Jamming Without Boundaries: Squash Finds its Groove in Boulder

Squash is an emerging band out of Boulder, Colorado that combines the loose energy of a jam band with the precision of indie rock. The five-piece is made up of Anton Migdal, Alex Tryon, David Oliver, and brothers Will and Griffin Keener. Their sound is a balance between unpredictable energy and raw musicianship. Squash is vibrant and mind-melting, taking inspiration from artists like King Gizzard, Phish, The Grateful Dead, and Geese, but they never linger too long in one genre to be boxed in. Squash’s jam-centric style gives them room to experiment, stretch, and play off of each other’s instincts. 

Their debut album Squnction explores the unique and multi-faceted approach they take towards creating records. This album is a melting pot of key elements from jazz fusion and indie rock, mixing together to create a unique blend of funky sounds and thoughtful lyricism. In a college scene packed with trends, Squash stands out by refusing to stick to one. From backyard sets to opening slots at The Fox, Squash is becoming one of Boulder’s most exciting live acts and a staple in the local college scene. 

FRONTRUNNER sat down with Squash before their show at The Fox Theatre to talk about their roots, their creative process, and what it takes to break into the local jam scene. For all things Squash related, you can stay up to date at Squashband.com

How would you describe your sound to somebody who’s never heard your music before?

It’s definitely eclectic. I would say a cross between indie rock and a jam band, but that’s a very overused description. I think it’s more of a 50-50 split between composed rock music and improv. 

What was the inspiration behind your most recent album Squnction?

The name originated from our parties we throw which are called Squnctions because it’s a cross between ‘Squash’ and ‘function’. I don’t think there was necessarily a cohesive idea with the album, it’s just more of a ‘Here’s what we can do’ and just kind of threw out the songs we had. That being said, it’s our first album, so I think in the future we’re starting to think about more cohesive projects with records that all sound similar and tell a story as opposed to a melting pot of what we have. This album is defined by its variety. The songs have a lot of different styles, and the cool thing about being a jam band is that people anticipate you’ll get into some strange places because the music is improvisational in nature. So, I think an album where you have a mix of genres and styles blends well with what we do because you can start off the song in one genre, and by the end you can turn it into something totally different. Each song is fresh and new and different from all the others, so I think it’s cool to have a mix and that’s one of my favorite parts about Squash because we aren’t restricted to one sound, we can go in any direction which is really cool.

Who are some of your biggest influences in music and how have they shaped your sound?

That’s another cool thing about being a band that improvises a lot because everyone has their own inspirations and influences. We all love Phish, but we definitely twist it in our own way. The Grateful Dead’s songwriting mixed with Phish’s approach to improvising is how we try to approach our music. Some of our more indie sounding songs have inspiration from Palace, specifically with how their vocals are. Because we focus a lot on improvising, everyone’s individual influences come out because there’s no time to think about the choices you make, it comes out naturally, it’s a very true reflection of who you are as a musician. So, when we are all playing a song together and it’s just improvising and jamming, it all meshes together and allows us to go to places we individually wouldn’t have gone because everyone is influencing each other spontaneously in that moment.

What challenges have you faced as a local emerging band and how have you overcome them?

I think we face the same problem that all other musical artists face right now which is the fact that any artist can upload music, but it’s challenging to get people to listen to it because there are probably 50 other artists in Boulder alone who are trying to do the same thing. Making music isn’t hard, that’s the fun part and we are all confident that people would enjoy the music we play, it’s just difficult to get your music in front of people and the exposure aspect. Social media is also hard because it’s become a metric of how successful you are based on your number of Instagram followers, which has nothing to do with the quality of your music. I will say, it’s nice to be in Boulder, even though it is kind of saturated with bands, the music scene here is robust. There’s always people who are willing to go to shows, especially if you are playing for free. So, I don’t think its hard to get people to listen to your music at a live show, but it’s definitely a challenge to get them to add your song to their playlist and listen to it on their own time. It can be hard to stand out, but I think given our genre, there’s not many other jam bands in Boulder which helps appeal to the audiences.

How does being in Boulder influence your identity as a band?

Boulder has everything to do with it. It requires energy and drive, it’s never an ideal set up. It’s usually on gravel and you have to shove your drumset in the corner somewhere, but being in a young town like Boulder where people want to have you play, it reinforces that drive within you as a band. The people here are pretty receptive to all kinds of music too, I think if we were in the middle of Kansas or something, the audiences wouldn’t be as pleased to hear us play a song for 15 minutes, so that’s a cool thing about the Boulder atmosphere. Phish just recently played in Boulder and so has Grateful Dead in the past, so as a whole Boulder is pretty welcoming towards jam bands. Coming to Boulder definitely influenced our sound because each of our individual previous experiences being in a band was focused on every hit being perfect and having every note memorized, so it can be hard to navigate that change. Having the freedom to improvise can be daunting, but it’s cool to be able to have all your bandmates take turns leading the song and see what direction it ends up in. But because Boulder is so receptive to jam bands, it made the transition from genres easier.

What’s next for Squash and what can fans expect to see from you in the future?

Hopefully we’ll be headlining The Fox Theatre in a couple months, which is one of our biggest goals right now. We also are writing new music to start working on our second album which will be more cohesive in terms of sound. Kind of like a concept album, so we are hoping to release that at the end of next year. For now, we’ll be playing at a lot of house shows, parties and also Roots Music Festival.