Squirrel Bait-- Squirrel Bait (Dexter's Cigar 10/Drag City 102)

Squirrel Bait-- Skag Heaven (Dexter's Cigar 11/Drag City 103)

First time friends played me Nirvana's "Nevermind" (it was probably already in the top 10-- I was even more of a recluse then than I am now), I said "what's all the fuss about? They're just doing what Squirrel Bait and Volcano Suns were doing six or seven years ago, and you guys laughed at me back then for liking them!"

I've since met a number of people who had the same reaction. Well, I can be reactionary at times, and I have long since grown to appreciate Cobain and company... but man, I loved Squirrel Bait! They were five high school dorks from Louisville, Kentucky, you'd laugh to look at 'em, but they REALLY DID sound like Nirvana, way back in 1985-- Nirvana with a better sense of humor and a subtler sense of dynamics (in other words they knew more than soft/LOUD) and a more exciting sense of rhythm. Or as Bob Mould put it at the time: "These kids rock the fuck out." (Charmingly, one of the Baiters admitted to having been embarassed when his Mom read that quote. As far as I'm concerned, that's rock and roll.) Furthermore, they could do a hellaciously good Phil Ochs cover ("Tape From California"), without unplugging. Best of all, none of them as far as I know committed suicide-- though a couple of them did go to college, effectively ending the band. (They hated each other anyway; the first record opens with one of them threatening to beat up on another member.)

Various members went on to Slint, Big Wheel, Bastro, and The Breeders (original drummer Britt Walford somehow wound up playing on Pod, under a pseudonym-- 'tis he who asks Josephine Wiggs if she's going bald). Oh, and also Gastr del Sol, whose very own record label (Dexter's Cigar) is responsible for these most excellent reissues. (Jim, I'll retract that slight in the Fahey review. Now how about putting out Volcano Suns' "The Bright Orange Years"? Thanks!)

"Sixty years of your sixteen year life/Dragged across a rusty loud knife. . . " Yes, that'll do nicely.

-- Charles Olver