1. “Everything” by Stereo Fuse

I remember you: For every great band that makes it big and maintains a profitable long-term career in the music business, there’s countless others who enjoy a brief run at the rock dream only to stumble somehow and slip into obscurity.

Today’s Skinny is about one of them.

I might not have ever heard of Dallas-based Stereo Fuse were the band not tabbed as a fill-in opener for Creed’s “Weathered” tour in late 2002. The band’s record company sent me the group’s newly released debut CD. I not only listened to it — I loved it!

The record company hooked me up with a pre-show interview in the band’s dressing room. So, accompanied by my then-18-year-old daughter Rhiannon, we met up with the tour manager who guided us into the bowels of the Delta Center where the band was gearing up for that night’s show.

Certain interviews stand out over the years for various reasons — and to this day, the experience with Stereo Fuse remains among my fondest. The band’s enthusiasm was contagious and palpable. Everyone was friendly, outgoing and seemingly wired with nervous energy for the show. Guitarist Jeff Quay had an unplugged Gibson Les Paul strapped on, and kept firing off licks and leads as he answered questions — something I loved in the moment, but which made the tape recording of the interview nearly impossible to accurately decipher afterward. #RockJournalistProblems.

In fact, if I could compare the scene to anything, it was almost “Almost Famous”-esque. In fact, we even joked about that movie  at the time, and the band enthusiastically owned the comparison.

Stereo Fuse was solid on stage that night as well. They were a young band, fresh off a debut hit with both an acoustic and electric remake of Material Issue’s “Everything,” and already playing to arena audiences by virtue of opening for Creed. After that night, I was sure they were headed for gold records and rock stardom.

And then I never heard of them again. Many is the time I’ve wondered over the ensuing 14 years just what happened and why things didn’t work out.

I’ve been listening a lot to their debut CD the past couple weeks. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that once I slip it into my car’s CD player, it’s nearly impossible to get it out. Songs like “Breathe,” “Heaven Inside You,” “Ball and Chain” and “Allison” still rock my world. In fact, just today I discovered the band released a second album, and I’ve enjoyed listening to it online today. I still wonder, though, what happened — in my mind the band was almost famous.

What do I love about Stereo Fuse? For starters … “Everything.”

– Doug Fox