blues" last year. Whatever the case, Fastway has cemented their place as a veteran band worth searching for, something of a hidden treasure that’s sure to impress when it’s uncovered.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Gary "Godlike" Snyder.

Fastway - "Say What You Will"

Fastway - "All Fired Up"

Fastway - "The World Waits For You"

Fastway - "After Midnight"

Fastway - "Let Him Rock"

Fastway - "Bad Bad Girls"

Fastway - "Leave the Light On"