Fuel

American alternative rockers FUEL finally return to Australia this December as part of The Sunburn 20th Celebration Tour. Renowned for their un-paralleled streak of melodic post-grunge hard rock songs, it is time to re-live their Classic album Sunburn which included – Shimmer, Sunburn, Jesus Or A Gun, Bittersweet. Plus a special encore of Fuel’s anthems including – Hemorrhage, Bad Day, Falls On Me and More! Get ready to fill up the tank because FUEL is back after 17 long years! Hi Fi Way: The Pop Chronicles spoke to Brett Scallions about the tour.

Great for Australian fans that Fuel are doing their first tour in twenty years?
Yeah, here we come man! It has been a long time in the making, it has been fourteen or fifteen years now so way past overdue. I knew it would happen because we kept being persistent in trying to secure it out and make it work. The past three or four years, one of the main discussions with my manager is how do we get over to Australia, who do we need to talk to make it work. Finally, we’ve got it figured out, here we come! Well worth the wait I think…

How’s the tour going at the moment?
We have had a few weeks off but we have been out all year though. It was a much needed break not having to live on a tour bus for a little bit. I have been home for a few weeks now which is nice and be domesticated, work around the house and be Dad and stuff like that.

Do you get the itch around nine o’clock when you’re off tour knowing that normally you would either be on stage or getting ready to go on stage?
Sometimes but the last few nights I have been the first one in bed. I’m going to bed before my seven year old! Good night dude, I’m passing out!

There’s been a few surprises with the set list on this tour, can Australian audiences expect the same?
We’re doing the twentieth anniversary of the Sunburn album so we will be celebrating all the songs on there. We’re also going to play some songs that were popular off the Something Like Human and Natural Selection albums even Puppet Strings. The focus is very much on the Sunburn album and celebrating twenty years of that.

There have been some awesome covers in the set from Elton John to Tom Petty to Steve Miller?
Oh yeah, we love paying homage to all the great artists that paved the way for us. We’ll take advantage of the time we can play songs by someone else.

Is there something that you look for in a cover?
It’s usually a fun song that we like to listen to, so then it’s like let’s play it, that’s all it is playing songs that we love and were growing up to.

Is there new music planned for Fuel in 2018?
I have been working on some new songs lately, the idea is to throw out a couple of new songs early next year and maybe by the end of the year there will be a full length album to go along with them. Right now we’re just compiling the songs.

How is the creative process going and is the band excited with the initial ideas so far?
Luckily for me I have a studio at home so I can tinker about anytime I want and whenever I feel that the idea is there I don’t have to jot it down on a little crappy recorder then wait to get to the studio. I can pop in and do it right here and that’s what I have been doing lately.

Sonically, what can we expect?
I’m always looking for new ideas and new directions musically whether that be it be throwing some synthy sounds in there I’m always looking something new and fresh to do. There is another project I have done called Melody Brothers, it’s a really dirty bluesy kind of sound of music, I love that. I’m open to doing anything.

Is the feeling now in the band that there is no looking back?
Exactly right!

Are there plans to re-release some of the Fuel albums that are hard to find in Australia?
We’re looking to re-release the Sunburn album on vinyl next year. Everyone loves vinyl and is the best way to listen to music, that’s how I grew up listening to music. Once you hear the best nothing else is anywhere near it. Vinyl is definitely the way to go, we’re also looking to do some limited edition vinyl next year and who knows depending on Sony who own everything maybe we can talk to them about doing some extra tracks and stuff like that, maybe an exclusively Australia only version.

Interview by Rob Lyon

Photo credit: Jena Ardell

Catch Fuel on the following tour dates…