photo courtesy of Head First Entertainment

Album Review of The Squirts: III

The Squirts are a talented rock band whose latest album, III, its third, though released nearly two decades after the band’s second, is full of catchy songs, stylistic variance within the rock genre, and a broad variety of influences that are a testimony to the great artists with whom the members have performed. The Squirts – Matt Bissonette (lead vocals, bass), George Bernhardt (guitars, backing vocals), and Rodger Carter (drums, percussion) – first teamed up as The Squirts while all three were members of Rick Springfield’s backup band, even performing as the opening act and then returning to the stage as members of Springfield’s band during the same concert. Fast-forward to more recent times, and the seeds of this third album were planted during COVID lockdowns, with ongoing work on the record leading to its 2025 release.

As for the album itself, this quickly became one of my all-time favorites. The songs are guitar-laden and catchy, with tempo changes, stylistic variance, and hooks galore. I hear shades of bands like Enuff Z’Nuff, recent new favorite The Outfit, and a plethora of other song-driven bands that trace their lineage through energetic guitar-driven pop-rock back to the Beatles.

image courtesy of Head First Entertainment

The opener, “Gotta Believe You Now,” kicks off with a rough, staticy, raucous guitar intro before revealing Bissonette’s tuneful, smooth-to-edgy vocals, pleasant, emotive, and versatile enough to support an entire record full of listening. The build and release nature of “Gotta Believe You Now” helps it soar, grounded by the heavy pounding of the drums and nifty little guitar flourishes during pauses in its otherwise hard-driving main line.

A testament to the peppiness of this record is its second track, an energetic, cheerfully rockin’ number, a lighter vibe that’s a little unexpected considering its title, “When We Die.” It’s followed by “Funny You Should Ask,” a tempo-changing pop-rock number that includes an almost beat poet breakdown, albeit brief, just past its halfway point.

“Didn’t See That Coming” is a rhythmic pop-rocker that interestingly reminds me a bit of the Ryan and Pony album I reviewed several years ago. It’s perhaps due to the slightly off-kilter vocal work during the bridges that drive the lyrics forward during stretches that are usually just a sound bridge – the first an unusually long stretch – but instead serve as a vocal soundbed. Add some crashing rockwork and the funky noodling at the end of the song, and the result is a memorably fun tune.

And yet, it’s followed by such a silly number that its fun may go largely forgotten in the midst of a beginning-to-end listen because, well, track five is “Not a Good Time for a Clown.” It’s a well-designed pop-rock song to begin with, made even more fun and memorable by the subject matter.

I mentioned that one of the bands The Squirts remind me of is The Outfit. Well, “White Noise” is the first of three songs I think would have fit well on The Outfit’s Go album, which I reviewed last year. I find it a little odd because each of the three songs that sound connected for me features a different aspect of the bands’ sounds. “White Noise” is the heaviest of the three, with aggression serving as the key component of the featured axework. The guitarwork connects some lyrically dense yet smoothly sung vocal segments, sure, but inevitably it marks this as one of the more aggressive songs on III. The next song, “Over the Moon,” also fits in this grouping, though in this case due to its progressive rock-reminiscent, open-spacey, meandering structure. Skipping forward to “The Other Side of Paradise,” it’s the final of this trio. In this case, it’s because “The Other Side of Paradise” is a straightforward rocker that opens up into some soaring segments, with guest voice Irene Bernhardt’s late-song whispering of one of the track’s recurring lines, “let’s get married,” being on-brand for both bands. Seriously, guys, The Outfit and The Squirts would be a terrific double-bill for a big rock theater tour.

Stepping back a song now, “Pins and Needles” is the song that makes me think the most of the Beatles – and not just because of the “silver beetle” mention in the lyrics. No, and it’s not really the Beatles it reminds me of as much as maybe the other bands’ songs the Fab Four inspired; it’s more of a third-generation-removed comparison. “Pins and Needles” is a melody-driven number with a modest temp and the guitar mostly just supporting the song throughout. In that respect, very Beatles-esque in nature. The occasional very-bluesy elements are a nice touch, too, adding to the allure of this engaging number.

The record closes with “Nothing New Under the Sun,” an energetic, uplifting, power-pop-rocker. There’s a hint of that classic rock style that incorporates some small prog elements into a primarily pop-rock number. The song’s tone is bright and sunny, a grin-inducing tune with dashes of guitar shredding for the axe fans but mostly just a terrific, uplifting, album-ending vibe.

Beginning to end, The Squirts’ III is a record that you’ll gladly play for repeat listens, over and over. My personal favorite tracks are probably “Gotta Believe in You,” “Didn’t See That Coming,” “Pins and Needles,” “The Other Side of Paradise,” and “Nothing New Under the Sun.” Yes, I know that’s half the album, but even so, all of the songs on the album are all so good, there’s a fair chance your favorite won’t even be one of my top five. This is a killer rock and roll album, beginning to end!