MSU, do not cover your eyes too much. The punk-flavored rock group squint performs live tonight at Rick’s CafZ. The Rouston, La., band was recently nominated by the 2003 American Music Awards for Best Unsigned Group. “It’s definitely a huge honor to be nominated. If we win, we will get to play at the awards,” vocalist Dane Adrian said.
Other credits for the band include a $3,500 grant from Jim Beam to record their upcoming album Tinsel. The BEAM. Program (Benefiting Emerging Artists in Music) donated the money to squint in late 2001. Although the band is not quite sure of how the B.E.A.M Program heard of them, they are not going to complain. Nickelback was also awarded a grant from Jim Beam before they got big.
“Squint is my new favorite band,” John Rzeznik, lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls said in a release by Hoxiebat Music.
The guys were able to open up a show in Rouston for the Goo Goo Dolls when another band got pulled. When word got out the Goo Goo Dolls needed a new opening act, squint was No. 1 on the list.
Squint was formed about seven years ago when Adrian moved to Louisiana from “middle-of-nowhere,” Michigan; also known as Houghton. Guitarist Matt Fredrickson and Adrian went on a search for a college to attend. They traveled throughout the Southeast all the way down to Florida.
After returning to Michigan, a friend advised Adrian to check out Louisiana Tech. Their drummer Tote moved down with Adrian and Fredrickson, and they all fell in love with the area. Soon after arriving, they were introduced to Young Charles who other musicians regarded as a great bass player.
In early 1998 they recorded their first album, Beeker, in only four days. That album helped them get noticed by the Goo Goo Dolls and propelled them to play the Mentos Tour with Stoke 9. Beeker also helped them perform in different showcases, even one in Las Vegas.
“Most people call us alternative-pop-punk. If you were to mix the Ramones with Soul Asylum you’d end up with a combination close to us,” Adrian said.
Like Beeker, squint’s upcoming album, Tinsel, promises the punk roots with an alternative sprout. An estimated 90 percent of the music writing comes from Fredrickson, and all of the lyrics stream through Adrian’s fingers. Although he does not mean all his songs to be about relationships they usually tend to swing that way.
“I don’t really intend to write about relationships; I guess I end up getting hurt a lot,” Adrian said, laughing.
Adrian does admit that at the time he started writing for Tinsel he was going through some stuff with a girl. He tries not to write the lyrics with specifics so that everyone can relate to them in one way or another. Adrian also said that if he did not write what he felt he would be lying and that everyone would know he was just making stuff up.
On the song “Whore” Adrian writes: “Some say I should settle down/ But then with who? / I meet the right girl every night/ But in the morning I set her loose.”
It is not only the lyrical smarts of Adrian, but also the beat and guitar mix from the entire band that makes squint so widely attractive.
The band played at Rick’s for the first time this summer and said they had a great time.
“Everyone in Starkville treated us really well. We are extremely excited to come back, and we hope everyone will come see us and have a great time. We promise to put on a fantastic show that all who come will love,” Adrian said.
For more information on squint, go to their Web site at www.squint.com.