Retro Bar Manchester 25th May 2008

The much anticipated Fast Cars pinged into their stride and peppered the crowd with a full on blast of melodic power pop punk that really caught my lugs and held their attention throughout.

This was fuckin’ great stuff that fizzed and frothed with sharp snappy chords and meaty riffs. I love this kind of bubbling punk and the airy, feel good vibe that runs deeply through the entire marrow of this high octane noise is a true delight.

You can’t beat this style of play and when it’s done this well I can only stand back and appreciate. This is a band I have wanted to see a long time and in no way whatsoever was I disappointed. Let’s hope this is the start of a major renaissance and the Fast Cars have a good run on the current circuit.

OMD 26th May 2008

Red Cloth Club, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 29th March 2008

Thursday, April 24, 2008
BORDER CROSSING: Fast Cars in Japan!

Again thanks to 1977 Records, the same label that brought The Kids to Japan a couple months ago, arranged for the UK power pop/mod revival group The Fast Cars to play a string of shows across Japan in celebration of their 30th anniversary. The band is know for appearing on the same bill as Joy Divison, The Jam, The Rezillas and other power pop, punk and post-punk acts of the day. In Japan, they were backed by some of Japan's best punk and new wave revival bands including Water Closet, NanoX and the Romanes.

I saw the Fast Cars at their Saturday nite show at Shinjuku Red Cloth. When I arrived, pogo-punks, greasers and parka sporting mods crowded the joint watching The Romanes, an all-girl Ramones cover band, who played a set of rough but appreciable classics! Then the spastic organ-powered neo-wave group NanoX took the stage making a few pogo-ers quite happy.

The Fast Cars played a set that included their classic repertoire with songs like "The Kids Just Wanna Dance" and "Every Day I made Another Mistake" (the lyrics ironically foresaw their cult popularity in Japan!) alongside songs on their new album Well... You Started It! The Red Cloth show was particularly lively with spiky haired punk girls jumping on stage and stage diving. After much "We Want More!" cheering, the band came back out to do an encore that included covers of The Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols and The Undertones.

After the show, The Fast Cars showed their appreciation by meeting and taking pictures with the audience. Another special thanks to 1977 Records for bringing a great classic band to the Land of the Rising Sun.
Posted by Marty Shane, Pacifiction Records, Tokyo Japan

Road to Ruins Festival, Rome, Italy, 19th November, 2006

...change of stage, Fast Cars from Manchester, true legends of pop-punk. I know only two songs of this band so I really don't know what expect from 'em. They aren't too young, they are on 50 years old but their show is intense and full of energy. The singer looks like a young isteric kid, smiling and happy ... a little bit crazy, but their music is really close to the best Buzzcocks. The public is really surprised and starts to dance and singing all their songs. Their 'punk-o-rama' set is built on all potential hits that could do the happiness to all the fans of this genere.The top of is when they starts to play 'The Kids...'

D. "sandinista" N.

Salford Jets / Fast Cars - The Hope Pub, Salford 13th December 2003

Three of us set off from Blackpool down to Derby to watch Conflict, Icons and the Subhumans. Having watched Blackpool go down to a poor 1-0 home defeat against Luton could the day get any worse? Well ... the combination of torrential rain and heavy traffic meant we wouldn't make Derby in time to see most of the bands so we swerved to Manchester to watch some tame old school new wave / punk.

So we pulled in to Eccles for what was a sombre all ticket private party type of affair. I have a single or two by the Fast Cars which I believe go for silly money these days so I was interested to see them play after all these years.

They were what you might expect to be honest - straightforward pop punk. I remember being quite impressed by how the bassist pretty much held the band together. "The Kids Just Wanna Dance" was the highlight of the set (as you might expect).

Mike Sweeney's Salford Jets were well received by their home town pro Man Utd crowd. Considering Mike Sweeney is now actually 145 years old he has more energy than a Lancashire jack rabbit and his 100 mph banter between songs was funny.

Gina and the Ford Cortina track was great fun..... not quite Conflict but hey beggers can't be choosers.

Andy Higgins, Blackpool Rox fanzine, issue #7, 2004.
www.jsntgm.com

Holidays in the Sun - Blackpool, 2002.

Friday
We arrived after an appalling 7 hour journey we had up from Southampton (thank you the M6), with only time to dump our cases, wolf down some chips and then straight into the Winter Gardens, the venue for this year’s HITS.

After the usual queuing up and banding process, we made our way through the entrance hall to the Ballroom. It’s an ornate venue for sure. We watched a bit of Foreign Legion play whilst we queued up to get a beer, pretty generic sounding Oi but okay all the same. After a 15 minutes wait to get a pint here, we wandered off into the Olympia, a big top style greenhouse of a venue, which provided the best facilities to get a pint by a mile. The sound in here was not too good.

After a bit of Farse we headed back to the Ballroom to catch the Fast Cars. I had wanted to see them since I got sent their recent CD on Detour, it’s an ace release, poppy humorous Manchester Punk with a tinge of the Undertones. They lived up to the build up I had given Tup, a fine set, getting the evening off to a good start. They played their “Kids Just Wanna Dance” single from 1979, lots off the “Ready or Not” Detour CD and some new stuff they had put together recently. Ending with Bowie’s “Suffragette City”, I’d certainly like to see them again.

Ian (Part Time Punk zine)

Holidays in the Sun - Blackpool, 2002.

As soon as I got into the Winter Gardens I headed for the bar for some much needed refreshment, and then took in the first band of the weekend who were Fast Cars. They were from Manchester and played a really good set.. they reminded me so much of the Undertones.. good poppy punk.. in fact when they played one song I thought they were the Undertones. They even played their single that they released back in 1979.. what a good start to the weekend..........

Anyway I enjoyed the weekend.. and again I didnt see any trouble...the best bands for me were Fast Cars, The Undead, NY Relix, Subs, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Special Duties and 999.

DAVE TURPITT