The Squeaky Fromme
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The Squeaky Fromme

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The best kept secret in music

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"Coffee gets 'em wired"

the damien pratt took the stage and no one really knew what to expect. He was billed as a songwriter, musician, performance artist, and loon. And according to a relatively reliable source, his last show consisted of him playing an old film and yelling at the screen. - Danbury News Times


"Review - Photography"

Band - The Squeaky Fromme
Album - Photography


Review - The Village Voice once compared them to grungy indie rockers Screaming
Trees and I’d like to second that notion. Though they might fit squarely in
place with the aforementioned band and say, Mudhoney, they’re far from Seattle
grunge. Instead what you have is a poppy and gritty rawness that hones in on the
inner workings of blue collar rock that would make Springsteen nod in agreement
(and in time). “Photography” is pretty gnarly even if it’s a flashback; perhaps
that’s what inspired the album title. - Smother.Net


"CD Review"

These Brooklyn boys bring on the rock on seven 70s-influenced classic rock tracks. Songs range from topical tunes with social commentary on the mass media (“The Affiliates”) to witty wordplay. One of the more unique song titles, “Emotionally Attached to Inanimate Objects,” is a sweet ballad that verves more into the folk-rock realm. It’s a song about relationships and longing for reconciliation. The chorus clearly speaks to this desire to reunite: “I’ll be a chair if you will be my table.”

“Wager” is the high point for the band in terms of pure energy. The song features choppy guitar played with reckless abandon and repetitive rhythms that hint at the Doobie Brothers and Joe Walsh. This track screams that according to The Squeaky Fromme, classic rock and roll is still very much alive. With Photography, these transplanted high school friends from Connecticut paint a portrait that leaves a lasting impression, and the listener returns for repeat visits. - David McPherson
- Indie-Music.com


"The Squeaky Fromme - Photography"

THE SQUEAKY FROMME – Photograph  (the_squeaky_fromme@hotmail.com) At the time this 7-song CD was made, Brooklyn’s The Squeaky Fromme consisted of Damien Pratt on guitar and vocals,  Dave Murelli on bass and vocals, with Dawn McGrath  helping out on drums. Happily the band has since coalesced into a full performing lineup but, like the wannabe presidential assassin that the band is named after,  The Squeaky Fromme is awfully schizophrenic. The Husker Du-ish  two-vocal punk-rock squall of “Lighthouse” and the like-minded “The Affiliates” kick things off with aggro intensity, but “Emotionally Attached To Inanimate Objects” forays into rootsy Americana, with acoustic guitars, tambourines as percussion, and David Nagler’s barrelhouse piano  carrying the gently swaying melody.   “Wager” is the side of Squeaky that I like best through – ballsy 70’s rock’n’roll that pays homages to the cheesey grandeur that was Kiss and BTO in their heyday.  (Needs more cowbell, though!)  “Sights Without Sounds” continues in like fashion; the guitars seem less deliberately 70’s-sounding, but the harmony chorus (“I’m doing fine/ I’m not toking the line”) wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Frampton Comes Alive.   The acoustic closer, “So Little,” confuses the matter even more, unless this is just the token ballad for the A&R guys who want a radio hit. (Like, if only.)  The Squeaky Fromme really ought to move to Wisconsin, where cheese is worshipped;  here on the East Coast, they’re only going to confuse indie scenesters too culturally constipated  to know how to enjoy themselves. – Jim Testa
- Jersey Beat


"Rockers Return: They may reside in New York City now, but the members of The Squeaky Fromme still have some Danbury love."



Rather than cluttering our inboxes with another self-raving band bio, The Squeaky Fromme kicked it up a notch. They sent a list titled "How 3 Kids from CT form a Band in NYC: A Point by Point Analysis," breaking the last decade of their lives into 20 noteworthy discussion topics. We discover that bassist Dave Murelli, Jr. started his music career around the Torrington high school scene and that their football team was called the Raiders. And that Nina57 was part of the over-the-top Danbury punk band Creature Did, back when Danbury really was a hive of underground music. Damien Pratt, Squeaky Fromme's singer, we learn, wooed Nina57 with a "cheap bottle of vodka," later becoming her boyfriend.

Today, those three and a drummer named Dawn McGrath form the collective known as The Squeaky Fromme. They live in New York City, where they moved after the demise of the Danbury music scene (according to their list), but something continues to pull them back to their old Connecticut haunts. While their album, Photography , displays the kind of tweaked- out pop-rock that fits perfectly in the sticky-floored clubs of New York City, there's still this sweet element that stands out. Probably not what one expects from a band named for serial killer Charles Manson's most famous follower, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, but sweet nonetheless. It's as if Pratt has installed a little suburban hope where the city cynicism is supposed to be. Which is good for us, because, honestly, it's one thing to indulge in a little musical melancholia, but depression's overrated.

On Dec. 18, the band visits Danbury's Hat City Alehouse to pump a little of the old rock juice back into the bar, and the material they're carting along, a collection of fresh, lyrical, just-distorted-enough songs should find them an approving audience. It's impossible to miss the earnestness of Pratt and Murelli's vocals on this disc and it's this element that causes one to really believe in the songs, if such belief is possible. "Lighthouse" sets the pace, the drums crashing with pretty regularity, the guitar rising up to meet it, and the vocals just touching on pop, the whole sound intentionally muffled so it blends evenly. One of Pratt's biggest strengths is his lyrics, as demonstrated in this song with the lines "The day you disappeared into this air I was laughing all along / Supple lights will change this song." By song two, "The Affiliates," it's clear the group has multiple tricks in its bag, here sounding a little Dinosaur Jr.-esque. With a voice both sensitive and strong, Pratt manages to make even a line like "Just know I'm only an e-mail away," sound natural.

There's an awareness on Photography (which, unfortunately, does not include the guitar and vocals of Nina57, who joined later) of the larger picture. They seem to get that a song is greater than its individual elements, shying from soloing or obnoxious vocals. Instead, each song is considered on its own and stands alone, getting what it needs, but not more.

In "The Director," a metaphor emerges. The "director" is in charge of this "scene" and it's clear that the scene is a musical one where the message "I take the words and turn them into motion art" prevails. The Squeaky Fromme know something about investing themselves into creative pursuits. Sweetness goes into overdrive on "Emotionally Attached to Inanimate Objects" with a song that allows a touch of country into its sound, coming across with the early '90s self-awareness that Evan Dando so neatly crystallized.

"I'll be a chair if you will be my table," Pratt croons to a sway-along rhythm. "Trade it all in for a violin." Sometimes slow can turn to a drag, as on "So Little," the disc's last song, which borders on whininess, but that's the rare exception. The Squeaky Fromme can deliver a drum-smacking, bass-crackling, voice-pushing rock song--"Wager"--or a circular, bounce-friendly number like "Sights Without a Sound." We should be thankful they found their way back to Danbury.

- Fairfield County Weekly


"Squeaky Fromme"

Solo, lumberjack-like lo-fi troubador Damien Pratt's clowning about baby birds can remind you how purty Daryl Hall or Robin Zander used to sing. Named for Gerald Ford's Manson-inspired attempted assassin, his latest sextet evokes some of Screaming Trees' early drawling harmonic lushness. - Village Voice


"The Squeaky Fromme - Tuesday @ Sudsy Malone's"

The Squeaky Fromme are not just another NYC transplant with a cute name. OK, they are. But with a clever and disorienting mix of '70s guitar Rock and '80s Post Punk, they are not likely to be lumped in with any fading trends, especially not if they are judged by their 2004 release, Photography. Harmonized Garage Pop battling with stylized Indie Rock and hints of Americana might leave some confused, but the fervor with which they attack each turn is impressive. Most of the songs are full-throttle Rock & Roll, laced with strong (but not overwhelming) Pop overtones, closer to Montrose than Cheap Trick on the Classic Rock yard stick. A couple of the tracks are jangly acoustic numbers, almost putting you in the mind of a down home Grateful Dead revival. These tunes, most likely holdovers from singer/guitarist Damien Pratt's solo run, help frame the band's delicate side and give a good idea of the breadth of their artistic and dynamic range. TSF's wild diversity is almost reminiscent of the Replacements' Hootenanny, though far less sloppy. Pratt and bassist Dave Murelli have provided the polished backbone as the band has endured a number of lineup changes, the most recent being the addition of drummer Jim Wood and guitarist Nina57. The latter, a diminutive string thrasher, is dwarfed by her band mates but nonetheless adds a simmering, Kirsten Hersh-like feminine energy to the band's explosive show. She also looks eerily like TSF's infamous namesake. If you don't recall your '70s trivia, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was the Manson Family member whose attempted assassination of Gerald Ford with an unloaded gun was as comical as any Chevy Chase skit. Rest assured, when this band gets their shot, they'll be more prepared. (Ezra Waller)

- Cincinnati City Beat


Discography

Photography - 2004 - Mocking-Tone Records
Euthanasia (The Damien Pratt) - Trolleybus Records 2000
The Tapes of Lenny Bruce (The Damien Pratt) -
Serendipity Doda Records - 1998

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

The Squeaky Fromme Bio
or “How 4 Kids from the Suburbs form a Band in NYC: a Point by Point Analysis”

1) Bass player/singer Dave Murelli Jr and high school band 2&Fro play all of 3 legendary punk rock shows in the small town of Torrington CT.
2) Graduating from the same high school (Torrington High School – Go Raiders!) and playing on all 3 bills, 2&Fro’s idols, grunge rockers Creature Did, pack up and move to where the music was happening, Danbury CT. (I know what you’re thinking, but it was cool. Trust me.) Nina 57, local DJ is recruited and joins Creature Did.
3) Meanwhile, Damien Pratt begins recording songs in his basement and as a 15-year-old high school freshman, opens for Alex Chilton at the Nightshift Café in Naugatuck, CT with his band MFP.
4) Dave Jr moves to Providence RI to play with art rock band (the)flicker., and trades shows with the now 4-piece Creature Did.
5) Damien Pratt, now fellow college student, and former member of CT high school band Nevertheless, singer/songwriter, notices Nina57 playing around the Danbury club scene. He asks her band mates what a good way to get to know her might be.
6) Creature Did tells Damien Pratt to get Nina57 drunk. He goes to her house with a cheap bottle of vodka, and becomes her boyfriend.
7) Damien Pratt releases 3 solo albums to critical acclaim but apparently forgets to release them commercially in the US. He does, however, sell 500 copies in Japan.
8) Dave Jr. moves to several cities in the US, bounces from band to band and ends up in Denver CO where he gets married and joins a country band.
9) Damien and Nina move to NYC as the Danbury music scene falls apart.
10) Damien continues to play obscure solo shows and occasionally puts a pick-up band together modestly called “The Damien Pratt”. Nina57 does some gigs as a 2nd guitar player while trying to put her own band together.
11) Nina forms guitar-pop band MeNotNo, and, like every other band in NYC, has trouble keeping a drummer and a bass player.
12) Dave Jr.’s wife, an aspiring actress who’s name we are legally banned from printing, convinces him to move to NYC so she can start a career in theatre. She promptly leaves him and moves back to Denver.
13) Torrington High School graduate (Go Raiders!) and Creature Did bass player, Mike Mori, tells Nina that Dave Jr. is in town and needs a band.
14) Dave Jr. joins MeNotNo, and Nina gives Dave “From the Tapes of Lenny Bruce vol. 2” by “The Damien Pratt”. She tells him, “This is my boyfriend’s band. You’re going to want to quit my band and play with him”.
15) Dave Jr. and MeNotNo drummer Trish Noe start playing with Damien, leaving MeNotNo with said drummer and bass player trouble. MeNotNo breaks up.
16) Damien, Dave Jr., and Trish form Dirtygurl.
17) Trish quits Dirtygurl and disappears. If anyone sees her, tell her to call us. We’re worried.
18) Dave Jr. and Damien decide to record a cd and recruit Dawn McGrath to play drums. They change the band name to The Squeaky Fromme.
19) Torrington High School graduate (Go Raiders!) and Creature Did bass player, Mike Mori, introduces Nina to Mo’ Matching Drapes drummer, Brother Jim Wood who happens to live right around the corner from her and Damien in Woodside Queens.
20) Nina, her plans of recording a solo project apparently foiled by Trish Noe’s disappearance (yes, we all share drummers, and underpants) asks Brother Jim to fill the slot and record some songs.
21) Nina, having spent the last year working on her solo project, building puppets for a local theatre, taking band photos, and trying to find a band of her own, finally gives in to Dave and Damien’s “Why don’t you just play with us”.
22) In keeping with the aforementioned drummers and underpants arrangement, Brother Jim Wood agrees to sit in with The Squeaky Fromme for a few gigs.
23) After having played “a few gigs” with Brother Jim, the rest of The Squeaky Fromme nervously approach him to ask him to join the band.
24) Brother Jim replies, “I thought I already was a full time member?” The band has a group hug.
25) The Squeaky Fromme, now settled with Damien Pratt, David Murelli Jr., Nina57, and Brother Jim, unleash their Classic American Rock sounds upon New York City.