THE SQUIDS
Beyond the Cliché CD JEWELCASE

By the end of the 1980s, the Aqua Net was no longer holding as well as it once did, as the party began to come to an end. As hard rock bands became clad in Paisley shirts and played mediocre acoustic ballads, a change in the popular music landscape was soon at hand. No longer simply having a flashy smile on a pretty face would be the pathway to rock stardom. Unfortunately, one of the results from the cosmic shift in the taste of listeners was that hard rock became obscured in mainstream acceptance. However, this mattered little to bands that never focused on the image or gave any credence to mediocrity. This was the case with the oddly named Hard Rock band The Squids from China Grove, North Carolina. The Squids was formed in 1988 by guitarist and songwriter Chip Coleman, vocalist Buddy Martin, bassist Cyrus Sethna, and drummer Jimmy Kimball. Originally, The Squids began as a bar cover band. The band would slowly begin to work its original material into live sets. By early 1989, the band had written several songs that had become popular with local audiences. Coleman, who wrote the majority of the songs, had a firm background in heavier bluesy rock and would concentrate on melody and lyrical content that would lead THE SQUIDS in a firmly rooted melodic hard-rock direction. That same year, the band went into Reflection Studio in Charlotte, NC, famous for recording such artists as Robert Plant, Joe Walsh, James Brown, the Smithereens, among many others. The Reflection sessions would deliver 9-songs that cumulated many of the band’s 70s influences from Black Sabbath, Humble Pie, Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Cheap Trick, and other such legends of classic rock. In 1990, THE SQUIDS self-released its debut album, cleverly and appropriately titled “Beyond the Cliché”. The album would be a collection of finely crafted songs that had an appeal that would resonate with any fan of album-oriented rock. It would be released on cassette and largely only be distributed locally in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Around this time, THE SQUIDS song ‘Way of the World’ would appear on a local compilation CD titled “Metal Mythos” released through Nyghtmare Records alongside other Carolina bands such as Paragon and Havoc. As the title of the album would suggest, The Squids were not fashioned from the typical mold of derivative hard rock bands of the time. Coleman's vision focused more on harmony, deep hooks, and inspired lyrics, rather than becoming the next overnight sensation.

FOR FANS OF: Mr. Big, Drivin' & Cryin', Tesla, and Badlands