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Today we take a look at the band For Squirrels.
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September 8th of 1995 marked a dark day for the up and coming post-grunge band For Squirrels. Hailing from Tom Petty’s hometown of Gainesville, Florida they had just signed their first major record deal and were about to release what would be their biggest album of their career, but it all came crashing down. What happened? Stay tuned to find out.
Formed in Florida in 1992, For Squirrels came together after several students at the University of Florida met and decided to form a band. There was one minor lineup change with the band’s original drummer leaving and the classic lineup would be made up of Guitarist and vocalist Travis Tooke, bassist Bill White vocalist Jack Vigiliatura and drummer Jack Greigo The band’s name was inspired by the large amount of squirrels that were seen on the University of Florida Campus. Originally the band was called “the four squirrels” but changed it to “for squirrels” after another band in Ohio already had the name. The band soon enough started playing around college dorms and campus and while they were rough around the edges, there was a glimmer of something emerging with Tooke telling Diffuser.com
"At first it was like, 'This is neat. You can make songs up like a jigsaw puzzle, attach it to your feelings iand then play it for somebody,'”. "But we just wanted so bad to get it to a place where it was like art."
By 1993 the band had solidified their lineup and repurposed $6,000 of their student loan money to record their debut record Baypath Road that was released through indie label Y&T Music. The band’s debut album was heavily inspired by American history. Songs like Flagboy would be inspired about a young boy who would carry the American flag into battle during the civil war. If injured or killed another boy would take his spot. Upon first listening to the band you can easily hear the similarities to other alternative rock acts like REM, but you also hear sounds of some other alternative rock bands like Nirvana, Toad the Wet Sprocket and The Pixies.
During the first week of September in 1995 the band performed at the infamous new york landmark CBGB’s during the CMJ Music Festival. The reaction to the band was positive and following their appearance they got back into their 15 passenger van with their gear and headed home for Florida. During the late afternoon of Sept. 8, while on Interstate 95, just south of Savannah, Georgia a horrific crash happened. Keep in mind this was 2 weeks prior to the group’s Example album coming out. The band’s van’s rear tire blew out resulting in a crash that claimed the lives of singer Jack Vigliatura, bassist Bill White and their tour manager Tim Bender. White and Bender were 23. While Vigliatura was 21. Tooke and 28 year-old drummer Jack Griego who had joined the band two years earlier were the only two survivors of the one-vehicle accident.
With the band having lost half of their lineup due to the horrific crash and their new album several weeks away from release, the band’s label moved ahead with releasing the album.. The label would end up releasing Mighty K.C as the album’s single, and put out an accompanying music video. The song was originally penned about the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, but soon took on a new meaning following the tragic van accident with haunting lyrics including “"Ship me off to the morgue / I'm ready to be buried," For Squirrels - Mighty K.C.
"Mighty K.C." would peak at No. 15 on Billboard's Modern Rock charts with Example selling over 100,000 copies. Tooke and Greigo did end up touring to support the album bringing on bassist Andy Cook and having Tooke performing vocals. Griego would end up having a pulley contraption made for him so he could drum on tour and reduce pressure on his arm. For Squirrels would eventually change their name to Subrosa aftera few years later not feeling right about using the same name with Greigo telling a Jacksonville paper “That’s like walking on the bones of your friends,” “We weren’t that band anymore. We’d buried our friends. The tribute we made to them was to support that record that we made together. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right, for us to continue on.” The remaining members released their follow up 1997’s never bet the devil your head under the monicker Subrosa. The band’s sound was a lot angrier and more aggressive understandably so given the recent tragedy that unfoldedin 1995 .The album met decent reviews, but poor sales
13 сен 2020
