Fastway

1) Fastway was a hard rock band formed by guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke formerly of Motörhead, and bassist Pete Way formerly of UFO. In 1983 both players had been disgruntled with their own bands and decided to work together in a new outfit. They recruited drummer Jerry Shirley formerly of Humble Pie, and vocalist Dave King and took their name from a combination of the founder-members’ names. However, Way then discovered that he could not escape from his contract with Chrysalis Records and also received a tempting offer to play for Ozzy Osbourne, and abandoned the project, forcing Clarke to steer it alone. Bringing in session bassist Mick Feat, the band then recorded debut album FASTWAY.



A critical and moderate commercial success, with successful touring to promote it (with Alfie Angus on bass), the band then recruited Charlie McCracken as “permanent” bassist and released ALL FIRED UP in the following year. Shirley and McCracken subsequently left and there was a hiatus. In 1986 Clarke then reformed the band, retaining King and recruiting with Shane Carroll (2nd guitar), Paul Reid (bass) and Alan Connor (drums) and this lineup released WAITING FOR THE ROAR. In 1987 they collaborated with the movie TRICK OR TREAT and released a soundtrack from it. Unfortunately both film and soundtrack were poorly received. Nonetheless the band persevered, supporting Ozzy Osbourne in 1988. However King then left after the tour and Clarke decided to start again from scratch using vocalist Lea Hart and session men, quickly releasing ON TARGET in the same year.



In 1990 this duo released BAD BAD GIRLS, employing various session musicians including members of Girlschool. It was well-received but widely ignored and sold poorly. After struggling on for another year, in which they released a live album SAY WHAT YOU WILL, Clarke and Hart gave up and the band was defunct. In 1997 however the pair reunited and released a reworked version of ON TARGET, but there was no commercial success.