FROM: TODD BRODGINSKI/MAGGIE WANG
BACK-TO-BACK PLATINUM FOR FUEL
With the platinum certification of their SOMETHING LIKE HUMAN album, FUEL are now two-for-two, as their debut SUNBURN also achieved million-selling status.
On the radio front, FUEL have two songs from SOMETHING LIKE HUMAN (Epic Records) on Billboard’s Modern Rock, Mainstream Rock and Active Rock charts: the new “Innocent” and “Hemorrhage (In My Hands),” which spent three consecutive months at #1 on the Modern Rock chart. At the same time, “Hemorrhage” is #34 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles chart, while the SOMETHING LIKE HUMAN CD is #45 on the magazine’s Top 200 albums chart. Presently, FUEL–CARL BELL, guitar; BRETT SCALLIONS, vocal/guitar;JEFF ABERCROMBIE, bass; and KEVIN MILLER, drums-are performing a string of sold-out co-headlining shows with 3 Doors Down. Of a recent live show, the Atlantic City Press said, “Friday’s concert proved Fuel is one of the best rock bands out there right now. Scallions’ voice is nothing less than tremendous. Lead guitarist and band songwriter Carl Bell plays his Les Paul with power and finesse.”
A blend of driving guitars and subtly poignant lyrics, “Innocent” is, according to BELL, “…about the naiveté of being young and not knowing or caring what’s coming next. It’s about the innocence of being in high school, being carefree. Everybody’s telling you, ‘You’ve gotta be prepared for what you’re going to do with your life, you’ve gotta get ready for the real world.’ But when you’re 16 that kind of stuff doesn’t register. From my experience, I was 16 living at home and had no bills. Then all of the sudden you get out in the real world and see the ugliness of it and the way things really are. There’s a struggle that some people aren’t ready for.” FUEL‘s back-to-back platinum success underlines their creativity as well as the genuine bond that they’ve built with their fans via non-stop touring. At the same time, SCALLIONShumbly says, “I don’t think of us as successful, it still feels like we’re struggling. Yes, we have bigger opportunities, and we are taking advantage of those and are thankful for anything that’s come our way. But I don’t think we’ve ‘made it’ by any means. I feel thinking that way is a jinx waiting to happen.”
FUEL wrap their current tour May 6 in Atlanta.