Singer Brett Scallions, out of Fuel, motors on solo in Brodheadsville show

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — In late 2020, singer Brett Scallions of the chart-topping post-grunge band Fuel again found himself relieved of his duties in the band.

Scallions also had left Fuel in 2006, but in 2010 rejoined — and revived — the band, continuing it as the only original member in a licensing agreement with guitarist and songwriter Carl Bell, who owned the rights to Fuel.

But after the coronavirus pandemic, Bell "terminated our agreement and that was it," Scallions said in a phone call from his Los Angeles home.

[Bell said in a separate interview that the original 10-year lease ran out and they couldn't come to terms on a new deal.]

"Basically the agreement got torn up by Carl — he canceled our agreement" and re-formed his own version of Fuel with drummer Kevin Miller, Scallions said. That version continues today.

"I'm sitting there going, ‘OK, now what do I do?’" Scallions said.

The answer is that Scallions now is playing as an acoustic duo with Jason Womack, the guitarist and backing vocalist in Scallions' version of Fuel 2015-20.

The pair stops at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 13, at Signature Event Center, 137 Erin Lane, Brodheadsville.

Tickets, at $30 for general admission seated, remain available at www.TicketWeb.com.

Scallions will perform many of Fuel's hits — which include "Shimmer," "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)," "Bad Day" and "Falls on Me."

But he'll also play "a lot of fun songs that we grew up listening to and loving by other artists — like The Beatles and Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash and things like that."

"We tell stories and it’s kind of camp-firey,” Scallions said of the show.

"I’ve always said that the smaller, more intimate crowds are the ones where I get the most nervous, because it’s much more personal that way.

"When you play in front of 15,000 people, it’s just a sea of bodies. But when you’re playing in front of 200 people, or 50 people, you know, that’s when I get a little more nervous.

“Acoustic-wise, when you’re up there and it’s just quiet when you’re playing songs and it’s just about story-telling, and things like that.

"But it’s cool, you know? It’s campfire and it’s just hanging out, telling stories and people shouting at me ‘Play Shimmer!’" he said with a laugh.

Other projects

In addition to the solo shows, after leaving Fuel the second time, Scallions jumped into a new band, Radiobot, with Billy Harvey and Eddie Wohl, whose music will be released on Virgin Records, he said.

The group released a psychedelic cover of Bob Dylan's 1965 proto-rap hit "Subterranean Homesick Blues" that Scallions calls a "kind of modernized, trippy version of it."

It also recreated Dylan's video — "one of the first music videos ever," Scallions notes for the song.

"You know how Bob Dylan did the video, where he has the [cue] cards [of the song's lyrics] and he’s throwing them?" Scallions said. “So we did that, too, but we did it in front of the [Circus] liquor store here in L.A. with the clown."

The group on Dec. 8 released its first original single, “This World’s on Fire!” a barn-burning country-rock song that enumerates world problems from technology-hypnotized youth to world hunger.

"We just kind of soft-served them," Scallions said of the singles.

The band also did a video for "This World's on Fire!," which Scallions delightfully notes includes an animated version of him.

"That came out great," he said. "So for the first time in my life, I’m a cartoon now, which is pretty cool."

Scallions also has been working on a re-release of "Spreading My Wings," the 2012 album he released with World Fire Brigade, the group he formed with Sean Danielsen of Smile Empty Soul.

"It never really got a fair shot back when we made it," Scallions said. "It’s a much heavier album, so if you’re into that, you have to check it out.”

Reminded that there has been word of Scallions also doing a solo album, he responds, "I’ve talked about it for years and I’ve never followed through because I get sidetracked on other fun things.

“I’ve got a vault of songs that I’ve been working on for the longest time, but most of the time for me, I get more excited when I’m working with other people and writing with other people. It’s just more fun and exciting for me.

“I’ll write songs myself and I’ll love them, and then I throw them in a corner and I come back to them years later and see how I feel about it then.

“Maybe one of these days I’ll release a solo album. For right now, I’m having a great time with Radiobot and World Fire Brigade.”

Burned by Fuel, Musikfest memory

Those projects and the solo shows have left him little time to ruminate on Fuel, Scallions said.

“I was doing Fuel for well over a decade, you know, by myself — or the only original member," he said.

He said that when he restarted the band, it was paid perhaps $7,000 a night "on the street on a Friday night," he said with a laugh.

"So I had to dust it off a little bit and get out there and work it," he said. "And I got the guarantee back up to 25, 30, even 40 [thousand a show]. So I really built the brand back up."

Now, Scallions said, “I’m not even looking over there anymore. I’m just focusing on what I’m doing and I’m having a lot of fun — whatever. "

But he said he'll continue to do Fuel's hits in concert.

"That’s as much my legacy as it is Carl’s and [bassist] Jeff [Abercrombie]'s and Kevin, too," Scallions said. "So I will continue to go out and play the songs and celebrate the catalog that we did together. And that’s great.”

And he's enjoying the acoustic shows, Scallions said.

"It’s always a fun time, man," he said. "I love playing acoustic. It’s where I come from, it’s my roots. Before Fuel was ever even a thought, I was playing acoustic in bars and stuff. So it’s always been a love of mine.”

But Scallions clearly still remembers the impact Fuel had on its home state of Pennsylvania.

When the band's 2001 appearance at Bethlehem's Musikfest festival was mentioned, Scallions asked, "Do we still have the record for the highest attendance?"

In fact, Fuel does. In 2001, when singer Sheryl Crow canceled at the last minute, Fuel — already headlining one sold-out night — was tapped to replace Crow and nearly sold out a second night.

Fuel sold about 13,000 tickets for headline shows that year.

"That’s awesome," Scallions said. "The Bethlehem-Allentown area there, the entire state and surrounding area have just been so supportive of us.

“I was amazed at being able to go in and not only be able to play the night that we were scheduled to play, but then, unfortunately, Sheryl had to bow out.

"So I’m glad we were kind of able to add that show and keep the party going for everybody.”