76°
"My band is my best friend," says Vincent Simboli, a 16-year-old from Weston who is the lead singer of Fast Trac, a band made up of teens from Norwalk, Fairfield and Weston. Vincent, with buddies Joe Burns, Chris Parisi and Jack Kelly, played Aug. 27 at Toquet Hall Teen Center.
Fast Trac was the headliner, doing a set list of originals and covers of both rock-and-roll and indie tunes. The boys cited Led Zeppelin and Arctic Monkeys as influences.
"They're great people and great musicians, and when you combine the two you get great shows," said Brian Manby, 16, from Norwalk.
Cami Allsteadt, 15, from New Canaan, gave high praise: "If they were on iTunes, I'd buy it."
The band practices every Sunday for five hours at Jack or Chris's house. It was during their practices that they began writing songs.
"I started writing in the eighth grade, when I'd come home and play for 19 hours," said Jack, from Norwalk. He wrote "Broken Sky" and "Wailing Wall," two of the songs the band performed.
Jack, a 16-year-old guitarist, said he is most influenced by Jimi Hendrix.
Its set list was made up of originals, including "Bring it Back," "Where Are We Going" and "Radio PM." And the band did covers: "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes and "99 Problems/Voodoo Chile" by Jay-Z/Jimi Hendrix. The teens thought their best song was "Mardy Bum," an Arctic Monkeys cover, though the crowd loved "99 Problems."
Fast Trac was "exciting and entertaining on stage," said Annabella Shea, 16, from Weston.
Despite the praise from fans, the band members said they were not satisfied.
"We could have done better, we could have been tighter," Joe said.
Fast Trac will hit the stage again Sept. 10 when it closes for the indie band Pretty and Nice at Toquet Hall.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Westport and receive free news updates.
