Meet a local band: Rocket Fuel Haulers

by Federico Martinez | The Muskegon Chronicle April 30, 2009

Band: Rocket Fuel Haulers (shown left to right): John Adams, bass and harmonica, New Era;
Andy Patterson, vocals and guitar, New Era; Jeff Forner, vocals, guitar, Grand Rapids;
Steve Winczewski (back), drums, Muskegon; Dean Hodges, bass, sound and lighting engineer, Hart;
Melissa Fuehring, vocals and keyboard, Mears.

Influences: Forner -- Wilson Pickett and Jimmy Buffett.

Patterson -- Although he played in an alternative/metal band for a couple of years, he prefers a
more mellow style these days, including the music of country artists like Garth Brooks and Clint Black
and the soft rock of James Taylor and The Eagles.

Fuehring -- Country.

Adams -- A longtime bass player in "Shades of Blue," a local traditional blues duo, he was bitten by
the rock 'n' roll bug at an early age when he first heard the music of Steppenwolf.

Winczewski -- He's performed in a number of bands, including a funk-rock band in Lansing.

Hodges -- A veteran bass player, Hodges these days prefers to work behind the scenes.

"I was once an 80s hair band video vixen," moment: Fuehring appears not once, but six times on a
Motley Crue concert videotaped in Grand Rapids.

There's a reason why the group's set list is filled with classic rock and country tunes like "Brown-Eyed Girl,"
"Mony Mony" and "Folsom Prison," said Forner, who points out that all of the band members are in their
30s and 40s.

"Yeah, if we played some newer stuff we might get some hotter 21-30 year olds to come out on the
dance floor," said Forner. "But, I don't know. We have some pretty hot 40-year-olds out there, too."