Squeaker
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia | SELF
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Rip It Up Magazine Issue 932
SQUEAKER
Jesus Ain’t My Boyfriend
Sounding like Garbage crossed with Rogue Traders, Jesus Ain’t My Boyfriend is a slickly produced release from local pop band Squeaker. It might have added a little more excitement to the mix if vocalist Georgii Staben was actually singing Jesus Ate My Boyfriend, but rather than taking a darkly Gothic route, the end product is upbeat and fresh throughout. Pick up this new release from Big Star or catch Squeaker performing at The Cavern on Thurs May 24 with The Instamatics and The Hoodoo Voodoo Dolls.
Scott McLennan, Rip It Up Magazine
- Rip It Up Magazine
Jesus Ain’t My Boyfriend Pre-Release Single
Reviewed by Steve Davenport
24 May 2007
There is nothing squeaky about Squeaker. Instead the trio from Adelaide are power poppers with a cool sound. The band’s pre-release single Jesus Ain’t My Boyfriend is testament to the group’s untapped talent but is more like a dressed-up demo CD than a fully fledged EP. Musically it's high energy, catchy, hook ridden - power chords and big funky riffs galore with more than a touch of generic synthetics, yet remains raw and meaningful.
"Jesus Ain’t My Boyfriend" is by far the best track of the three on the CD. This song is bound to garner the band many new fans. It’s dressed in a glorious hook, momentum, structure, a soaring melody, processed rumbling guitar and Georgii Staben’s charming, pleasant and towering – reduced in the mix-- vocals.
All the songs are written by drummer Steve Staben and with Rodge’s driving guitar and Georgii’s adventurous vocals Jesus Ain’t My Boyfriend marks a new beginning - compared to its two previous releases - in Squeaker’s musical direction. There are effortless chord progressions, distorted and chugging guitar tone, stylistic synthetics and good vocal delivery which on the whole is pretty good, has a nice flow and punch.
On the evidence of this recording, Squeaker, if it adds more diversity, is good enough to hang around, go the distance and be successful.
- Music SA
Discography
Single - Jesus Ain't My Boyfriend (2007)
EP - Fly Baby Fly (2011)
Photos
Bio
“Squeaker’s high energy show was outstanding in our venue, impressing the sold out crowd with their strong songs and great musicianship.”
Mike Thomas, The Promethean
“With no slouch tracks, 'Fly, Baby, Fly' promises good things from Squeaker in the future. This EP is well worth a listen.”
Alastair Collins, dB Magazine
So, what’s with the name?
Well the short story is this - In 1995 Steve Staben, founder of Squeaker, played his first paid gig as a fill-in with a band after learning an entire repertoire in one day, which he managed to perform without fault the very next day, and the nickname ‘Squeaky’ evolved for his ‘squeaky clean drumming’. This became his reputation in preceding years in the Adelaide pop music scene. So now you know…
In 1991 Steve saw a band called Living Colour perform their song ‘New Jack Theme’ on TV for the Grammy Awards, an noticed that they were using electro drum loops and samples - triggering a passion for unique sounding music and an electro fascination in a budding musician. This combined with the experience of playing modern pop music professionally for seven years it was only a matter of time before he would try to do something along these lines of his own.
Squeaker formed in 2002 along with long time friends and original line-up members Georgii Staben and Rodge Smith, predominantly as a studio project and a few sporadic tours, and under went a number of line-up changes along the way. In 2011 O.G. (Oswaldo Grillet) joined as a permanent member on bass guitar which brings the band to where they are today.
The Squeaker sound is best described as polished alternative pop, a combination of a live rock band and synthesized textures. Each song carries it’s own mood and musical idea. Like acts such as Nine Inch Nails, Muse and No Doubt there’s no cookie cutter format here. One song will move you to dance, the next might just resonate with your darker innermost feelings. Light and shade, making for a musical experience to which you can relate.
Squeaker launched their highly anticipated EP Fly Baby Fly to a sell out crowd
in Adelaide on April 15th 2011.
Contact:
squeaker@squeakermusic.com
facebook.com/squeakermusic
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