(originally recorded: Aug 16, 1986; digital release: May 2015)

Digital Release Notes:

After freshman year of college -- with some tape- and lyrics-swapping via the US Postal Service along the way -- the boys reconviened to fashion the next phase of Brave New Squirrel. The keyboards were ditched, and Jim moved to bass. Some new, more "political," songs were written.

And so the naive boys got a gig at The Showcase in Dover, NJ. Brother Bryan Robertson was recruited to create the flyer, and the word went out to MOHS friends.

This is the digitized sounds from the cassette recorded by the soundman that evening. Jim was playing Steve Marchese's bass (the neck on Steve's bass -- which had mysteriously showed up one day -- was so messed up that the open G string actually played an F sharp.).

In addition, Jim didn't actually own a bass amp, either -- so he brought Larry Marchese's crummy sound board attached to the speaker of Freddy Weisman's Vox amp as "an amp" #oy vey. So, when the sound man saw this, he recommended that he to split the signal with a DI box. Unfortunately, Jim did not plug the other connector into the amp, so he had no bass sound on stage and had to play "deaf." (Shaking head.)

Jim still remembers walking up to the front of the stage (presumably above the house speakers) to "hear" the bass through his feet.

Another unorthodox move was Jim playing rhythm guitar on Columbus Day -- so 2 guitars, no bass. (Shaking head # 2.)

At the end of the night, the soundman famously said to the band, "You guys are aw'right ... but you should tear some rips in your jeans and tie some bandanas around your thighs." (Shaking head # 3.)

The boys would go back to college for their sophomore years, write more songs, jam a bit, and eventually reconviene in The Fords out of Hoboken in 1993.

Brave New Squirrel was:

• Tom Rosko: vocals
• Anthony Marchese: guitar, vocals
• Jim Robertson: bass, vocals
• John Chapman: drums

Album artwork: Bryan Robertson
Website: Jim Robertson