Fuel: Whatever Happened To the Band Behind 'Hemorrhage (In My Hands)' & 'Shimmer'

Fuel: Whatever happened to the band behind Hemorhage (In My Hands) & Shimmer

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I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.

Fuel is a band that was synonymous with rock radio in the late 90’s and early 2000’s with several massive hits including “Shimmer?” aHemmorage in my hands) Today we’re talking about the band Fuel whatever happened to them and their turbulent history.

Fuel would actually has Southern roots, hailing from Kenton Tennessee.Guitarist Carl Bell and bassist Jeff Ambercrombie grew up together in Kenton, and formed the band while they were still in Junior high in 1989. The sleepy town of Kenton, which at the time only had two traffic lights served as the perfect playground for the budding musicians. Bell would tell the LA Times “It’s easy to sit in front of a TV and let it control your mind,” “I would have to find other ways to keep myself entertained. I would pick up a guitar or I would listen to music. . . . My brothers read a lot. . . . I was more into the music.”

Bell would graduate from high school and meet a drummer named Jody Abbott. They would play in a variety of bands until 1992. It was that year that Ambercrombie saw Scallions performing in a bar in Jackson Tennesse and was so enthralled with his performance that he asked the vocalist to join his band. Scallions was heavily influenced by the likes of Elvis, the blues, county and metal and by 1993 Fuel would be born.

By 1994 Fuel self funded an 8 song cassette titled Porcelain which they sold at both shows and in record stores and it sold reasonably well moving about 10,000 copies By 1995 the band moved from Western Tenneesse to Harrisberg Pennsylvania since it was closer to the major metropolitan hubs of New York and Washington DC and Philadelphia .The band took a very DIY approach to marketing the band with Bell telling MTV

"We were a do-it-yourself kind of band for a long time,"We'd reinvest whatever money we'd make performing back into studio equipment and stuff to take on the road with us. We recorded [our first EP, Porcelain] ourselves, produced it ourselves ... after hours, before soundchecks." On top of that the band even divided up the duties amongst it’s members with him going onto say
"I was doing the recording and writing," Brett [Scallions] was calling radio and [doing] promotion. Our drummer [Kevin Miller] was taking [our music] to retailers. Our bass player [Jeff Abercrombie] was doing a lot of the merchandising. They had some success early on with Scallions revealing to the Morning Call Newspaper how one radio station in Harrisberg was already playing Shimmer on the radio before the band signed a record deal.
But it was a grind for the group as Bell was splitting his time between school and the band opted to go back to school full time in an effort to become an English teacher, but then their fortunes changed with Bell recalling to the LA Time
“I had decided to get myself another parachute so I could maybe land on my feet somewhere else,”“I was back in school actually up until a month before we got signed (to 550 Music). I still had music in my mind, but at the same time I was thinking, ‘Let’s look at reality here.’ ”
The band soon generated major buzz from the labels ahead of their signing with one gig at Tramps in New York City being attended by reps of 25 different different record labels. They would eventually sign with Sony owned 550 music. The group also underwent a lineup change ahead of recording their first album for 550 with drummer Kevin Miller joining the group in December of 1997.

Part of the band’s success up until this point and after they signed with a major label was how they treated their fans. Several interviews and articles i came across consistently quoted Scallions approach to the music industry with him saying “Fuel was more interested in making friends than fans.”

By late 1997 and early 1998 the band retretated to a horse farm in Massachusettes which also sered as a recording studio - long view farm studios where greats Aerosmith and Rolling Stone had spent time.

The album produced four singles that charted in the top 40 alternative rock charts with Shimmer being the biggest hit peaking at number 2 on the billboard modern rock charts right behind Goo Goo Dolls