Imagine being in a band in a tiny town called Houghton in the northernmost part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The nearest “big” city is Green Bay, Wisconsin, a half day away. While the lonely terrain probably helped Dane Adrian, lyricist for the indie-rock quartet squint, in becoming the deadly-accurate portrait artist of broken relationships and tormented souls that he is, the geographical isolation of the semi-frozen Lake Superior shoreline led to some practical difficulties when it came time for the band to build a following. Because of this, Adrian and guitarist Matt Fredrickson took a road trip about seven years ago “under the guise of looking for a college to attend.” The two traveled down the east coast to Florida, then along the Gulf Coast to New Orleans before turning north for the drive back to Michigan. A childhood friend of Adrian's had recommended a stop at Louisiana Tech in Ruston. “We went there, and the place stuck in our heads,” says Adrian. A year and a half later, when the members were ready to move, Ruston was still on their mind. The town is surrounded by all the places squint figured it needed to play: Austin, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, Birmingham, New Orleans, and Atlanta. The city ultimately became the band's new home. “We've now toured well over 50 percent of the country on our own, without any help from anybody,” says Adrian, reflecting matter-of-factly on exactly how good the move looks five years later. squint's first major independent album, beeker, came together over a four-day recording and mixing marathon studio session in early 1998. The CD is refreshing in that it is exactly one layer deep. Guitars were plugged straight into Marshall amps, and the resulting air vibrations were fed directly into microphones and onto tape, no signal processing applied. There aren't 74,000 needless layers, so popular among bands squint's age, to add cushion and comfort or make everything spooky or whatever the desired effect might be. What makes this stripped-down approach something more than just cheap, however, are the songs. The vast majority have a sticky pop hook, and the lyrics are general enough for broad appeal and clever enough to set squint apart. Then again, when a band writes almost completely about rapidly eroding or already failed relationships, it's going to strike chords with a lot of people. squint's take on this faded-romantic tradition is neither sappy nor particularly defensive; this is not the stuff of vendettas or self-indulgent pity. “People just react to the relationship songs because that's what people do,” says Adrian. “You identify with them because it's something you've been through.” “beeker's done everything it can for us,” says Adrian. “It got us in front of the Goo Goo Dolls and The Toadies. It got us on the Mentos tour [with Stroke 9 and Sumack]. It even landed us showcases at a few music conferences, including EAT’M in Las Vegas. But it's time to record again. Do what we did with beeker. Do it on another level.” To keep the forward momentum building, squint recently recorded 11 new songs with legendary producer, Ed Stasium, known for his work with The Ramones, Soul Asylum, Talking Heads, The Smithereens, Mick Jagger, Living Colour, and many other well-respected acts. Mastered at Oasis Mastering by Gene Grimaldi (Korn, Pennywise, Public Enemy, Johnny Cash), squint’s new record is scheduled for the release in 2002. Always pushing forward, squint was named Band of the Week by both Band Radio and Rolling Stone in 2002, and has been nominated for The New Music Award for The 2003 American Music Awards. In the meantime, squint's life on the road continues, only adding further grist to the songwriting mill. As Adrian sings on “Whore”: “Some say I should settle down / But then with who? / I meet the right girl every night / But in the morning I set her loose.” Seems there are some things even a cross-country relocation and 150,000 miles on the road can't shake. Adapted from the article ‘Road Rage’ by Chris Smith: Houston Press May 25th, 2000