There never seems to be a shortage of power trios, but here's one from Tennessee with even more ferocity and tunesmanship than usual. 30 Amp Fuse play as if imbued with the spirit of Hüsker Dü, circa Flip Your Wig or Candy Apple Grey, when the original alternatrio were at their most contagious.
Wind-Up features twelve tightly wound, super-charged songs with an incendiary spirit and frenetic fretwork. With instructions on how to throw a fastball from an old baseball instruction book on the CD sleeve, the songs come as hard and fast as a Nolan Ryan heater.
But while all power trios have energy, it's the musicianship here that makes the difference. The enthusiasm never overpowers the songs, and David Jenkins' production is crystal clear. The rhythm section here is sitting in from Super Drag: riveting, hard-pounding drummer Don Coffey Jr. and anchor-steady bassist John Davis. Singer Mike Smithers has a tuneful yelp that manages to stay on key even when he's out of breath on "Sorry?" "Push Means Push" has the gallop of early Superchunk, "Locket" is a melodic hookfest of straight-ahead guitars, while "All Day Afternoon" varies the tempo and builds its energy from a propulsive bass riff. Every song's a fastball down the heart of the plate. Not bad to go twelve-for-twelve as a rookie.
Comes from the fine folks at Darla, fast becoming one of the best and continuously surprising indies anywhere. (Darla, 625 Scott Apt. 303, San Francisco CA 941 17)
David Daley
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The guys in 30 Amp Fuse may or may not be fans of the National Pastime, but with Wind-Up, a raucous little record covered with baseball art, a comparison to the Little League fan is apropos.
The band lovingly apes a style that's become kind of quaint: classic postpunk rock that could have been released on SST Records circa 1985. Wind-Up's liner notes include a thank-you to Hüsker Dü, which is more than a gesture of gratitude; it's like a footnote on a term paper.
On "6 Feet Under" and "Enough Is Enough," lead singer/guitarist Mike Smithers and bassist-vocalist John Davis do gruff-vs.-high harmonies so well, you'll swear Bob Mould and Grant Hart have buried the hatchet. The SST sound may have been co-opted by grunge and Urge-type power-pop, but the boys in 30 Amp Fuse have it pegged better than any of their contemporaries; for all its volume, the band's happy thrash neither screams for attention nor plays it up for camp value.
Despite its hero worship, the band never comes off as studious; more like they got together one afternoon and decided to combine their two loves - old indie-rock and the sports pages. "I said that I'm sorry, but I'm not really sorry at all," Smithers sings. More '90s rock should be this unapologetic and fun.
Chris Molanphy