———————
Tired
of languishing in rural Tennessee, Carl Bell and his three band mates in
Fuel needed to jump-start their drive toward rock stardom. They needed
a change. They needed to make a move.
John Ferguson
Intelligencer Journal Staff writer
Friday, March 27, 1998
———————
So
they packed up their gear and headed to, uh, Harrisburg?
And if you think that's an unlikely scenario, it gets better. It
looks like their strategy is working.
Many in the music industry are predicting great things for Fuel, whose
members moved to Harrisburg in 1995.
"Sunburn," the band's debut album for Sony 550 Music, will be released
Tuesday. "Shimmer," the first single from the album, is already being played
on two of the biggest rock radio stations in New York and Los Angeles and
has been added to the playlists of 100 other stations scattered throughout
the nation. MTV has already accpted the video that was made for the same
song.
"We've been working our whole lives to reach this point," the 31-year-old
Bell said during a telephone interview from his Harrisburg home. "The ball
is rolling more now than it ever has for us. It's pretty exciting."
"When the album comes out Tuesday we'll probably be sitting back and going,
'Holy cow, our music is getting into stores.'"
Fuel, a hard-rocking outfit with a melodic heart, will play Saturday night
at the Chameleon Club, 223 N. Water St., and then return to the city on
April 4 for a gig at the Village, 205 N. Christian St.
Fuel was put together by Bell, the band's songwriter, lead guitarist and
second vocalist, and bassist Jeff Abercrombie. They grew up together
in a small town in western Tennessee that has about 1,000 residents.
Drummer Kevin Miller was added early on but Bell said that the band really
gelled when Brett Scallions was brought aboard in 1993 to sing lead vocals
and play guitar.
"Brett's got a voice I always heard in my head singing these songs," Bell
said. "I sing some, but Brett's just got a great rock 'n' roll voice."
The band members knocked around Tennessee for a while but nothing was happening
so they decided to move north. They had played in central Pennsylvania
as Fuel, believed there were a lot of radio stations in the area that would
play their music and liked the regions proximity to major markets like
New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. They
were also aware that the band Live called this area home.
They didn't know a soul in Harrisburg but moved there three years ago to
seek fame and fortune.
"Now, I wouldn't recommend necessarily that every band move to Harrisburg,"
Bell said with a laugh,"but it's worked for us. Harrisburg and the
whole area, it's been real good to us. We've found warm people here
and it's been a good experience."
The band worked hard to build a fan base and things started to take off
when they released an independently produced EP called "Porcelain" in 1996.
The EP has sold over 10,000 copies. That, of course, caught the attention
of the major labels, which soon came calling.
Before signing with 550 Music, the band was also being courted by Geffen,
Columbia, Atlantic, Island and Maverick.
"That was great," Bell said. "A guy came up to me when all that was going
on and said, 'How does it feel to be queen of the prom?' That's what it
was like.
"Our heads were and still are spinning."
