One of the saddest stories of unrealized potential in rock history is the story of
For Squirrels. Coming out of the typical college town music scene of Gainesville, Florida, they began with a few simple jam sessions and very quickly grew into a band of great promise. The "classic" line-up that recorded their two albums of material consisted of vocalist Jack Vigliatura, guitarist Travis Tooke, bassist Bill White and drummer Jack Griego. Their sound was very much influenced by the then hugely successful
R.E.M., who had started out under similar un-pretentious college-town beginnings a decade and a half earlier in Athens, Georgia. As the band's songwriting progressed, the influence of other alternative rock artists of the time, most noticeably
Nirvana, shone through.
They independently released their first album
Baypath Rd. in 1994. Pleasantly rough around the edges, the songwriting and playing were obviously inspired and attracted attention for the young band, enough so that Miami-based
Y&T Music re-released half of the tracks from the album as an EP entitled
Plymouth. This afforded the music some better distribution, and the extra visibility, along with their ever-increasing live following, resulted in their being signed by major label
Sony/550 by 1995.
At this point, the band was joined by famed English record producer
Nick Launay (INXS, Silverchair), and recording was started in studios in Miami and the Bahamas. The resulting album,
Example, certainly delivered on the earlier promise. The rough edges were still there in spirit, but the songs and production were far more realized and polished. Listening to these songs, one is definitely struck by the feeling that more great strides were to come for this developing group as their career progressed.
Sadly, that was not to be. Less than a month before the scheduled October 1995 release date for
Example, tragedy struck. On their way back to Gainesville from a performance at the legendary
CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, the band's touring van lost control somewhere in Georgia. Vigliatura, White and tour manager/close friend Tim Bender were all killed, and both Tooke & Griego were seriously injured.
After some healing, the remaining members picked up the pieces and brought in bassist Andy Lord and continued as a 3-piece
For Squirrels, with Tooke taking over vocal duties. At first, Griego was still healing and had to play his drums with a crazily-built contraption to help support his arms, but that was how determined they were to continue playing their music. Having seen them a number of times during this period, I can tell you that there was both spooky magic and intense passion in these performances. There was, of course, a deep sadness, but also an undeniable fight to these musicians who had lost their brothers en route to superstardom.
Eventually, they changed their name to
Subrosa, releasing a solid debut album on
Sony called
Never Bet The Devil Your Head, but the momentum of the original band had been irrevocably halted, and with little promotion from the label,
Subrosa eventually fizzled out.
The happy part of the story is that the music is still here to enjoy.
Example is currently out of print, but can still be found if one looks in the right places.
Baypath Rd. is a much harder-to-find treasure, but fortunately for you, we're happy to share some of the best tracks from both releases with you here.
