Former Fuel singer Brett Scallions has formed a new band called RadioBot, and for their debut single, the trio has covered the Bob Dylan classic “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”
RadioBot — comprised of Scallions, Billy Harvey, and Eddie Wohl — will release their first original single, “This World’s on Fire,” on December 8th, but wanted to introduce themselves with the Dylan cover.
“For us, Bob Dylan is such a rock ‘n’ roll lyricist, we wanted to pay tribute by turning over one with a snarl and swagger,” said the band in a collective statement.
The accompanying music video honors Dylan’s original iconic clip that shows the folk-rock legend dropping cue cards of the song’s lyrics while standing in an alley. RadioBot stated, “The video is an homage to Dylan’s Alley video, and for it, Brett meticulously re-created all of the cards by hand.”
While RadioBot are just introducing themselves now, the genesis of the band started in 2016, when the three musicians got together for a jam session. However, between the pandemic and busy schedules (Harvey and Wohl are both in-demand producers), it took several years for the band to come to fruition.
As for RadioBot’s songwriting process, Scallions stated, “Everything starts with a Billy riff. After we establish the main riff of the song, we add more parts as needed, all while creating vocal melodies. Once we have the song arranged, I’ll take it and start laying down the drums. After the drums are the way we want them, I send the drum tracks to Billy, and he starts layering his guitar parts. We just keep adding what is needed until we feel like the song is finished.”
Scallions is the founding singer of Fuel, scoring rock hits with songs like “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)” and “Shimmer.” He parted ways with the band in 2006, but then fronted a new version of the group from 2010 to 2020. Fuel currently tours as an outfit featuring original guitarist Carl Bell and singer Aaron Scott.
RadioBot are set to release their debut album, Concrete and Desert, in 2024. Watch the video for their cover of Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” below.