Fast Times was a band that played punky hardcore from the late '90s to early the next decade.
The New Jersey-based combo made their vinyl debut via the Where Were You... EP through Smorgasbord Records, a label owned by Up Front bassist Jeff Terranova. The label released Fast Times' debut album, Counting Down, a year later, and the band continued to play locally and abroad, touring with Up Front in Europe.
Fast Time's third and final release was a split EP with fellow Jersey hardcore band, Tear It Up, issued through Youngblood Records, making that the second straight edge-minded label they worked with.
It was fun chatting with Fast Time vocalist Alison Mennor about their history together, and finding out what she's up to today.
Are you a native of New Jersey, and what was your childhood like?
Hey Carlos! Yeah, for better and worse, I’m Jersey bred. My mother was an immigrant from Taiwan and she came here with $300 in her pocket and a dream. She waited tables at a Howard Johnson until she had enough savings to open her own business, Ping’s Restaurant. So I was a restaurant brat in my first 4 years. You know, those kids sitting around the restaurant while their parents work those long hours? I was one of those, but I remember being a little more wild; roller skating around the restauraunt and bothering people trying to eat.
I remember running into a waiter carrying a huge tray of food. It came crashing down all around me, and on me. Soon after, my mom hired someone to help “nanny” me. We all ended up being a family, and I was raised by 2 very strong women. I had two mother figures. It was a very unconventional parenting situation, but it was my normal and it worked out. I moved around a bit in my early adulthood, but in 2010, I came back to Cranford, New Jersey where Edie (my non-biological mom) raised me.
When did you start listening to hardcore/punk music? How did you get exposed to it as a kid?
I was just instinctually attracted to rockers and punks. They seemed so cool and that’s what I wanted to be too. Joan Jett was my first memory of being enamored with someone’s coolness, their presence. Then I just started to figure out that mainstream music wasn’t doing it for me.
I took a chance and bought 'Never Mind the Bollocks' on cassette tape from a Sam Goody at the mall and I just loved the sound. Some preppie surfer boy I liked made fun of me for liking the Sex Pistols, and that only solidified my position that I was not going to be a mainstream music consumer. But the scene was all underground back then. It was the late '80s when I was at the age, finding my tribe and my identity.
I was at the Jersey Shore one summer on family vacation, and I randomly stumbled onto the last few minutes of a radio show called “Radio Riot." Matt Guard was the host. He knew what was up, he wrote for Maximuroknroll too. He actually lives in my town, and I bump into him at the pet store and places like that.
Anyway, I tape recorded some songs off of his broadcast. Being that It was a radio show, I wasn’t exactly sure what the songs were, but I knew I wanted more of that. I had never heard anything like it, but it was for me. The songs I had caught were "White Riot" by the Clash and Gorilla Biscuits, "No Reason Why." That was like 1988.
I went to Punk Rock Bowling XXIV this year, and it was awesome to see Gorilla Biscuits, along with other longtime favorites: Quicksand, Subhumans, Descendents, Madball, Bratmobile, Gogol Bordello. It’s been a while since I fully immersed in a music festival. I took a few laps around the circle pit for Subhumans, and then realized I need to get my cardio up for next time (laughs).
I saw a bunch of bands I wanted to see for the first time: Devo, The Chats, Destroy Boys, Scowl, Bad Cop Bad Cop, and then was made a fan of bands I didn’t know much about, like Starcrawler, Teenage Mortgage, and Die Spitz. I then got on stage for Punk Rock Karaoke on the last day. I did Motörhead "Ace of Spades" with Stan Lee on guitar and Darrin Pfeiffer on drums in Vegas! I can still do the cartwheel. Here’s a link for proof if you need it.
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As someone who went to a lot of shows there during that period, New Jersey had a great hardcore scene in the ‘90s. What were your impressions of the scene there at time?
Being a part of the NJHC and punk scene in the '90s was an incredibly special time. Our lifestyle was so much more analog. I was at every show in Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania like it was my job. Shows were plentiful, but the only way to find out about them was to physically be in the loop. Like you had to get a physical paper flyer handed to you for what shows were coming up if you were going to know about them.
We didn’t even have cell phones yet. Maybe a beeper. Or to be in the loop you had to go to City Gardens and then get on their postcard mailing list. The Bouncing Souls sent you a postcard too with their upcoming shows. I still have them.
Did you find the NJHC scene inclusive?
Was it inclusive? The ratio of girls involved seemed less than what it is now, but we had a presence. I never really felt significantly EXcluded. There was a skinhead problem here and there (the hate-driven kind) but they were mostly kept in check by S.H.A.R.P. s or by the bands playing and their possies and by pit stars who just liked to fight.
This one time, somewhere in Pennsylvania, I recall Rob Fish from Ressurection taking the time to try and talk some sense into some boneheads, like debate style. The show itself turned into a display of dialogue on racism. This is before the internet, mind you.
These days, discussions like this aren’t live face to face, in front of your peers, but you can debate racists while your sitting on the toilet. And before you wipe, you can even discover new bands very easily; there’s a ton of female musicians in punk and hardcore right now. That’s so rad! Can’t wait to see Amyl and the Sniffers soon. Uh oh, I haven’t really been working on the cardio, like I promised myself in Vegas.
How did Fast Times come together? What were some of the influences you all shared?
I loved stage diving and singing along, while getting dived on, to my favorite bands: Sick of It All, Vision, GB, Agnostic Front, Token Entry, Sheer Terror. It just felt so good sweating and yelling and dog-piling and floor-punching, and I wanted so badly to start my own band.
So at shows, I would just randomly ask the people I met if they played anything and I eventually cobbled together a band that way. I jammed with many musicians that didn’t pan out, but Chris, aka Frump, was my first ride-or-die bandmate.
The first song we wrote, “Golden Girl,” was actually accomplished jamming with Benny Weinman (The Dillinger Esscape Plan, Suicidal Tendencies) on drums. We played a few songs with Benny on drums at our friend Vasil’s house on New Years Eve (1997); that was our first “show." Benny was just having fun with us, so we roped in Wechter full time for drums. He played standing up at first.
And our original bass player was Randy who recorded the demo and played a handful of shows with us. He was just learning bass, so unfortunately it wasn’t a perfect fit. I was at some show up north and Graham knew me from the demo and said hi, and I randomly asked him if he played bass and he was like, “yeah!," and I was like, “wanna jam with us?” And we are still the greatest of friends to this day. He is such a good bass player and could be a full-blown rock star right now if he wanted that life.
Matt left us on the last day of our first European tour with Up Front. Matt went on to form Dead Nation and then Tear it Up. When we got back home from that European tour, we yoinked Steve Asbury from the Worthless for a bit. He was one of our first fans. We did our first Interview with his zine, Time Will Tell. Steve wrote and recorded Counting Down with us and we toured to California and back with Steve on drums.
I think after that tour, he quit us and focused back on a the Worthless, who were a great band, by the way. We were plagued by drummer problems, and that would be our ultimate demise, (I think). But me, Chris and Graham still get together to have some laughs. We celebrate our birthdays together, we play Fireball Island. From doing the band together, we have a very special bond that extends to our partners too.
What were some of the other bands you shared bills with when Fast Times started playing shows?
We toured with Up Front, Tear It Up, Dead Nation and our tours coincided with Kill Your Idols, Indecision, Life’s Halt, What Happens Next, Good Clean Fun.
Kid Dynamite, Vision, and Agnostic Front also threw us some shows. And then there were some festivals where we were like, “what are we even doing here?” We shared a dressing room in Austria with the Misfits. Dio headlined. The Misfits sure noticed Graham and kept his number.
After Fast Times was kaput, Graham played with members of the Misfits in Graves and Gorgeous Frankenstein. Then that eventually led to him playing with Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg for a while. Graham is probably the second coolest guy I know (laughs).
The Fast Times demo came out in 1998. What do you remember about making it and how it was received in and around Jersey? Were labels hitting you up about releasing a proper record?
We were just having fun and pushing foward. We recorded the demo in New Brunswick at Technical Ecstasy. We would have to copy each one on a double deck cassette recorder at home and we sold them for $2. I still have dead stock of blank tapes stored in my basement. I suppose I could still cut a few if anyone wants it.
Producer Jack Antonoff talks about picking up a bootleg of our demo up in his Nardwuar interview. Rick ta Life owes us $2.
How did the band link up with Jeff Terranova at Smorgasbord Records?
Ah Jeff! I snail mailed a demo to Smorgasbord Records and Jeff got back to us really quickly. Steve, who I mentioned earlier, put in the good word for us. He came out to see us play Stalag 13 in Philly. I genuinely loved Up Front, so I felt connected to Smorgasbord. We were super green still, so we didn’t have any other offers on the table anyway.
We just wanted to get it done and push forward like there was no time to waste. We recorded Where Were You at Upstart in Hoboken, and then Jeff took us to Europe supporting Up Front. The catch was, Chris, Graham, and Matt would also play in Up Front for the tour. So we just swapped singers and added Jeff during the turnover. The venues got two bands for the price of one (laughs).
Tell me a bit about the sessions for the Where Were You... record in Hoboken. Also, what can you share about the cover art and the way that came together?
For better or worse, I usually insisted on doing all the art myself. My process wasn’t very practical. I went to UArts, in Philly, and my focus was on 3D illustration. I would make these sculptures and photograph them.
So my vision was to sculpt all the different archetypes of people you see at shows and in the center was a newbie kid who is experiencing it all for the first time. That was my vision anyway. I was only able to sculpt like 5 or 6 figures in time, so it wasn’t a very well attended show, I guess. (Much like many of our US tour shows.)
I also did the cover art for Dillinger Escape Plan’s first release on Now or Never in the same way. Same story, I ran out of time and the final product wasn’t exactly the ambitious vision I had pitched. It was a very impractical way to work. That’s probably why I’m a tattoo artist now. There’s no fucking up of the deadlines.
I have all the sculptures on display around the studio.
How often was Fast Times playing out once the record came out? What kind of shows were you playing? Mixed bills or mostly all- hardcore?
We played as much as we could. Just to play a show, we would drive 6 hours in any direction and get Graham back in time for work in the morning. It was mostly DIY hardcore shows in New Brunswick basements, and in Asbury, at the Casino Skate Park where we would play more than once a week sometimes. VFW halls, Colleges.
Traci [McMahon] (Queen X) would put on these epic all day long shows at Middlesex County College. It was a big deal to us when we played there with Underdog. We lived for playing and going to shows. Nothing else really mattered at the time. Just where we’re we going next.
The Counting Down album was a co-release between Smorgasbord Records and Age of Venus, which was a label owned by Olivier Lehuby of Right 4 Life. Did Fast Times play with them in Europe? How did the band land on Olivier’s radar?
Age of Venus got involved after Counting Down was already released so that we would have a vinyl release, and the AoV product was mostly distributed in Europe. We played with Right 4 Life on the Up Front tour.
Jeff from Smorgasbord arranged all that business. We were just psyched to have a physical vinyl LP, and distribution in Europe. Smorgasboard had stopped pressing vinyl, but Olivier was up to the task.
Since that’s only official Fast Times album, how do you feel about those songs today?
It’s just literally my core memories. We were figuring it out as we went along, and with each recording and touring experience, we got better. We ended too soon, I wish we did more, but it wasn’t in the cards.
I don’t listen to our stuff much on my own because it’s hard to listen to my old self. Like, I don’t let anyone play it while I’m working in the studio. "Golden Girl" is my favorite song on the album, if I have to pick one. Oh, and my favorite track to listen to today is the live track at the end of the CD. It takes me back to a good time. Living in the present is ultimately the best way to live.
From what I remember, Fast Times toured throughout the world. How much touring did you actually do, and what countries/cities did the band do especially well in?
Hungary always stood out as being so awesome and high energy. There’s a VHS recording on YouTube of a Hungary show. It’s proof that it happened, but it’s nothing like being there where everyone was just so purely enthusiastic.
We did two Euro tours through MAD in Germany and then LadaDiana from Holland. We played most of the US From Cali to Florida to Vermont. Frump did all the work booking the US shows, and we got there with paper maps and written directions; Mapquest towards the end. Wheeling, West Virginia stood out as having a strong scene that we didn’t know about until we got there and experienced it.
My favorite Fast Times stuff are the songs on the split you did with Tear It Up in 2001.
That’s my favorite recording as well. We returned to Clearcut studio where we recorded Counting Down. We were maturing as a band and then it was just over, unfortunately.
We toured with Tear it Up with that split 7”. We came full circle and Wechter played those shows with us. Then the last show of that tour was simply our last show. It was actually pretty unceremonious. We knew we didn’t have a drummer again once the tour was over, so It just ended with that.
I would do a studio project right now if someone wanted to. I love the whole process of making music together. Just putting that out there.
When did Fast Times actually break up and what led to that decision?
When Steve left us to focus back on the Worthless, we just didn’t have it in us to find yet another drummer. Like, we exhausted all of the drummers that were available or willing to try out with us at the time. Danny Windas, recorded drums for that final split EP, but he was still in high school, and couldn’t tour with us. It’s exactly like what happens in the movie, This Is Spinal Tap. Drummers just spontaneously combust on us. We look back, and they are gone.
Not for nothing, I had some stuff going on in my life and It was changing me. The band might not have understood how to navigate the changes I was going through. The guys were getting other music opportunities too, all those things together contributed to the end of Fast Times. It was a solid 4 year run. We did some cool things.
I know you’re a tattoo artist, but while prepping for this, I saw that you also do areola restoration.
I have been tattooing since 2007, and I specialize in nipple tattooing for breast cancer survivors after mastectomy and breast reconstruction and transgender men after top surgery. I love doing that work, and I feel strongly that it needs to be experienced tattoo artists doing it. I’m really focused on that.
In 2017, I opened the first body art establishment in Cranford, New Jersey. The first in 6 neighboring suburban towns, actually. My husband, Pete runs the business with me. You can check out my work and what were up to on Instagram @Fast_Ali, @LostandFoundTattooStudio, and @thelostandfoundation.
The business is in the house Edie raised me in. As Luck would have it, my childhood home is located in a zone that was changed to a commercial zone.
What’s your relationship with hardcore/punk today? Do you keep up with the current scene/bands, or do you mainly stick to the stuff you came up with?
It’s mostly old bands that draw me out, but I get there on time and pay full attention to the openers to discover more current stuff. Everyone is better at everything these days. Perhaps because of access to information.
Right down the street from us is the venue Crossroads, in Garwood, New Jersey. They actually do great hardcore shows there and they host karaoke every Monday night, where you will often find me and my tattoo crew! At karaoke, I make all the songs hardcore somehow.
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