How Great Were: The Fall-Outs

The Fall-Outs were a brilliant garage rock n' roll band out of Seattle that were around in some form or another from the mid 1980's to the early 2000's. My admiration grew even more for this band when I found out they got their name from the title of the last episode of the 1960's British TV series The Prisoner. 

The band uniquely combined Beatle's like harmonies, melodic 60's jangle pop riffs, all backed by The Who's explosive energy and wrapped up in The Jam's unparallelled coolness. The Fall-Outs was started by singer and guitarist David Holmes and bass player Shannon McConnel who were old high school pals. Later they added drummer Dino Lencioni who answered a "drummer wanted" flyer that was strategically placed in "The Who" section of a local record store. Holmes and Lencioni remained as the only constants throughout the band's lifespan. McConnel was in and out, being replaced by various other bass players including Mudhoney's Steve Turner for a spell. 

I find it impressive that a band like The Fall-Outs could be from Seattle, powered through that town's 1990's grunge craze, kept playing and releasing records the way they did throughout all that racket, and didn't let it affect their sound one bit. They came out unfazed from that mania and in my opinion, should be commended for that. Because you know they got push back for not grunging it up, at least by a few "we know what's best" types of the time. 



The Fall-Outs released their Self-Titled 8 song debut LP on cassette on Seattle based label Green Monkey Records in 1986. Tim Yohannan's review of it in the June 1986 issue of Maximum Rock N Roll was this - "Mod, early punk, R’n’B pop influences here. Not especially powerful, but could develop their own sound yet." Another small Seattle indie label called Hex Enduction re-released their debut record in 2023 for the first time on vinyl with a couple of unreleased tracks added on. This time calling the record Fine Young Men. There aren't any copies for sale of the reissue on Discogs but it is available to stream on Spotify. It's raw, catchy, and very energetic. Old Tim Yo was right, you can hear the greatness emerging from here already!

The Fall-Outs went on to release three more LP's, another Self-Titled in 1992 and their magnificent Sleep LP in 1994 (which was my jumping on point) on Steve Turner's Super Electro Recordings. Their last long player came out in 2004 titled simply Summertime on Estrus Records. And even though it had been 10 years between albums, the band still delivered the same signature heel stomping, melodic, ultra charismatic garage rock everyone expected. 

Throughout the years between LP's, The Fall-Outs also released a gaggle of terrific  7"'s here and there on labels like Regal Select Records, Estrus, Square Target, and The Eight Van Rock & Roll Products out of Albuquerque. Luckily Estrus had the smarts to gather the first two 7"'s together plus some early demo's in 1993 and release it as a compilation called Here I Come And Other Hits. The band also appeared on many comps from labels like Sub Pop, Estrus, NardWuar, and Popllama just to name a few. For some of which they covered The Sonics "I'm Going Home" and The Kinks "The Man He Weeps Tonight". 

When I first heard The Fall-Outs I was quite taken back with their sound. I think I must have bought their record based on some really positive review I saw somewhere, I honestly don't remember what prompted me to get that Sleep LP. I was familiar with The Kinks, The Animals, The Pretty Things, and all those 1960's British Invasion bands that played their unique brand of infectious ramshackle rock n' roll a little more on the wild side. But I had not heard it played with such unbridled force and punk sneer. Sure there were raw garage bands like The Sonics around before too, but The Fall-Outs took some late 70's Mod bands like The Chords and Secret Affair into their sound stew. And that is what I feel really set them apart from the 60's garage band pack. 

So when you're laying there in your bedroom thinking about all of those fine fine "Seattle bands" and the first thing you think of are bands like Nirvana or Mudhoney or if bands like The Fastbacks and Young Fresh Fellows are more your thing. Do yourself a favor and think about The Fall-Outs too. Because in my humble opinion they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as all of those.