4/19/01
The Daily Mining Gazette Houghton, Michigan
By OLIVIA BARTLETT
Gazette Writer

From Misery Bay to L.A.
Copper Country-native band ‘Squint’ going West
to record second album

HOUGHTON — Another band with Copper Country roots is gaining recognition
outside the area.

Squint, a four-member alternative band now living in Louisiana, will record its
second album with acclaimed producer Ed Stasium in Los Angeles.

Dane Adrian and Matt Fredrickson, both 1993 graduates of Houghton High School,
started their musical careers in Houghton in 1990. Adrian writes most of the lyrics
and sings, and Fredrickson plays guitar. Bass player Young Charles later joined the
group and together they produced their first CD “Beeker” near Misery Bay with
recording artist Bernie Larsen. The last member to officially join Squint was Tote, a
1994 HHS grad and drummer.

While living in Houghton, the group played at various parties and the SubUrban
Exchange in Houghton, but they needed more venues.

“After a while we felt Houghton was just too small. We wanted to be rock stars, and
from a touring perspective, Houghton was too isolated,” Adrian said.

The trips to Green Bay, Detroit and Chicago became long and difficult in winter
weather, and the group turned to music conferences for advice.

“We attended a few music seminars which taught us basically how to become rock
stars,” Adrian said. Nearly two years later, the band was ready to move and chose
Ruston, La. as their new home.

Ruston, like Houghton, has a small-town atmosphere. “The reason we picked a
small town is because we’re from a small town,” said Adrian. “We know how to work
a small town. In a place like Austin or Nashville, you can’t throw a rock without hitting
a rock star, and you get lost in the shuffle.”

Since moving, the band uses the big cities of Austin, Dallas, Houston, Nashville,
New Orleans and Atlanta to perform. They performed songs off their album “Beeker”
which slowly brought them fame in southern cities.

“The success of Beeker landed them in front of major acts like the Goo Goo Dolls,
the Toadies, and on portions of the 2000 Mentos College Tour with Stroke 9,” said
Ryan Burnett, public relations manager of Hoxie Bat Music in Ruston. “For the last
nine months the members have been focusing on writing new material for the record
with Stasium.

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