SQUIRREL BAIT

  Following on from the Bastro vs Bitch Magnet post it only seemed right to make one about the mighty SQUIRREL BAIT, especially when I could put up mp3’s of their first demo and a fat interview with Clark Johnson from 1987 discussing the origins & demise of Louisville’s finest. If you want the full story on the band read THIS excellent article on the Ear candy website.

 The first time I got to hear SQUIRREL BAIT was through a friend who had a copy of the Wailing Ultimate  compilation, this was many years ago now but I never forgot how much we’d loved ‘Sun God’. Their records always seemed impossible to comeby until around ten years back when I picked up ’s/t’ which saw a reissue through the Drag City sub label Dexter’s Cigar. They also repressed ‘Skag Heaven’ although the ‘Motorola Clodburst’ 7″ still remains buried. Anyhow. the lineage of the ‘Bait reads like a who’s who of indie rock best depicted through this family tree. The other year I picked up a copy of an old fanzine called ‘The Pope’ which had a 13 page interview with Clark Johnson from 1987, it’s a particualr treat to read & contains the only solid piece of information I’ve found regarding track titles for their demo. I saved it out as a .pdf & it’s pretty large but… too bad! The demo features none other than Britt Walford (pre-Slint) on drums & he’s good but everyone knows Ben Daughtry destroys all. Also note, only three of these demo tracks went on to appear on ‘Bait albums the rest are raging hardcore blasts so.. ENJOY! 

SQUIRREL BAIT -interview-1987

SQUIRREL BAIT – 1984 Demo

Squirrel Bait -1- Tense/Earth Shattering

Squirrel Bait -2- Insult to Injury

Squirrel Bait -3- Black Light Poster Child

Squirrel Bait -4-The Nearest Door

Squirrel Bait -5- Rage for Life

Squirrel Bait -6- Disguise

Squirrel Bait -7- Occupant

Squirrel Bait -8- Notice When

Squirrel Bait -9- When I Fall

Edit: I was informed that there was a song missing from the demo called ‘Only Silence is Golden’. I’m grateful in that this track was then emailed to me so I could share it here along with this information regarding the missing song: ‘My memory is poor, but as I recall “Only Silence Is Golden” was recorded for the “Nearest Door” album, but omitted later because of disagreement over how to play the song in the studio. David won; Clark sat the song out, David overdubbed the bass part later, and as there was some lingering bitterness over the issue, the song was left off the album. Please take all of this with a grain of salt as I heard this 2nd hand and many years ago.’