The group \u2014 singer Tina Kimbell, guitarist Marc Daigle, guitarist and singer Jeff Gruber, drummer Mike DeLisa and bassist Sean Gaffney (all members sing except for the drummer) \u2014 started out in 2019 as a volunteer effort to help St. Thomas Aquinas by playing at events so the school wouldn\u2019t have to pay a band. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys needed service hours,\u201d Kimbell says, prompting a chorus of laughter from her bandmates. \u201cThe mom of the group already had plenty of service hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gruber and Gaffney met through their children and were able to bring the rest of the members on board over the course of a year. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I always tell people is that, on paper, that sounds like the recipe for a really either terrible or mediocre band,\u201d Daigle says. \u201cLike, \u2018Hey, I know this guy who has kids at the school also who plays in a band.\u2019 Sounds like I don\u2019t want to be a part of that. But in actuality, everyone in the band has either played professionally or semi-professionally at some point. \u2026 It turned out to be a really cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bringing the five members together was like \u201clightning in the bottle,\u201d Gruber says. They meshed musically, vocally and as friends. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe great thing is it\u2019s a group of folks I would have fun hanging out with anyway,\u201d Gaffney says. \u201cIt just so happens that everybody can play music.\u201d<\/p>\n
They started under another name, which they didn\u2019t reveal since it sounds like that of another band. That had to change once they graduated from playing school functions to East Dallas mainstays like The Goat and Barley House. <\/p>\n
\u201cSquirrel + the Girl came about because these guys have very, very short attention spans,\u201d Kimbell says. \u201cAnd for years, I have called them squirrels because we can\u2019t get through a two-hour practice session without them veering off. I always tell the joke about, like, \u2018Did y\u2019all see the documentary on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah?\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018Hang on guys, let\u2019s pull it back together.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
The band focuses on subgenres of rock music \u2014 classic, yacht, alternative and grunge, specifically. Songs are generally from the 20th century\u2019s later decades, but they\u2019ll sneak in a Taylor Swift or Miranda Lambert tune on occasion. The setlist ends up reflecting what certain East Dallas folks want to hear. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we play something like The Goat or even the Lakewood Country Club, we\u2019re on home turf,\u201d Gruber says. \u201cThe people that are there, they\u2019re not only our friends, but they\u2019re like peers, and they all have the same musical sort of history and taste that we do as well. And so our setlists have meandered all over through different genres and eras. \u2026 It just sort of sounds like what people in the neighborhood listen to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimbell recalls her bandmates pushing her out of her comfort zone to take on Robert Plant\u2019s shout-like belting in the 1969 Led Zeppelin banger \u201cRamble On<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was one song Sean was like, \u2018You could totally do this,\u2019 and vocally for me, I\u2019m like, \u2018No way,\u2019 but it is one of the most fun songs we play,\u201d she says, as Gruber adds, \u201cAnd you kill it.\u201d<\/p>\n She also says, \u201cGruber has become kind of the setlist master in the sense of where we play and what we play makes a difference. We can\u2019t just play certain songs at The Goat. There has to be Goat songs.\u201d<\/p>\n As adults and parents, they have to balance the responsibility of the band with family and work. Squirrel + the Girl is a fun hobby for them, a way to share their musical gifts with listening ears, something to look forward to and take seriously but not too seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cYou got to love a band to go and play at The Goat from 9:30 to 1:30 on a Friday night,\u201d Kimbell says.<\/p>\n Squirrel + the Girl has its share of fans (especially at The Goat) who follow the band\u2019s multiple performances throughout the year, particularly while school is in session since they take time off during the summer. Upcoming shows are posted on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even the members\u2019 teenagers enjoy the kind of music their parents play and sometimes make requests.<\/p>\n \u201cMy daughter is about to be 16,\u201d Daigle says. \u201cShe\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, I really like this song on Stranger Things;\u2019 and I didn\u2019t watch it after the first season. And she\u2019s like basically playing our playlist of songs that we play.\u201d <\/p>\n But Squirrel + the Girl isn\u2019t a tribute band. <\/p>\n What else can you expect from a band self-described as jumping around from song to song like squirrels?<\/p>\n \u201cOur natural instinct was to be a little bit wider breadth,\u201d Gruber says. \u201cIf you come and see us tonight, you\u2019re not going to hear all \u201990s, you\u2019re not going to hear all country, you\u2019re not going to hear all this. You\u2019re going to hear something pretty distracted. But we hope you like it.\u201d<\/p>\n