Techno-Squid Eats Parliament was a 1990s power-pop band based in
Little Rock, Arkansas who released a critically acclaimed eponymous album, produced by Grammy winner,
John Hampton, on
Ardent Records
Ardent Records is an American record label based in Memphis, which was founded by John Fry in 1959. Ardent of the 1960s and 1970s featured pop music acts and was distributed by Stax Records from 1972 until 1975. It is best remembered today for Bi ...
that was re-released on
Philips Multimedia as one of the world’s first
Enhanced CD
Enhanced CD is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both Compact Disc and CD-ROM players.
Formats that fall under the "enhanced CD" ca ...
s. The CD functioned both as a fully playable compact disc, and when played in a Macintosh personal computer, allowed fans to access additional content such as band interviews, videos, and a tour diary.
History
Techno-Squid Eats Parliament formed in 1992 when childhood friends,
Aaron Sarlo and Clay Bell began searching for a bassist and drummer to fill out their fledgling sound. Sarlo and Bell enlisted the help of Mark Pearrow on bass (Pearrow coined the band’s name
) and Shayne Gray on drums. The band’s second show was as a contestant in the Spectrum Weekly Musicians’ Showcase in Little Rock. The judges for the competition were record producer
Jim Dickinson,
Jody Stephens of
Big Star (who would go on to be the band’s A&R director),
John Fry, and Rick Clark, a writer for Billboard Magazine.
Techno-Squid Eats Parliament won their night, and shortly thereafter, signed to Ardent Records in Memphis.
Techno-Squid Eats Parliament toured extensively throughout America and Canada, playing
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
, Crossroads Music Festival,
NXNE,
in support of their release on Ardent/Philips. The band enjoyed critical acclaim, but failed to catch on with mainstream audiences despite repeated coverage on MTV, opening for acts such as
Cheap Trick,
Cracker
Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to:
Animals
* ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies
* '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker"
Arts and entertainment Films ...
, and
Alex Chilton, and press coverage in music industry mainstays like
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
and
CMJ. Techno-Squid Eats Parliament’s lackluster success is largely attributed to their unusual name (record shops would mistakenly stock the band’s album in the Funk section).
Disbanded
In 1995, Techno-Squid Eats Parliament disbanded when drummer, Shayne Gray, quit the band to star in
Ira Sachs
Ira Sachs (born November 21, 1965) is an American filmmaker. His first film was the short ''Lady'' (1993).
Biography
Sachs was born in Memphis, Tennessee. His films include '' The Delta'' (1997), '' Forty Shades of Blue'' (2005), '' Married ...
’s debut film,
The Delta.
In the wake of TSEP, Clay Bell moved to San Francisco to pursue a solo career, Aaron Sarlo went on to form punk band, Dangerous Idiots, and Mark Pearrow moved to Boston to work at MIT as a research engineer and published author on the topic of web site usability.
Reformed
In 2015, after a 20 year break, Techno-Squid Eats Parliament reformed to release their follow up record, "We’re Back. What Did We Miss?"
Discography
*Techno-Squid Eats Parliament (1994)
*I Shot Your Boyfriend / Sometimes Things 7" single
inyl(1994)
*We’re Back. What Did We Miss? (2015)
Albums
*Techno-Squid Eats Parliament (1994)
*We’re Back. What Did We Miss? (2015)
Singles
I Shot Your Boyfriend b/w Sometimes Things
inyl(1994)
Other formats
Techno-Squid Eats Parliament Enhanced CD (1995)
References
{{reflist
External links
Aaron Sarlo at IMDb
Musical groups from Little Rock, Arkansas
American power pop groups
Alternative rock groups from Arkansas