Biography
Christopher Earl, born Christopher Earl Zajkowski, channels his inventive lo-fi pop sensibility through the Squires of the Subterrain, a project rooted in Rochester, NY’s 1990s underground scene. While participating in various groups and side endeavors throughout that decade, he quietly assembled quirky yet sophisticated material in his basement studio, drawing inspiration from the most adventurous 1960s recordings by the Beatles, the Zombies, the Kinks, and especially Brian Wilson; the project’s name itself nods to XTC’s psychedelic alter ego, the Dukes of Stratosphear.
Earl first picked up drums in 1979 alongside high-school friends whose band gradually evolved into the Essentials and, by 1992, into the five-piece dance-rock outfit the Salamanders, whose core lineup featured guitarist Gregory Townson and bassist Todd Bradley along with Earl’s younger brother and two of Bradley’s siblings at different points. The Salamanders cultivated a strong regional audience, performed alongside alumni of James Brown’s classic 1960s ensemble, and issued their debut album, Livestock in the Living Room, on After Hours in 1992 before disbanding in 1997 after several departures and Townson’s decision to tour Europe with soul singer John Ellison. Earl and Bradley subsequently formed the more hillbilly-leaning duo the Rosey Beats, releasing the six-song cassette EP Life Is Rosey on Rocket Racket Records—the imprint Earl had launched in 1989 to issue the first Squires cassette, Shell Beach. Townson rejoined them in 1998, and the trio reconvened as the rootsy rock & roll group the Hi-Risers, later documenting their work on the album Panic! for Rocket Racket. Concurrently, Earl played in the 1960s-garage-styled Riviera Playboys and partnered with songwriter Scott Coblio in the Sunnyside Ups; Coblio also recorded solo material under the name Koo Koo Boy.
In 1998 Earl stepped into wider visibility with the first Squires CD, Pop in a CD, drawn from a decade of underground cassette releases that included Royal Slumber, Cowboys and Indians, Electric Blanket, Admiral Albert’s Apparition, Live on the Radio, Liquid Sundays, Super-Plexi Automatic, Hello Good Morning, and Scrapbook. The following year he exited both the Playboys and the Hi-Risers to concentrate exclusively on the Squires. In 2000 British psychedelic veteran Pete Miller, known as Big Boy Pete, contacted him with songs originally demoed in 1966, proposing that the Squires expand them into full productions and collaborate on new lyrics; the sessions were tracked at the close of 2000, with mixing completed in early 2001.
Earl first picked up drums in 1979 alongside high-school friends whose band gradually evolved into the Essentials and, by 1992, into the five-piece dance-rock outfit the Salamanders, whose core lineup featured guitarist Gregory Townson and bassist Todd Bradley along with Earl’s younger brother and two of Bradley’s siblings at different points. The Salamanders cultivated a strong regional audience, performed alongside alumni of James Brown’s classic 1960s ensemble, and issued their debut album, Livestock in the Living Room, on After Hours in 1992 before disbanding in 1997 after several departures and Townson’s decision to tour Europe with soul singer John Ellison. Earl and Bradley subsequently formed the more hillbilly-leaning duo the Rosey Beats, releasing the six-song cassette EP Life Is Rosey on Rocket Racket Records—the imprint Earl had launched in 1989 to issue the first Squires cassette, Shell Beach. Townson rejoined them in 1998, and the trio reconvened as the rootsy rock & roll group the Hi-Risers, later documenting their work on the album Panic! for Rocket Racket. Concurrently, Earl played in the 1960s-garage-styled Riviera Playboys and partnered with songwriter Scott Coblio in the Sunnyside Ups; Coblio also recorded solo material under the name Koo Koo Boy.
In 1998 Earl stepped into wider visibility with the first Squires CD, Pop in a CD, drawn from a decade of underground cassette releases that included Royal Slumber, Cowboys and Indians, Electric Blanket, Admiral Albert’s Apparition, Live on the Radio, Liquid Sundays, Super-Plexi Automatic, Hello Good Morning, and Scrapbook. The following year he exited both the Playboys and the Hi-Risers to concentrate exclusively on the Squires. In 2000 British psychedelic veteran Pete Miller, known as Big Boy Pete, contacted him with songs originally demoed in 1966, proposing that the Squires expand them into full productions and collaborate on new lyrics; the sessions were tracked at the close of 2000, with mixing completed in early 2001.
Albums
