Ok… first up, who are you and what do you do?
I'm Mike Smithers and I sing, play guitar and write the songs.

Would you mind explaining the change in line up since the album? Who went and why? Who has joined and are they permanent?
The band has been thru numerous line-up changes since the beginning back in late 1993. There's been at least 15 different members. Some were only short term and temporary. Others just didn't work out, but were amicable. And then there were a few that really didn't work out and ended badly. The guys on "Saturday Night at the Atomic Speedway" fit in this last category. The two newest members, Jason Ratliff on drums and Joshua Bentley on bass have been playing with me for over a year now.

Does the band earn enough to support you or do you have a job as well? What is your job, if you have one?
We earn very little from playing. We all work day jobs. Jason works at a marble plant and Josh and I do landscaping work.

What happened with Dedicated? Are you on a new label yet?
I have no idea what happened with Dedicated. We decided to leave that label in the Fall of last year but didn't officially leave until February 1998. I had very little contact with the label in the end. We're currently not on a label but we are releasing a new CD on a New York indie label called "Melted Records"

Do you consider yourself an underground punk band or more part of the mainstream? Which is better and why?
Neither is better. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. The music business is so fickle. We recently were not allowed to be in a Melted ad, which was to appear in Maximum Rock N' Roll because the magazine said we used to be on a major label. That's total bullshit...Dedicated wasn't even a good indie label!!! I guess we're too punk to be mainstream and not punk enough too be real punks. We just like to play rock and have a good time. Classify us as you will.

What kind of bands are you into personally? What was the last album you bought?
I really like the early to mid eighties stuff like Husker Du and The Replacements. There's a thousand other bands that I love, both mainstream and underground, but those influenced me the most. I don't buy much new music anymore because I'm broke all the time. I can't remember the last album I bought.

How did you get Bill Stevenson and Stephen Egerton from the Descendents to produce your album?
I used to travel on the road with another Knoxville band called Superdrag. I was in New York with them and met Bill and Stephen's manager at a party. He mentioned them as possible producers and I thought that would be great since I was a big fan of The Descendents and ALL.

Who is John Davis (credited for guitar on 'I Fall Down')? What band is he in?
John Davis is from Superdrag. He's an old friend who played bass and sang backing vocals on the first 30 AMP FUSE album "Wind-Up" along with doing other demos with me and Don Coffey Jr. (drummer for Superdrag). He also appears on our new release called "Rewind". We cover an early song of his called "Twisted Fuck".

Is Jason Livermore any relation of Larry Livermore?

Jason works at ALL central and is the assistant engineer at The Blastin Room (Bill and Stephen's studio).

What have you released apart from 'Saturday Night at the Atomic Speedway'?
Our new record "Rewind" will be our third full-length album. Before that there was "Wind-Up" (1995) and "Saturday Night at the Atomic Speedway" (1997). There have also been a few 7" on Che, Arena Rock, Darla and Dedicated.

What releases have you got coming up?
Rewind is due out the second week of October 1998.

Any plans to come to the UK soon?
We were supposed to have toured last year but Dedicated didn't have any money. Hopefully we will be touring Europe next year if we can make the right connections.

What bands have you toured with and who was your favorite?
We've toured with Superdrag, The Caffeine Nation Tour 1997 (The Descendents, Guttermouth, Less Than Jake, Handsome) Kristen Barry, Alligator Gun, and many other one offs with lots of bands throughout the U.S. We do a lot of touring by ourselves, so we play with all types of bands, local and national.

Any last words for the people reading this?
Last words. If you're in a band, have fun and don't let the music business ruin it for you. If you dig our stuff, thanks for the support. We really do appreciate it!

Ok thankx a lot for doing the interview.

You can contact 30 Amp Fuse at: PO Box 20322, Knoxville, TN 37940, USA

Email: GO30Amp@aol.com

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