|
On
The Rag Zine (01/2005)
"Thanks
to everyone who came out and supported the Rock n Roll Camp for Girls'
Benefit show last night at Back to the Grind. It was a very eclectic group
of bands. Each was finely tuned to the genre of punk that they played.
Castration Anxiety played their attitude-filled street style punk rock.
The ScanDells were rocking like early Lookout Records' Donnas. The Hitchhikers
rock out hard delivering their pure rock n roll style of punk rock. Holy
Hydraulics put full heart into their performance rocking like the Pixies
and old PJ Harvey, getting the crowd to wiggle their booties. The Willowz
arrived just in time to play and produced the first pit of the night,
as well as a lot of comic relief between songs. We (aonhc) played next.
We appreciated the enthusiastic pit and had a blast. It was great to see
some friends we hadn't seen for quite some time.
Finally, Squab blew everyone's mind. The
last time I saw this band they were a basic three piece electro-punk outfit.
Now they are geared up for full effect and none of it is fluff. They are
a four piece now with a trombone playing/gypsy-esque singer. I was left
impressed. Tina Bold and Stephanie Sanchez put the benefit
on and are to be commended for their effort and commitment to young women
getting ready to rock out. To find out more about the Rock n Roll Camp
for Girls see www.girlsrockcamp.org. To find out more about Tina Bold's
weekly radio show on KUCR see www.submerge411.com. Thanks for reading."
See you
in the pit. -Renae
squab
:: press
THE
VILLAGE VOICE (01/2004)
Los Angeles. Frank Black waited there in the pouring sun. Xzibit saw the
city burn. Exene Cervenka found it hard to say goodbye. Now a bunch of
kids from the O.C. want to terminate Governatorville and rebuild it into
a New Punk Nation, the kind of place where you fuck up your face just
skateboarding over the amps. The back-to-Cali basement party Let's Get
Rid of L.A. echoes with the last la-las in la-la land: Squab
make Slant 6 sound like doo-wop for the do-me
set; the Flash Express beat Jack White until he's black and
blue; and the Starvations point a trigger finger at the Clash, drop a
word on their tongue, and blow it through the back of their skull. The
new sound of the City of Angels is a greaser stomp that speaks of the
devil. You can hear it in the album booklet, which features interviews
with label owners, radio DJs, rock writers, and bands who helped create
the scene, all discussing the post-afterbar moments when you drive your
stinkin' Lincoln to Dunkin' Donuts and drink your breakfast as the sun
goes down. The specter of '77 still haunts Darby Crash's hometown, but
the album gives you hope that maybe the Germs were contagious.
-- Melissa Maerz
Yell
Magazine
(November, 2003) People: Featured : EXCERPT:....."Y!:
What is the vision/goal for the band?
S: hmmm the vision!: well in my opinion...
well my goal anyways.. & i do hope the girls feel the same way.. (
i think they do too..) is to be able to reach everyone's hearts... i want
our music
( because music means so much to me) to reach in & grab hold of people's
hearts.. i want it to move them, whether it be emotionally, politically,
or even sexually.... ;) - hey, STS from the haggard did say our music
was great music to make out too... hahhaa!!
[Y!]
Portland
Mercury
(March 20, 2003) Up & Coming - This Week's Music Picks
THE
CIRCUIT SIDE, SQUAB, HALF-SEAS-OVER (Meow Meow) Radio Sloan doesn't need
much introduction in Portland. She shredded for The Need and with lots
of other NW luminaries long enough to make any PDX appearance a good excuse
to throw up the old devil horns in salute. Her latest incarnation, The
Circuit Side, is a quartet that boasts an indie metal aesthetic that looks
like Karp, sounds like the Fucking Champs, and carries The Need's sci-fi
metal vision into a war-torn future rife with double bass, medieval interludes,
casiotones, and understated melodic vox. Main support Squab are four ladies
from L.A. that use synths and a double drummer attack to make you dance
so hard that you won't have time to scratch your head and wonder how an
original sound came from such a homogenous environment. Kentucky heroines
Half-Seas-Over do the wav-o party thing over beats Devo wore out well
before Whip It.
--
Nathan Carson
Drowning
in Culture : shows you missed 01.09.03 (excerpts)
...the
Rattlesnakes folded up their wall of sound and gave the evening over to
the darkwave tunes of SQUAB. Usually a four piece (LaDawn was in NYC),
the girls put on an amazing set with a much rawer edge than usual.....
Drowning
In Culture : music reviews (excerpts)
..."New
Wave", "No Wave", "Dark Wave", "What Wave?",
blah blah blah... You get the picture, right? O.K. this is after all a
music review not a history lesson, but it seemed appopriate to preface
with some historical tid-bits as I am about to crown Squab the "Now
Wave" queens of today....
...Squab
has created a unique texture all their own, which has enabled them to
transcend style and produce a work that is both powerful and exploratory
- not something the original New Wave was particularly good at. Squab's
music eschews the one hit wonder syndrome, by consistently building the
music around the listener, allowing for them to draw their own conclusions,
rather than being lead by a glossy overcoat....
Art
Rocker (UK)
(October 02, 2002) :
From
>>>ARTROCKER 49<<< http://www.artrocker.co.uk
Contents >>RECORD
SPOTLIGHT<<
RADIO
VAGO / SQUAB split
EP (Dionysus). Dionysus would seem an unlikely label to carry these two
particular bands, but perhaps this is an indication of a new direction
for the local label. RADIO VAGO enjoyed a mess of local press last year
hailing them as a Riot Grrl Joy Division. I've had a dozen opportunities
to see them live but cruel fate has consistently had other plans in store
for me. However, they're playing in a few weeks with The Fall (and how
thematically relevant!), so I will be there hell or high water. But I
digress. Radio Vago's contribution to this split is a song called "TV
Guide." Sonically, it's a dark mix of digital atmospherics, pounding
rhythm, and dramatic vocals. It certainly echoes Joy Division and Siouxsie,
but with an appreciable freshness and character of its own. The song is
solid but doesn't leave a lasting impression. SQUAB,
I think, have the hit of this split with their song, "Dissever."
The mood hits along the same lines as that of Radio Vago, but they hide
their influences far more thoroughly. The song begins with a melodic hook
tapped out on what sounds like vibes but is more likely a keyboard. The
drums come in with a great break beat, accompanied by a minimal, driving
bass line. The vocals are pleasant, sparse and, together with the guitar,
work out a nice, haunting melody. All of a sudden, the song breaks and
a sampled voice says, "The way I saw it, everyone takes a beating
sometimes," after which, the song takes a guitar-driven direction
and assumes a sweetly anthemic character. A really great song overall.
OC
Weekly
(December 2002) Squab is Better Than Any Drug, Some Sex
(excerpts)
...They’re
out—that black triangle Chris had stickered on her bass was a Nazi designation
for "socially unacceptable women," the female equivalent then and now
to the reclaimed pink triangle. They’re total art—besides the two-drummer
Tracy-and-LaDawn thing, they’ve got a skirmish line of samplers, keyboards
and digital triggers, as well as the collage aesthetic to make it sing.
They’re smart and funny—summed up as much by the sex-positive "HOW TO
FUCK YOURSELF" pillowcases ("On the front, it gives you a little . . .
diagram," says Jen from Resist and Exist) they used to sell as by their
unabashedly raw lyrics, which keep the personal next to the political
just as they keep the choruses next to the verse. They’re women who dress
and act and play music absolutely and exactly how they want—the first
time anyone ever saw any of them in dresses was at LA’s Ladyfest last
month, and they did that as a joke ("LaDawn was playing her drum in boxers
with her skirt hitched all the way up," says Tracy, "and someone was like,
‘It’s so nice you guys dressed up!’")...
...They
talk about band practice like every other band talks about snorting coke
off strippers’ asses—the same hungry glint in the eye, the same giddiness,
the same instant clarity of purpose...
..."The
typical LA following is very fickle—they go along with what’s big," says
Radio Vago’s Adrienne. "The cult following will go to any show regardless
of where it is—they know way too much information about you. And there’s
definitely a Squab mob."...
-- Chris
Ziegler
Razorcake
(Issue #8 - May 2002) Interview (excerpt)
Squab are by far one of the most entertaining and charming bunch of ladies
creating music today. Since their inception almost four years ago, the
Long Beach based Squab have grown to become a strong band of intelligent
and politically active women, playing beautiful and moody synthesized
rock. I imagine David Lynch sneaking into their bedrooms one night and
whispering in their ears as they slumber, "Bring me the music that
is in my head."…
…Kat: Finish this sentence: I BRAKE
FOR _______.
Chris: It makes me think of those stupid
ones like, "I brake for rainbows, I brake for…"
Tracy: That’s what it is. Well, you
brake for what Chris? "I brake for tofu."
Jen [a little too seriously]: Do you brake
for tofu?
Chris: Nooo, I don’t brake for tofu!
I like to eat tofu, but I don’t brake for tofu.
Jen: You just kinda slow down.
Tracy: You get a good look.
[Laughter has completely taken over at this point.]
Jen: So technical! [Mocking Chris in a playful
way] "I like tofu, but I don’t brake for it. Well, maybe sometimes
I do if I’m stopping on the way home from work."
Kat: [continuing on with our Chris ribbing]:
"If it’s on the right side of the road."
Jen: "I’ll never make a left for
tofu."
Chris: Oh man…
-- interview
conducted by Kat Jetson & Jen Hitchcock
OC
Weekly (January 2002) Make a Joyful Noise - 10 Bands to Watch
in 2002
We've been loving Squab live forever, and if these four girls can translate
their darkly beautiful post-punk art damage to that long promised CD,
we'll love that, too. If you started ripping the seams, you'd find bits
and pieces of everyone from Lydia Lunch and Stereolab to Blonde Redhead
and Joy Division, and you'd be amazed at how well Squab stitches it together.
Probably the most criminally unknown band this side of the 405 -- but
we shouldn't all write happy little pop songs, should we?
--
Chris Ziegler
LA Weekly (December 2001) Scoring
the Clubs
Sunday, December 8 - Squab, Sugarpuss, Lucid Nation, The Voids at Grrrl
Fest at The Smell (excerpt)
We can only hope that the generation of girls being targeted by product
lines called "Girl Identity" -- tiny makeup cases and frilly,
pink baby tees bearing the words "Girls Rule" -- will someday
wander into an event such as Grrrl Fest. Squab's new wave noise-pop is
one of the highlights of this event. Driven by keyboard samples, thick
bass and a two-drummer groove, this Long Beach based band has found its
calling somewhere between sculpted gothic dissonance and melodious, textured
art-rock...
-- Jen Hitchcock
OC
Weekly (February 2001) Escape From Riverside - Not Fitting in
With Squab (excerpt)
…Maybe they’ve got too much of a political edge for the just-wanna-nod-sadly
indie rockers, too much artistic sophistication for the malcontents who
just want something to chant along with, and way too much talent and fierce,
prickle-the-hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck energy for the dickheads who,
in 2001, still think an all-girl band is "cute." Some people
get it, just not in OC…
-- Chris Ziegler
|