In Berkeley, CA, back in the late '70's my then brother in law Neil Sheehan and I decided to start a band. It would be a power pop trio with me on guitar and Neil managing and writing lyrics. We sought out a drummer and a frontman/bassist, and in December of '79 we found them playing on the local bay area scene.

Our lead vocalist/bassist Andy Milton was from Cleveland, Ohio. He was 6ft. tall, good looking and had a voice like a modern day Elvis.

Our drummer Jeff Campitelli was fresh out of high school. A local phenom who could groove like Charlie Watts but with a new ferocious energy that would help propel the band into the burgeoning New Wave music scene.

We called ourselves "The Squares", or sometimes just "Squares". There were other bands with the same name but we were determined to get to home base first and claim the name. That never happened. We were part Van Halen and part Everly Brothers. A mix of heavy metal, rock 'n' roll, punk and new wave. We were hard to pin down and categorize, which is most likely why we never "made it"!

But as we were trying our best to get a record deal and become superstars we had a lot of good times, and we laid down some seriously good music. We were ahead of our time, which, in this case, is another way of saying we were out of step with what people were looking for back then.

Ultimately, I left the band I started to pursue a solo career. It was gut wrenching to walk away from something I put all my heart and soul into, but, as it turned out it was the right thing to do.

What remains are the original early '80's tracks recorded and mixed by our then live sound engineer John Cuniberti. We've restored the original recordings, brought them into the digital world, and with loving hands and ears John has remixed the best of what we did in the studio. They sound better than ever. John was careful to preserve the band's original intent with regards to song arrangements, sound and vibe, and in some cases, extremely creative mix ideas.

Turn it up and enjoy The Squares!

