Tony Ammendolia of the alternative band Fudge knows he has to shout above the din if his band is ever to be heard in the crowd of one- and two-syllable name bands seeking their fortune on the college circuit.
But shouting isn’t easy for the soft-spoken Ammendolia. He listens quietly as the names Gumball, Sloan, Sludge, Cell and the Swirlies are ticked off.
“I think there’s a similarity in the overall sound, with the fuzzines,” Ammendolia says. “But the songwriting is underneath all that.”
Fudge is a pop anomaly. Marketed like an alternative band, the combo from Richmond, Va., sounds like a well-scrubbed, cleaned-up version of Teenage Fan Club, infectious hooks and all.
And Ammendolia is in no hurry to see Fudge ensconced in the alternative music ghetto. He’s smart enough to know the band will never find distinction that way.
“We’re not shoe-gazers,” Ammendolia says. “A lot of people have described us as that . . . but we’re much more of a traditional rock band in the way we approach playing. We certainly don’t stand around looking at our feet.”
Along with guitarist David Jones, drummer Mike Savage and bassist Steve Venable, Ammendolia is promoting the band’s first album-“The Ferocious Rhythm of Precise Laziness . . .”-on Caroline Records.
“Our live sound is a lot different from what we put on the record,” Ammendolia says. “There’s more fuzzy guitar and more of an edge to it. The pop part is buried under guitars” on the recording.