Fuel

"Knowing the Difference"

From www.earwig.com -- July 1998

by Scott Warden

You can call it grunge, you can call it alternative, but no matter what you call it, Fuel's major label debut, "Sunburn" is plenty rockin'. The band came up in the middle of nowhere part of Pennsylvania and steadily built up a loyal regional following. One day some guys in suits showed up at a gig with a piece of paper, the band signed it, and the next thing you know they're all over the charts with "Shimmer" and living the good life in tour bus heaven. We sat down with guitarist/songwriting guy Carl Bell the other day to chat about Godzilla, Puff Daddy, and the ugliness within them both.

Earwig: "Shimmer" is doing really well for you guys right now, but you've reportedly also got a really cool track on the Godzilla soundtrack. How'd you swing that?

Carl Bell: Well, Sony put together the soundtrack and so, obviously we're with Sony, so our manager and a guy from our label put us on there because we're a baby band and they wanted to help us out. Our manager called up and said, "I got the Godzilla thing for you! Now you gotta give me a song." So I sat down right there and wrote the song in about two hours.

EW: So you wrote the song specifically for the flick?

Carl Bell: Yeah, imagine that! I know most of them on there don't have anything to do with it.

EW: There seems to be a trend of putting together soundtracks with songs that aren't even in the movies. Is the song you wrote actually about Godzilla?

Bell: Well, I asked my A&R guy if he could tell me what the movie was about, you know, give me some direction.

Earwig: What?! It's Godzilla man!

Carl Bell: Yeah right. "It's big, it's huge, it's monstrous!" He told me that in this one Godzilla is the underdog. I said OK I can kind of relate to that because as a band and the level that we're at, we're kind of the underdog right now. And I had been reading some Native American literature and there is this belief that when you're walking on Earth, you're walking in the sky, which is pretty much true since everything above the ground is basically the sky. That kind of fit the Godzilla imagery, you know, I could kind of see him walking through the skyline. So I just combined those two thoughts and the lyrics say, "If I get my chance, I'll walk the sky." The song is called "Walk the Sky" and we recorded it with Brendan O'Brien down at Southern Tracks in Atlanta.

EW: What was it like working with Brendan? He's a pretty famous guy.

Carl Bell: Oh he's real famous and rightly so. It was great, it was real spontaneous. There was no nit-picking or trying to make things perfect. He went more for the vibe and it really comes out on the record. It was a pleasure working with him.

EW: Aside from being just one song, was the process that much different from how you put Sunburn together?

Carl Bell: Yeah it was. We used Steve Haigler on the album and he did a good job, but it's just two different ways of working. Plus with Steve it was our first time in a major studio because we had recorded and mixed our two other records ourselves. There was also more pressure because Sunburn is our first major album and the soundtrack was just one song, so there were different amounts of pressure too.

EW: Have you seen Godzilla yet? I assume you'd get to see it for free.

Carl Bell: We went to the premiere and got to hang out in New York.

EW: Cool! Did you get to eat little cocktail weenies and everything?

Carl Bell: (laughs) No, but we did see the Taco Bell dog walk down the V.I.P. carpet man! That was just too much. I said, "Oh my God!"

Earwig: Oh no! Did Taco Bell cater the event?

Carl Bell: No, no. There was a lot of free food and all that, but when I saw that dog, it was too much (laughs). Oh, and we met Jimmy Page that night and man, that was too much! It was really cool. I met him and I was star-struck, but Brett (Scallions), our singer, met him a little later and had an actual conversation with him. Then at the end of the conversation Jimmy Page says (faking a British accent), "Well, good luck with you band," and Brett say, "Yeah, you too" (laughs). He was just star-struck and didn't know what to say and he's walking away mumbling to himself, "Damn I'm stupid, damn I'm stupid." But it was great. Jimmy Page was so nice and so approachable and just really, really cool.

EW: Did he give you any advice about musical longevity?

Carl Bell: No, he and I didn't have much of a conversation. It was more of just being introduced and shaking hands.

EW: So, you didn't get a chance to ask him if he was on crack when he agreed to work with Puff Daddy?

Carl Bell: I wanted to man (laughs), I really wanted to!

EW: (laughs) I would've asked, "How could you let that guy masturbate with your song like that?"

Carl Bell: Man, I'm glad you feel that way. Somebody was asking me the other day, "Did he help Picasso paint?" It's like, "Watch me pick up this brush and make Picasso really good now" (laughs). Whatever. The Puff Daddy thing was a little stretch for me I'd have to say.

Earwig: I saw some documentary on him piecing that song together and he saying something like, "I still wanna make ya'll dance, but this time I'm gonna be hard, I'm gonna get down in it. Word up." And I'm just thinking, "Write your own fucking song for once you bastard!" I just don't get it.

Carl Bell: (laughs) I love you man!

EW: Um, I love you too?

Carl Bell: No, because nobody will say that because it's Puff Daddy. Nobody wants to go there because he's such a force right now and I think it's because kids don't have a history now because radio stations don't play the older stuff. When I hear any Puff Daddy song I go, "Yeah, I liked that song in its original form." I mean, take a loop from this fantastic song and talk over it? How hard is that?

EW: It's been a sordid tale ever since Tone Loc ripped off Van Halen's "Jamie's Crying."

Carl Bell: Yep, now everybody's on the bandwagon. But now at least you have to ask for permission and that's what it comes down to.

Earwig: But look at Sting?! What he thinking?! He doesn't need the money! That fool is loaded.

Carl Bell: I know man; what the hell are they doing?

EW: I guess you could hope that some people might go out and buy a Police record and hear the real thing, but I highly doubt that ever happens.

Carl Bell: You know those two guys, Sting and Jimmy Page, have more talent than I could ever hope to have and probably more than the entire music community that exists right now. Awww man! I think rock 'n' roll needs heroes and icons to look up to, but when you go screwing around with somebody whose talents lie exclusively and solely in marketing it's just ugly. I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying all this.

EW: Don't worry, I won't tell anybody. Sike!

Carl Bell: (laughs)