Bloomington band the Main Squeeze preps for first festival

It’s hard for jams and jobs to coexist, the Main Squeeze will tell you.

Practice was put on hold Tuesday when guitarist Max Newman had to work. Later they were going to be minus lead vocalist Corey Frye thanks to his job at Five Guys.

See, while the Squeeze, as they refer to it, combines for a big, “funky-feel-good” sound (another Squeeze term), each member of the band has their own matters to worry about.

Two members, drummer Reuben Gingrich and bassist Willie Robinson, are still in school and some, like Max and Corey, have jobs.

More to the point, this sort of individualism carries over to their personal music tastes as well, which range from Marvin Gaye to Skrillex.

“We have so many different influences, you get so much variety,” keyboardist Ben “Smiley” Silverstein said. “Different, obviously, in the best way possible.”

The five members maintain distinctly diverse tastes. Frye cites Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as having a huge influence on his vocals, while Silverstein’s keyboard style is deeply rooted in funk.

Then there’s Gingrich, who puts jazz at the top of his list of influences, and Newman, who loves Jimi Hendrix and was a straight blues guitarist until a couple years ago.
“We bring in a lot of different sounds, but we have our own, one sound for the band,” Frye said.

Other members of the band point to the quality of his soulful lead vocals that help set them apart in a crowded jam band landscape.

“Jam isn’t really the point. As diverse as our influences are too — soul, funk, jazz — they are all spontaneous, so in that it helps our jam, funky-feel-good sound,” Newman said.

That sound has been making a lot of noise lately, no pun intended. Crowds of 500 to 600 people have been heading to The Bluebird Nightclub to see their most recent shows.

Those huge numbers caught the attention of the folks at Summer Camp music festival.
“We had planned to compete in their Battle of the Bands for a slot on one of the smaller stages and ended up not being able to,” Smiley said. “But they usually have five or six bands from the Midwest to rep local scenes, and with the numbers we’ve been drawing, they asked us to come rep Bloomington.”

Not only will Summer Camp be their biggest venue or performance to date, but it brings along a good deal of exposure.

“That’s probably the thing we’re most excited about, for people outside of Bloomington and Indiana to hear what we’re about,” Gingrich said.

In their practice room, also a basement, among the Main Squeeze and Beatles posters, there is a giant white board filled with everything they need to remember, from lyrics to setlists.

For Summer Camp, the group said they have some special stuff for their performance in mind, including an octopus-speaker and orange slices.

“We can’t say too much, but we have some tricks up our sleeve,” Frye said.

Before they leave for the festival next weekend, the band has two shows and the release of its first music video for the song “Mixed Up,” produced by Winky Productions. They’re busy, but are all ready for four days at the festival.

“Performing at festivals like this is why you play music, we feel like we belong here,” Gingrich said. “But we’re still fans too. The other performers are the bands I’ve listened to and imitated my whole life, so I’m excited to see them too.”