Fast Forward was a Canadian band formed in 1984 in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Featuring Ian Lloyd, former lead singer of

Stories Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

and a solo artist, the band released one album, ''

Living in Fiction ''Living in Fiction'' is an album by Fast Forward (band), Fast Forward, released by Island Records in 1984 in music, 1984. Fast Forward was formed by Ian Lloyd (musician), Ian Lloyd (former lead singer of the band Stories (band), Stories). This wa ...

''.

History

Prior to the formation of Fast Forward, Ian Lloyd, had developed a solo career, following the 1974 breakup of his former band, Stories. Lloyd released three solo albums between 1976 and 1980, including "Goosebumps" and "3WC (Third Wave Civilization)". "3WC" was notable for its inclusion of Lloyd's cover of " Straight from the Heart", three years prior to

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

releasing his own version, to worldwide acclaim. It also was co-produced by

Bruce Fairbairn Bruce Earl Fairbairn (December 30, 1949 – May 17, 1999) was a Canadian record producer. He was active as a producer from 1976 to 1999, and is considered one of the best of his era. His most successful productions are ''Slippery When Wet'' an ...

and featured Adams' then songwriting partner

Jim Vallance James Douglas Vallance (born May 31, 1952) is a Canadian songwriter, arranger and producer. He is best known as the songwriting partner of Canadian musician Bryan Adams. Vallance began his professional career as the original drummer and main song ...

, contributing many of the songs and playing drums. Many of the people involved with "3WC" became involved with the Fast Forward project in 1984. The project was initially to be another Ian Lloyd solo album, but Lloyd requested that it be recognized as a band effort. The recording band was primarily Bryan Adams' band.Comments of Ian Lloyd, October 8, 2011
Retrieved 2011-10-09. The album, ''

'' was co-produced by Bruce Fairbairn and Ian Lloyd. Bruce Fairbairn also contributed horns and backing vocals, as a principal member of the band, which also included Jimmy Lowell (bass and synthesizers), Andrew Kirin (synthesizers), Patrick Mahassen (guitar, backing vocals) and

(credited as Rodney Higgs) (drums). Lowell had previously been a member of

Spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

, a band that also included

Holly Knight ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

and

Anton Fig Anton Fig (born 8 August 1952 in Cape Town, South Africa), known as "The Thunder from Down Under", is a South African session drummer, perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Ba ...

, and which released two albums in 1980 and 1981. After Holly Knight left the band to pursue a solo career, Lowell and the remaining members of Spider joined with keyboardist

Beau Hill Beau Hill is an American record producer who is best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger, Streets, Warrant, Fiona, Europe, and Ratt. He also played instruments and sang backing vocals for some of the artists that he produced, as ...

to form Shanghai, which recorded one album in 1982, prior to disbanding. Guest musicians on ''Living in Fiction'' included

Bob Rock Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, 31 ...

(guitar) and the aforementioned Beau Hill (keyboards and backing vocals). Hill also wrote the title track. Fast Forward was primarily a

studio band Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a t ...

. One video was released for "What's It Gonna Take" and there was one live band performance on Canadian radio. Following the lack of commercial success of the record, the band broke up.

Post-Fast Forward

After the break-up of Fast Forward, Ian Lloyd continued his solo career. Bruce Fairbairn continued as a musician and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, and was particularly notable as the producer of '' Permanent Vacation'' (1987), the

comeback Comeback, The Comeback or Come Back may refer to: General * Comeback (publicity), a return to prominence by a well-known person * Comeback (retort), a witty response to an insult or criticism * Comeback (sports), an event where an athlete or team ...

album for

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

, among other Aerosmith albums, and other notable albums. Fairbairn died suddenly in 1999, at the age of 49. Jim Vallance contributed to various albums, such as those of Aerosmith, as a songwriter and musician, in addition to his songwriting with Bryan Adams. Guitarist Patrick Mahassen later contributed a co-written song to

Loverboy Loverboy is a Canadian rock band formed in 1979 in Calgary, Alberta. Loverboy's hit singles, particularly " Turn Me Loose" and "Working for the Weekend", have become arena rock staples and are still heard on many classic rock and classic hits r ...

. Mahassen, using the name Patrick Mason, also made a name for himself as a member and touring musician for a succession of Swiss hard rock bands, Crown, briefly Krokus, and China, with whom he recorded the 1989 ''Sign in the Sky'' album as lead vocalist. Following a ten-year career as a musician, Mahassen developed an international communications career, including a position as Switzerland resources director for

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

. Andrew Kirin, a stage name for Andrew Krehel, became a noted jazz accompanyist, as well as a member of new wave band The Jetsonz. Kirin died in 2007.David Schwab blog
Reproduced Obituary Notice for Andrew Krehel, June 21, 2007
Retrieved 2011-09-24.

References

;Citations {{DEFAULTSORT:Fast Forward Musical groups established in 1984 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 Musical groups from Vancouver Canadian pop music groups 1984 establishments in British Columbia 1984 disestablishments in British Columbia