Ask any member of Fuel what success requires, and the answer will be the same - hard work. According to guitarist and songwriter Carl Bell, "With a record label, they want to see what you do before they buy into you."

It's easy to see how these four young men caught the attention of thelabels. In the years preceding their Sony 550 debutSunburn Bell, singer Brett Scallions, bass player JeffAbercrombie and drummer Kevin Miller released three independentrecordings. Garnering some crucial radio support and touring regularlyin the eastern United States, Fuel managed to sell approximately 10,000records.

"We've pretty much been a do-it-yourself organization from thebeginning," says Bell. "Brett would work the radio, Jeff would work themerchandise, I would work at the recording, and the drummer was takingit to retail." No slacker-esque boasting of sleeping late, gettingstoned and watching Jerry Springer for these guys. Says Miller "You'vegot to eat it, drink it, sleep it... you've got to want it and work it,just like success in anything else."

Eat it, drink it, and in Fuel's case, move it -- as in movethemselves from rural Tennessee to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Not exactlyMusic City, U.S.A., but as Scallions explains, "It was a really goodmove for us. We were on the road already, playing the East Coast. Butyou'd go into a town and play, and three weeks later people had totallyforgotten who you were. So we said, 'Let's settle down somewhere, andkeep bashing out these same clubs, over and over again.' Harrisburgseemed like a great place, since D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, andother major cities are right there within a two hour radius." And, asband mate Abercrombie is quick to point out, "There was very supportiveradio there, which was key for us."

Supportive radio seems to be a constant for Fuel. Their debutsingle, "Shimmer," is living up to its name, spinning heavily on majorradio stations like KROQ in Los Angeles and Q101 in Chicago. For manybands, it would be time to go down to the lobby and wait for the limo.Not so for Fuel.

"We're very appreciative of how thingsare going right now," says Scallions. "But for the most part, we try to take every day with a grain of salt. You can't see things gel in a positive way and say 'We're going somewhere, we're big.' You've got to say 'This is good',and keep movin' on."

Yet it is true that "Shimmer" is drinking martinisin the V.I.P. room of Club Radio, while a long line of debut singlesstands outside, pleading with the bouncer to get in.

Sad but true, acknowledges Bell. "The way the market is now, if youdon't have radio play, you're in a world of hurt." But the men of Fuelknow that success is a process, and like the song says, "All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade."

When Bell characterizes Fuel's experiences to date as "a good first lap," Abercrombie is quick to add, "A good first lap with about fifty more to go."

STEVE FRISBIE