Fuel, One Less Reason, SouthDown rock City Club

Houma music fans are about to be “Re-Fueled” by a familiar band that will be featuring a familiar face for the first time in years.

That’s because when Fuel visits the City Club of Houma May 5, the band’s original lead singer, Brett Scallions, will once again rock out with the group.

“It’s his first tour since he’s been back. So a lot of people are really excited about it,” said City Club booking manager Chris Recinos. “I don’t know if they have any new material, because it just happened, so I’m pretty sure we’re going to hear a lot of the songs that we all want to hear.”

Before the singer of “Hemorrhage (In My Hands),” “Shimmer,” “Falls on Me” and “Bad Day” left the band in 2006, Fuel produced one platinum and one double-platinum record as well as 11 Top-25 hits on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks ranking.

The latest Fuel lineup includes Scallions, bassist Brad Stewart (formerly of Shinedown), guitarist Yogi Lonich (ex-Buckcherry and Wallflowers) and drummer Ken Schalk (ex-Candiria). Gone from the original Fuel are guitarist Carl Bell, bassist Jeff Abercrombie and original drummer Jody Abbott, all of whom left for other entertainment pursuits after the 2007 release of “Angels and Devils,” the only album the group released without Scallions’ presence.

“There is only one original of anything. …The lineup I put together for Fuel is not meant to replace or diminish what any of the original members created,” Scallions is quoted as saying in a release posted on Fuel’s Web site. “Just the opposite, it is to give our fans a live destination, and to keep the Fuel name alive for a new generation to discover.

“Maybe someday we’ll all get on the same page and play together again, but life happens and the next thing you know you just can’t jump on a bus and take off for a month, let along a year.”

Recinos said tickets are still available for the show, but he expects ticket sales to pick up steam as May 5 draws near.

“The Houma area has a different mentality than a lot of other places that I’m used to, where they don’t expect a show to sell out and buy tickets when they walk up to the door the night of,” said Recinos. “But this one is definitely on a good track to sell a great deal before the day.”

Recinos noted that shows in small areas like Houma are typically better performances than shows in large cities.

“Here, the crowd is very grateful for people coming to their backyard, so it’s always a real positive vibe,” he explained. “The bands feel it, and it’s really one of the greatest shows in their tour, and we hear that over and over and over again from talking to them backstage after the show.”

Opening for Fuel at the City Club will be New Orleans alternative rock band SouthDown, who Recinos said is becoming very popular in the local area.

SouthDown – vocalist Hunter Green, drummer Chad LeBlanc, bassist Damon Long, guitarists Jamie “The Jam” Delatte and Matt Rhodes, and keyboardist Zach Dufrene – describes its sound as containing “elements of hard rock, post-grunge and progressive rock while maintaining the straight-forward melodicism of traditional pop songcraft.”

A mouthful, no question. But also worth hearing, according to City Club’s Recinos.

“They’re becoming kind of a big deal, and so we thought it would be extraordinarily appropriate to put them in the show, because it’s the kind of same crowd [who listens to them],” he said. “It’s definitely going to be a hometown crowd rooting on the new up-and-comers and then getting ready to listen to the old-schoolers doing it how we used to like it. It really is the perfect mix.”

K-Rock 106.3 FM listeners hear SouthDown music quite a bit, according to lead singer Hunter Greene.

“We’ve been the No. 1-requested band on 106.3 for months,” he said. “‘You’re an Angel’ [the band’s latest release] was played 136 times on requests one week, and they play our songs about once an hour.”

“You’re an Angel” launched nationwide this month, and Greene is hopeful the City Club performance will push the band to the next level.

“I expect it to be one of the best shows you’ve ever seen at the City Club of Houma,” he said. “We’re honored to be able to play with such a prominent band that’s been around for a long time. I’ve looked up to them my whole life.”

Also performing at the show will be One Less Reason, a band that is joining Fuel on most of their tour.

An Internet phenomenon of sorts, One Less Reason – Chris Brown, vocals; Ryan Giles and Brad Butler, guitar; Terry Brown, bass; and Jeff Moore, drums – has had a recent string of radio successes and explosive live performances, garnering the band opening gigs for the likes of Shinedown, Godsmack, Hinder and One Republic.

“Seasons,” the band’s latest single, continues to dominate Alternative Addiction’s charts; it sat in the No. 1 spot for a month and will be heard at the City Club show May 5.

The Re-Fueled tour began April 30, and the City Club is their fifth and only show in Louisiana.

“So, I think we’re going to end up getting a lot of Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans and northern Louisiana [interest] once the word really gets out,” Recinos said. “[Fuelies – Fuel diehards – are] going to travel for this.”