Hailing from Decatur, GA, Squeamish combine industrial, post punk noise with underground hip hop and fuzzy indie to make a raw sound that is pretty unique.
Formed in 2019, the band started as a ‘digital punk band’ with Father Abstrakt and Cerberus combining their production skills to produce their distinctive sound.
After a 2 year hiatus, the duo met AJ(thankyousomuch) at a shitty coffee shop job and were blown away with his production style and guitar-playing abilities, inspiring them to bring back an old old yet very much alive idea. The trio began creating music together and playing shows using pre-recorded tracks with AJ(thankyousomuch) on guitar.
Despite lack of instrumentation and technical skills, now-lead guitarist Conor was impressed by the group’s songwriting and stage presence at one of their first few shows. He joined the band as bassist, alongside Hayden as the drummer, to give Squeamish the energy at live shows that only a full band can provide.
After a couple shows, Forrest joined as bassist, replacing Conor who moved to lead guitar.
They have now released their EP- ‘Burn Down Stone Mountain’ (or BDSM) which was recorded between the home studios of AJ(thankyousomuch) and Conor, throughout a 2-month period.
Their new release starts with an ominous spoken word track ‘Intro‘ before launching into a riotous, frenetic ball of guitars, drums and breakneck paced vocals with track ‘Nightmares Just For Me‘. It’s all over as quickly as it began (it is just 1 minute and 10 seconds long) leaving you to catch your breath and steady yourself for the rest of the release.
Things slow to a heavy dirge with the next track ‘Squeamish Chant‘ but although the pace might be less, the snarl in the vocals is not.
‘Don’t Trust the Pyramids‘ is an industrial take on the classic musical number ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade‘ but it is less jazz hands and more indie head banging.
The tracks seem to alternate between super speedy punk tracks like ‘3/4444‘ and heavier, metal infused assaults like ‘Nothing Less Nothing More‘.
The penultimate track ‘Vengeance‘ is another change of direction on an album that rattles through different aspects of various waves of punk but never imitating- always offering a fresh take and invigorated energy.
Album closer ‘My Dad’s Gun‘ will please all old school punk fans with a 70s punk inspired chanting quality with a bit of grunge and rap thrown in.
Squeamish have created something that is no frills and really demonstrates the ethos and energy of hardcore punk.
The band describe themselves as “about coming together and unifying to challenge the status quo of those who benefit from the normality of urban societal chaos. Music for working class individuals. Music for the oppressed. Music for the unblessed. Music for the depressed and music for progress”. If that’s not punk, I don’t know what is.
‘BDSM‘ is punk to its core and captures the energy and swagger of an exciting new band.
‘BDSM’ is out now. Listen/stream/purchase HERE.
- Intro
- Nightmares Just For Me
- Squeamish Chant
- Don’t Trust the Pyramids
- 3/4444
- Nothing Less Nothing More
- Vengeance
- My Dad’s Gun
Follow Squeamish on Their Socials
Need more Punk In Your Life?
Album review: Rebuke – ‘Things One Shouldn’t Have To Say’
It’s curious that Europeans are doing such a fine job keeping the late 90s/early 00s Californian skate-punk sound alive. It wasn’t long ago that we
Album review: The Hellacopters – ‘Overdriver’
First, full disclosure: I’m a big fan of the Hellacopters, not least because the Swedish quintet’s excellent 2002 record ‘By The Grace Of God’ helped
Album review: Peesh chronicles 2024 in ‘The Perennial Effect’
Songwriter Peesh never stops – he has music constantly running through his brain – and his latest solo collection is the culmination of 12 months
Vive Le Rock to host their 15th Anniversary concert in London on 31st May!
It’s hard to believe that Vive Le Rock magazine will be 15 years old this year! Chief Editor Eugene Butcher had hinted that there would
Madball, London Tufnell Park Dome, 31st Jan 2025
None of tonight’s bands are particularly pushing the hardcore envelope, but it’s hard to complain when they all serve up a rapid succession of raw,
Album review: Pet Needs release ‘Kind Of Acoustic’
Alternative/indie band Pet Needs have released an acoustic album full of smash hits and both fan (and band) favourites! ‘Kind Of Acoustic’ contains 12 tracks
I’m Molly Tie- I Love punk! I play drums (badly), write a lot about punk (not as badly) and I’m particularly interested in issues relating to women in the music scene.
Did you know that we are 100% DIY? We run our own game. No one dictates to us, and no one drives what we can or cannot put on our pages – and this is how we plan to continue!
