FRIDGE - Stay Cool
Written by: Tom Wilson @thetomwilsonexperiment - Sense Music Media | Friday 8th July 2022
Have a Squizz at this interview with Andrew Squires
We are fifteen minutes into my chat with Andrew “Squizz” Squires and we haven’t even got to the subject of our interview, being the resurrection of fuzzed-out 90s Aussie grunge rockers FRIDGE, but it’s to be expected. Squizz also happens to play guitar in my favourite Australian band – Melbourne grind maniacs KING PARROT – and we’ve just discovered that we both started our lives in the same part of Tasmania, just outside Deloraine. Sometimes it’s nice not to be in a hurry, and that’s definitely the case if you’re a FRIDGE fan, because you’ve had to wait 25 years for the band to take the stage again. Fortunately, the wait is over…
Anyway, as much as I’d love to sit here and talk about KING PARROT all day … we should probably get onto a bit of FRIDGE…
Yeah, man! Well, shiver me timbers, I don’t know if you heard, but ye olde FRIDGE has fired up – the Kelvinator’s back in action! We’ve got gigs at the Evelyn Hotel … We’ve got two Victorian gigs upcoming, which is awesome, because, long story short, TUMBLEWEED, these great and dear old mates of ours – another legendary Australian band – were doing their 30th anniversary tour, and they invited us to reform to jump on the bill in order to support them. So we had maybe ten shows booked, but the week before the Victorian shows were bound to happen, I contracted COVID. Actually, I think I got it at the Frankie’s Pizza show with KING PARROT, and then I was wiped out super hard for like a month, virtually. So we missed out on all the Victorian shows with TUMBLEWEED, which sucked, because it would’ve been huge. That was also valuable practice we could have done with, because we haven’t fired the old FRIDGE up in 25 years or so. So when I finally got back into the swing of things and was able to play, we jumped back on the tour … We hit Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide just to round off the end of the tour with them. It was magic, once we all got back out there and got going again and fired up. It was cool as. Now, yeah, we’re looking to continue in that vibe and keep pumping it out for a little while longer. We’ve got a show at the Evelyn on the 15th of July with MOLER and APE RIB, and we’ve got another one the following night at the Barwon Club with ROOTBEER, these other dear old mates of ours, and APE RIB again. APE RIB … the drummer from FRIDGE, Phil Lally, it’s his other band from Wollongong, so he’s pulling double duty at those gigs, and that’s cool, because he’s a bloody great drummer, and it’ll be a lot of fun.
And we’re also going to head back down to Tassie too – sometime early September, I’d say. So Tassie’s got to watch out and listen and show up, given the opportunity. I hope people come out if we end up heading back down there … I’m pretty certain, if everything falls into place, that FRIDGE is going to play the Royal Oak [in Launceston]. And let’s face it, we’re from there, it’s been a few drinks in between rounds, but I dare say we’ll have a bunch of old crew roll up … I’ve got a good feeling about it. It’s going to be cool. We also used to tread the boards down there in Hobart a hell of a lot there too – places like The Doghouse and the Brisbane Hotel, and down there in Salamanca Market there used to be this place called Around Midnight. You’d have to lug your gear up ten flights of stairs to play in a tiny little jazz bar, but it was awesome, busting out some filthy STOOGES fuzz-rock in the middle of people’s Sunday at Salamanca! [Laughs] … We’re still in the process of figuring out logistics and stuff, but we may get to Hobart yet.
When did FRIDGE first start?
FRIDGE first started, I’d have to say, around 1990, but the precursor to FRIDGE was a younger, way more naïve band of miscreants called THE ORGANIC KENTS, so-named because, effectively, the boys in the band (all bar myself) were surfers, and they were all about keeping the oceans clean and doing the right thing and having that whole positive energy thing going on, so that was the “organic” aspect. The “Kents” was stolen from their admiration for the guitar player of another famous Australian band called THE CELIBATE RIFLES – their guitarist’s name was Kent Steedman. So they just combined those two elements into THE ORGANIC KENTS. Those guys introduced me to stacks of classic Aussie underground stuff like CELIBATE RIFLES, RADIO BIRDMAN, bands that are really well-known, renowned and respected now, more so than they were back then. But we also had this healthy dose of Detroit influence with THE STOOGES and all sorts of garage punk stuff that I was really happy to dig my teeth into. I love metal and all the rest of it, but I’ve always had a finger in a great many pies. I just liked hearing all of that stuff … It’s easier stuff to play. It's more fun – you can rock out, and you don’t have to get technical. Again, it’s that punk aspect – do it yourself, and have fun doing it. So yeah, THE ORGANIC KENTS evolved into FRIDGE. I was also in a young fledgling metal band at the same time back in Launceston – an early thrash band called DAMAGE FACTOR – at the same time, so that band kind of dissolved for one reason or another … [We moved to Melbourne and] FRIDGE hit town, and that whole grunge thing sort of exploded not long thereafter, so the gigs were aplenty, and there were a lot of opportunities. It was just totally pumping back then, way more so than it is now in a sense. There was just this energy all around the place, worldwide, you know?
There seemed to be a really pumping alternative music scene in Australia in the 90s – all these labels were scrambling to sign people because they wanted to find the next NIRVANA…
Precisely, right? That was effectively it. There was a lot of pap signed up for sure, in that desperation to find the next big thing. I mean, record labels were actually a thing then. It was probably the tail end of the viability of record labels and stuff, you know, before the advent of the internet made it more accessible for everyone to do it themselves without having to cough up big bikkies to pay the middleman, or Mr. Ten Percent’s taking his slice while you’re out there busting your hump, getting paid $300 for a gig, you know what I’m saying? [Laughs] But back then, that energy was massive, and created this swell, and yeah, a lot of band came out at that time … There’s always an underground undercurrent of bands, really good tough, nasty sort of shit, that probably was too inaccessible for the grunge movement even. A lot of metal stuff, obviously, because metal got sort of pushed to the wayside when the grunge wave washed over everything, but yeah, man, stacks of cool shit. And there still is – there’s a fair few survivors knocking around today!
What keeps you going with music?
I’ve just always had that passion for music, and I love the idea … just get onstage and let it all hang out. It’s like an exorcism for me nightly. I’ve just always done it. Hopefully people enjoy it, but I don’t give a toss if they do either way! [Laughs] Personally I’ve always maintained an internal anger toward certain trials and tribulations I’ve endured that continually need to be exorcised. If I didn’t have music and gigs to transform and vent that shite in a positive way I’d be a very sick fucker! FRIDGE helps maintain and amplify the fun times and rocking goodness for all and sundry!
Pictured: FRIDGE
