The confluence of glam, metal and punk worked in a swirling mess around the early seventies and eventually spat out the various punk groups in and around New York. Of course, there were other places that found such influences necessary in order to concoct some piece of musical innovation. But in NY, where folks were probably able to get away with walking around looking like freaks, a few bands began addressing gender through a variety of avenues. Lyrically, sexuality had been addressed over time a great deal – Marc Bolan and David Bowie, though, helped make it more acceptable for dudes to dress up though. And with the founding of the Dolls during the early ‘70s, it would seem that there was about to be some sort of huge cross dressing explosion.

The Dolls, though, weren’t the only group to be attired in such a risqué manner for the time. A forgotten group, The Fast, just as early as their New York City cohort, were able to work with messed up fashion sensibilities while cranking out the (gay) jams, as it were.

Coming to local acclaim around the time when Max’s Kansas City was coalescing around the generation of bands subsequent to the Velvet Underground, The Fast found a receptive crowd. However, an early record deal with the folks that ran the venue disallowed the band from taking advantage of the major label attention the punk scene attracted. This, probably, as much as anything else, aided band members in falling into the abyss of drugs.

Line-up shifts, though, didn’t really impact the group too much as a series of brothers traded vocal duties. The style of its music, for the most part didn’t really shift too much seeing as it already incorporated everything from revved up Chuck Berry to Marc Bolan. Outwardly, though, with as many musical touchstones as the band incorporated, each band member appeared to be radically different.

Some dudes looked punky, some girly, and some were just dressed in leather. That later trapping served to ingratiate The Fast to the legions of out gays coming to terms with leather becoming fashion – if that didn’t do it “Black Leather Jacket” would have. And while those outfits probably were meant as theater, to a certain extent, The Fast became more and more vocal about their sexuality as time progressed.

Even with this, most of the band’s music remained as tied to New York punk as anything else. “These Boots Are Made For Walking,” while in general a punk song-book classic, got a rendition from the Fast that might not be able to be topped. Yeah, Op Ivy pulled off a good one, but The Fast, being surrounded by grime of New York City as opposed to the Bay turned that song into an intimidating chastisement of foot ware as if those boots might not be able to live up to expectations.

London had the Hollywood Brats and Toronto had Teenage Head. And while New York had the Dolls, The Fast could have easily positioned themselves for fame if not for that troublesome early recording contract.