30 Amp Fuse

Known for a sound often labeled "crunch pop," 30 Amp Fuse brought high-velocity aggressive power-pop to listeners in their native Knoxville, Tennessee. The group—Mike Smithers on vocals and guitar, Jason Ratliff on drums, and Joshua Bentley on bass—entered the scene in 1995 with the full-length debut Wind Up. A subsequent deal with the BMG-distributed imprint Dedicated paved the way for Saturday Night at the Atomic Speedway, an album whose rapid pacing was supported by producers Steve Egerton and Bill Stevenson of The Descendants. Following a shift to Melted Records in 1998, the band issued its third album, Rewind, later that same year.