VOX: So, what’s changed for you guys since Sunburn?

Carl Bell: We have a new record. That’s what’s changed, and it changes everything. It makes the set list longer…

VOX: Were you guys afraid of the "sophomore slump" at all?

Carl: Well, I think you would have to be an idiot to not think about the opportunity that you have with a second record, at least from my standpoint, which is why I spent two years in the back of the bus writing, carrying my portable little workstation back and forth from the hotel rooms to the bus, and all that. I think it was a great opportunity. We did a lot of leg work, a lot of groundwork from the last record. There is pressure from that, but I think at the same time we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, to try to out-do ourselves and make a better album.

VOX: Was there something particular you wanted to accomplish with this record? Was there a specific direction?

Carl: Hmm, I wrote like forty or fifty songs for this record, and I just wanted to…you know, I think the cream rises, as they say, and I think these were definitely the ones at the top, and we picked about fifteen and you know, twelve made the record, which I actually didn’t want the last one on there, but I got out-voted, but anyway…I don’t think there was an one set, you know, any parameters that we were trying to fit within, you know, we were just trying to make the greatest record we could. I think that’s why there is still a lot of diversity on this record, you know you have melodic songs, to the mid-tempo songs, and you have the pretty heavy stuff, which is what we enjoy doing, what we’re known for more now.

VOX: Was it nice to finally be able to record as a foursome, since you didn’t have Kevin for the first album?

Brett Scallions: Sure, oh yeah, I think working on this record was so much more fun for us to make, versus the first record, Sunburn. There were a lot of hard times in making that record. First off, we lost our original drummer right in the beginning of making the record, so we had a friend of ours, Jonathan Mover come in and do the record with us, and it was fun making the record with him, him being a seasoned veteran and all, but at the same time, it wasn’t someone we’ve gelled with for a long, long period of time, and played with for months and months, and even, on the last tour, well over two years.

So, Kevin definitely was the missing link when he joined the band and to be able to go into the studio environment with him this time around and flesh everything out and make the record the best it could be, he was definitely a huge asset to the band.

The first record, to me, isn’t truly Fuel. It’s just three members of Fuel who had a friend come in and play drums with them. This album is truly Fuel. This is a Fuel album this time around. It definitely added to the flavor of the record.

VOX: "Hemorrhage" is the first single from the record. What’s the song about?

Carl: It’s about radio stations not say the title of the song, that’s what it’s about. It’s weird, man. Some radio stations will not say "Hemorrhage." I’m perplexed about that so much. We put "In My Hands" there behind that, which I, Brett and I, both agree, that we pretty much hate, having to put a sub-title on a song like that. But, uh, it’s there because some radio stations wouldn’t say "Hemorrhage." I don’t understand why they wouldn’t say "Hemorrhage," it’s a medical term, and it’s a metaphor, and it is meant to be provocative, but in dealing with a relationship, not with a physical…a blood-letting or any of that stuff. I don’t know what they were worried about.

But, the song is just about, man, sometimes you get burnt, and sometimes the person wants you to come back and you're too burnt to want to take it again. It’s kind of like the whole sour milk thing: you pull sour milk out of the fridge and take a drink, you go, "Oh, that’s sour. Maybe it’ll be good tomorrow." It don’t work that way, you know?

VOX: You guys had "Down" on the Return of the Rock 2 CD. Why that song and how did it end up on the compilation?

Brett: I think that’s a song that, uh, that is, for us as a band, at least I can speak for myself, it’s one my favorite songs on the record. It’s a heavy hitting, aggressive song, you know, it’s not a mid-tempo or slower, um, ballad or anything like that. It’s an in your face, kick you in the head kind of song, with a return of the rock kind of label on the whole thing [the compilation], we figured we would give something that was one of our stronger, heavier songs for it.

Carl: I think people hear our singles, you know, we’ve been known for "Shimmer" and now "Hemorrhage" and the other singles that weren’t as successful as those two, but I mean, those two are the forerunners, and you know, you might have a different perception or idea what the band is about, man, and we have a lot more diversity, and that song represent the harder side of who we are and make sure people have the complete picture of who Fuel is.

VOX: The title of the album comes from "Prove"…

Carl: Right.

VOX: What’s that song about? It’s my favorite…

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Carl: Yeah? Cool. With Something Like Human, it’s about, I think the song is about, "prove to me/you’re something like human" is kind of what the song is saying, and just how being in some situation you were in, where you weren’t treated the way you would like to be treated and you felt like it was inhumane sort of treatment in a way, and it’s kind of like, prove to me that you’re something like human. It like, "I can’t believe you’ve done this, and it’s out of the realm of humanity." It’s unbelievable some times.

VOX: You guys are enjoying some radio support this time around, especially here in LA. That must be kind of nice.

Brett: Yeah, the west, the west coast was tough ground for us to walk on the last record. It’s nice to see, this time around, that they’re embracing us. It’s LA, and California, and a lot of…well, they have their own way of doing things, and that’s fine..

Carl: It’s interesting, you know, they’re playing the acoustic version, which was done and remixed on my little sixteen track on the back of the bus, and this is the song that’s being played on the radio, in LA. They’re still playing the heavy version, but they’re focusing a lot on the acoustic version.

Brett: Well, whatever they connect with here, that the cool thing. As long as they’re connecting with us and understanding where we’re coming from, that’s the beautiful thing, we’ll continue to come back and support them [radio]. We like it here, and we get great crowds.

VOX: Every time I see you guys, you get thinner and thinner.

Brett: We’re on an all-liquid diet. I came off the last tour, and I was a mess. You know, we toured for well over two years. We finished up in Australia, and after the Australian tour, we flew into New Zealand and did like two or three days of press, and after that, mentally and physically I was just a vegetable. I mean, I couldn’t even function, really. I came home from that, and I had just lost so much weight at that time, and I hadn’t seen the sun shine in like five months, and I just looked like I had been hit by a truck or something. I got home and everybody was like, "Brett, you look like shit. What are you doing to yourself?"

Luckily, we had like the entire month of December to get off the road and let our bodies mend from all the wounds of the past two years and try to eat right and get ready to focus on making the new record. Then we went into a house in the Pocono Mountains in January and started rehearsing as a band.

VOX: Do you all still live in Pennsylvania?

Brett: Yeah, we’re still based in the Harrisburg and Allentown area.

Carl: Jeff just bought a house in Harrisburg, so he’s there for good. Right near Three-Mile Island…

VOX: Do you think the Internet helped you guys as a band?

Brett: The Internet is going to help out any band these days. That is such a melting pot of information. Our web site gets thousands and thousands of hits a week, and we have very faithful fans that are very loyal to us, and we try to be loyal to them and give them as much back as we can by having contests and stuff they can download like screen savers and things they can have fun with. They get on our BBS and talk about shows and the music, and even their personal lives, and they really bond together and even become friends with each other. It’s good for them and it’s really good for us to see it all come together. We don’t want them to just be fans but to be almost part of a family.