Playing it Safe? Squash on their new single “Adrenaline Teetotal”

Squash look more like your geography teachers than a rock band. Dressed head to toe in tartan over shirts, beige chinos and loafers it’s hard to believe that these guys are the force behind one of the punchiest rock songs in recent months. A firm favourite at their live gigs, usually as a set opener or closer, we chat to the band about their upcoming single “Adrenaline Teetotal”, taken off the album This is Subtext, and the challenges of being an experimental rock band in the modern music industry.

“It’s one of the shorter songs on the album,” bassist James Williams laughs, “so I think it had to be a single.” This is true. At a mere five minutes and thirty-six seconds it looks like a David compared to the Goliath of nine minute closer Are You There Margaret?, or the penultimate track (and debut single) Planetarium, which comes in just shy of thirteen minutes. But as in the biblical story, it seems the smaller can triumph. I ask the band why they think the song has resonated with so many people, and why it always gets thunderous applause after a show.

“It’s probably,” Michael Mbabazi, guitarist says, “along with Microplastics (the previous single) the only song written to be a single. For a start, it’s entirely in 4/4, you don’t have to think about where you need to clap or where you can nod your head. And I think it’s about something most people can relate to”

I prompt the band on the concept. “The feeling of being so scared of doing something risky that you chicken-out”, vocalist Isaac Heung (who penned the lyrics) responds. “Whether or not you may actually enjoy it, it’s about the refusal to feel these high emotions out of fear of rejection or disappointment or f***ing it up.”

I ask if that’s something the band can relate to. “Absolutely,” keyboardist Alan Rattle responds. “There’s lots I didn’t do because I thought I’d be s**t at it. I didn’t start playing the keyboards properly until I was fifteen, sixteen because I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. Eventually you just realise you’ve got to do it for the fun of it, because you want to. Enjoy it for yourself, regardless of if anyone sees or hears”.

I point out that quite a lot of people have seen and heard this song. This is Subtext, the album where the song originates, has been certified Gold, with top 30 positions worldwide, including a peak of #19 in their native United Kingdom. Are the band still scared of playing live, or are they used to the millions who’ve seen them in concert across the globe?

“S***less” Heung laughs.

“I think it shows you care” Williams continues. “It would be awful if people had paid all this money to come see you and you act like you don’t want to be there. I have no time for bands who are ‘too cool’ for their fans.”

“We’re very lucky to be doing what we’re doing” Mbabazi adds. “We might not be selling out arenas tomorrow, you’ve got to make every moment count.”

For a band critics once described as “unmarketable” the fact that Squash are selling out arenas is somewhat remarkable. Long song structures, changing time signatures and polyrhythms are not typically the sort of thing you’d hear on the radio. What are the bands opinions on the difference between critical and audience reaction? And is it hard to write unconventional music in the digital / streaming age?

“There’s an audience for everything,” Rattle replies. “And we’re blessed to be around at a time when your audience can find you at the click of the button.”

“If we were around in the 1970s, we’d be a very different band” Williams laughs.

The music video features a long take of a nerdy boy reading a book while sitting on a rollercoaster, not flinching from his literature as he spins round and round and upside down. Who came up with the concept?

“I just thought it was a funny image” Williams responds. “The juxtaposition just works.”

Fair enough.

The single features two B-sides: The Flower Knows Everything, track 3 from This is Subtext, and a new track, the instrumental Urban Jungle. I ask the band about these.

“The Flower Knows Everything sounds really deep,” Heung responds “but actually it’s about Undertale.” He laughs at this, looking slightly embarrassed, but then continues: “In Undertale, there’s this flower that knows everything you’ve done in all your previous playthroughs: who you saved, who you killed, what you decided. I thought that con dot was fascinating, and also just really f***ing scary: the idea that there’s someone other than you who knows about all your sins, the stuff you thought only you know.”

I ask the band if they have any deep, dark secrets.

“Well then they wouldn’t be secrets,” Heung laughs. “I like playing characters when I write lyrics, the drama school of it all. But no, it’s not a metaphor. It’s literally about Undertale”.

And Urban Jungle?

“It started as a jam in the studio that we liked enough to record” Mbabazi says. “Didn’t fit on the record but we thought it was good enough to release it. I’m proud of my guitar work on it.”

What’s next for the band, I ask. With many new fans discovering them thanks to social media, surely they’ll have to think about album #2 sooner or later.

“Oh we’ve got plans” Rattle replies.

I ask if they can give me any hints. The band shake their heads.

“The Flower knows” Heung says sarcastically.

Indeed it does.

Adrenaline Teetotal is out tonight, self released.