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Squirrels, 1994 (from left): Jack Griego (drums), Jack Vigliatura (vocals), Bill White (bassist) and Travis Tooke (guitar). Photo: Y&T Records promotional. |
There’s rock ’n’ roll tragedies . . . then there’s the fate of this REM meets Nirvana quartet with a sound that should have taken them to the top of the charts alongside the like-minded Collective Soul and 7 Mary 3.
As with the Mavericks and the Mary Karlzen Band signing major label deals under his tutelage, local store owner Rich Ulloa of Miami’s Yesterday and Today Records knew a great band when he heard one: So he assisted For Squirrels (so committed to being in a band, they would play music “for squirrels”) in the studio with the indie releases Baypath Rd., and its five-song EP outgrowth, Plymouth (both 1994), on his Y&T Music imprint. The major labels took notice, as result, with Epic Record’s alt-rock subsidiary, 550 Music, signing the band.
Then, tragedy stuck.
On September 8, 1995, while returning from a well-received showcase at CBGB’s for the annual CMJ Music Conference in New York City, the band was involved in a tour van accident in Georgia, about 75 miles north of the Florida border. The single-vehicle accident-by-tire blowout claimed the lives of vocalist Jack Vigliatura, 21, bassist Bill White, 23, and manager Tim Bender, 23 (considered the band’s unofficial fifth member).
To the corporate suites at Epic Records credit: They released the debut album, Example — produced by Nick Launay, known for his work with Midnight Oil and the Talking Heads — as scheduled, on October 3, 1995. The lead single, “Mighty K.C,” ironically, about the tragic death of Kurt Cobain, became a minor, mainstream “rock alternative” hit, while college radio and triple-A non-commercial stations turned the follow up singles, “Superstar” and “8:02 PM,” into alternative hits.
A few months after the 1995 accident, surviving members guitarist Travis Tooke and drummer Jack Greigo drafted their old school friend Andy Lord on bass. Now, with Tooke on lead vocals for the deceased Vigliatura, they resurrected the For Squirrels moniker, playing low-key dates around Gainesville. As they began writing new material, a heavier grunge sound, developed; by 1996, with a new lease on life by way of the new material, the trio became known as Subrosa.
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| Subrosa, 1997 (from left); Jack Griego (drums), Travis Tooke (vocals/guitar) and Andy Lord (bass). Photo: Epic Records. |
Impressed with their comeback from tragedy, Sony Records released the band’s only album, Never Bet the Devil Your Head, which featured the video single release, “Buzzard” (1997). Adding a second guitarist in fellow Gainesville scenester Mike Amish for touring, the band opened for fellow Floridians, Creed. Sadly, a prime tour slot couldn’t overcome the record’s slow sales and scant radio airplay. In spite of favorable critical response that should have allowed for a second album, Subrosa was dropped, but pressed on as an independent act until 2001.
Ex-Squirrel Travis Tooke continued to make music on the Gainesville scene with Helixglow, while Subrosians Andy Lord and Mike Amish continued with their band, Papercranes.
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You can listen to For Squirrel's Baypath Rd. and Example, in addition to Subrosa's Never Bet the Devil Your Head on Over the Edge Radio You Tube. Subrosa's independent releases are discovered on their own You Tube page.
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