"SquishtheBadMan make smart, beautifully restrained music. Their voices blend exquisitely, managing to sound pleasing to the ears, yet distinctive..." - Sherry Sly, West Coast Performer
"No matter what you call their music, you have to call it wonderful." - The Davis Enterprise
"For a local band, SquishtheBadMan...is a standout. If compared to anything mainstream, [their debut record] 'How to Get to Heaven' is still one of the best buys of the new year." - Sacramento State Hornet
"One of the more promising local CD debuts to stumble across the review desk recently was How to Get to Heaven from Davis duo SquishtheBadMan." - Jackson Griffith, Sacramento News & Review
IT'S ALL BEEN DONE BEFORE.
Chances are that you've heard it, thought it, maybe even been the one to declare it, responding to yet another up-and-coming band talking about their music as "a whole new sound" and "completely unique." Even if you haven't yet, it is still being driven into your subconscious by the entire music industry.
Rock stations blare away the "new" old sounds of retro garage punk bands, with the accompanying MTV image - painstakingly crafted with the best jean jackets and mod haircuts money can buy - rocketing right out of the sixties, with just a touch of modern Versace glitz. In the wake of sampling, hip hop and R&B producers have all but forsaken the creation of new grooves for their artists, capitalizing on the fact that most of their target audience have never heard anything released before 1980. Even folk music has gotten in on the act, with the media scooping up handfuls of young Dylanite songwriters who still have some bite to their lyrics, but a photogenic sex appeal to soften it. These days, music and marketing trends follow the simple maxim that old equals new, and "retro" equals innovation and a breath of fresh air.
BUT IS IT TRUE?
Is there no reason for artists to blindly grope for something new anymore? Onstage one night in 1993, the now almost legendary musician and innovator Jeff Buckley responded to a classic rock-loving heckler with, "The 60s were bullshit...it's all about now - bigger, faster, better, gracer..." and proceeded to tear the roof off the place with the title cut from his album Grace. Jeff made his point loud and clear - not that it was folly to love old music, but rather it was folly to ignore the new music in the present that also deserved attention. Some may argue that with the sheer number of bands in the world today, there could not possibly be room for anything new under the sun. Yet, there are 7 billion people in the world, and just about every one of us believes that we have something to offer. There may be a lot of homogenization out there, but there is always room for something new.
SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SQUISHTHEBADMAN?
SquishtheBadMan was formed on the belief that now can still be a great time for music. The band's founding members - dual singer/songwriter/guitarists Julie Meyers and Dave Middleton - came of age during the onset of grunge, when the word "alternative" suddenly became anything but. Dave and Julie found inspiration and identity in the power and immediacy of that music, so much so that it led them to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where they both absorbed a heady concoction of pop, jazz, punk, metal, indie-rock, country, and just about everything in between. Ironically, the sheer intensity of a top music school curriculum leaves little time to be in a band, but Dave and Julie played together enough to know there was a creative spark worth pursuing. They followed that spark all the way to California, where after 3000 miles and countless other side and solo projects, they finally had their chance to be a band.
YEAH, YEAH, BUT WHAT DO THEY SOUND LIKE?
Imagine if Fleetwood Mac grew up listening to Nirvana, Sebadoh, and Sunny Day Real Estate. If Thom York, Billy Corgan, and Marvin Gaye got together and wrote songs to be sung by Ida. If Gillian Welch and David Rawlings brought their music down from the Appalachian mountains of centuries ago and into modern day New York City. If these things happened, it might sound a lot like SquishtheBadMan.
Their first CD together, the 6-song EP "How to Get to Heaven," is a testament to these ideals, as well as to the considerable stylistic breadth that the duo puts out, from the edgy art-pop of "I Don't Want Things to Die Anymore" to the space-age folk of "I Am an Arsenal" to the morbid alt-country glee of "Amelia's Bones."The record is a culmination of both Dave and Julie's solo material, complimented by each other's resonant harmonies, new arrangements, and playing talents, along with the contributions of a few key Northern Californian musicians. The CD was recorded in a home studio by Dave and Julie, and was released independently in February 2003.
Although many songs on "How to Get to Heaven" showcase a full band, SquishTheBadMan plays live as a duo, featuring Dave on electric guitar and vocals and Julie on acoustic guitar and vocals. Of course, this doesn't mean they aren't itching to transform SquistheBadMan's instrumentation into a proper rock band. "It's one thing to put a competent rhythm section behind you that plays a steady beat and correctly follows the changes - it's entirely another to bring in musicians who are creative forces and artists in their own right. The latter is much harder to find, but the latter is what we want."
SquishTheBadMan are currently promoting "How to Get to Heaven" by playing shows in the Sacramento area and throughout Northern California. Get involved and informed about upcoming shows and releases at www.squishthebadman.com.
IT WILL NEVER ALL BE DONE BEFORE.
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