“Liberated Squid are a punk rock band from Tauranga, New Zealand. Their sound is influenced by old school punk rock with melody. Influenced by bands like The Neurotics, Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, Their songs cover various subject matter, sometimes political, sometimes fun. Witty lyrics and self proclaimed poor musicianship make Liberated Squid a great band to listen to,” says the blurb on Bandcamp.

I can’t tell you much about the punk genre so I’m repeating what the fount of all contemporary knowledge Wikipedia says: “Punk rock (or simply punk) is a music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent record labels.”

That sounds like Liberated Squid.   When I read their song titles and listen to the words of their original compositions I’d say Liberated Squid write and perform fast paced political comment.   And it’s loud and it’s aggressive. I helped out at an event at Totara Street it was suggested I bring earplugs.  

That’s what says it all about the musicians I’ve been privileged to meet in Tauranga – they’re so nice.      They’re normal.  They have their performance persona.  They’re family people.  I think it was the drummer at one gig I went to who was being congratulated on a new grandchild.  

I met two of the Squids through ARTbop – “the Baxter boys”.   Michael and John.  Two multi-talented creatives – poets, artists, designers, fabricators, photographers, animators and musicians.   Both Michael and John have for years contributed time and energy to the local arts and music scenes.   Both are associated with The Incubator Creative Hub at the Historic Village in Tauranga’s Avenues.

Here’s some noise to get your blood racing.  

And here as another iteration,  The Dead Man 6 in rehearsal. The Baxter Boys also create musical havoc as The Carradines. 

People told me I would not like coming to live in Tauranga.  That it was a closed community and people weren’t very friendly to “outsiders”.   Someone forgot to tell the creative community that was how they were supposed to behave.   ARTbop has met so many talented people of all ages who express themselves through so many forms of art and creativity.   Liberated Squid and the “Baxter Boys” exemplify the creative spirit of the Bay of Plenty. 

From the ARTbop archives  ARTbop Show – Kingsley Smith in conversation with Liberated Squid

The article has been compiled from information published online and YouTube videos.  The photographs of John Baxter, Michael Baxter and Nigel Gregory  are from the ARTbop archives. The conversation with Kingsley Smith is from The ARTbop alternative SHOW archives.

AND YOU CAN FIND THE CREATIVE WORK OF THE TALENTED MRS JOHN BAXTER, NICCI BAXTER AT THE TREEHOUSE GALLERY  Cameron Road, Tauranga Avenues.    “‘An update (21 April), when we go into level 3 from the 27 April you will be able to purchase items from our shop with a non contact delivery PM me for more details, keep safe, thanks Nicci (and Deb) – look forward to seeing you when we are back.”

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