Squad Five-O

Squad Five-O
Origin	Savannah, Georgia, USA
Genres	Ska punk, glam punk, Christian punk
Years active	1997–2006; 2012
Labels	BulletProof Music, Tooth & Nail, Capitol Records
Past members	Jeff Fortson John Fortson Jason Anderson Justin Garbinski Adam Garbinski Kris Klein Dave Petersen

Squad Five-O was a punk rock band from Savannah, Georgia. Like their initial ska-punk stylings, their name was derived from a cross between the television shows Hawaii Five-O and the The Mod Squad. Between 1997 and 2006 the band grew lyrically and in popularity, and also shifted its style significantly. Over the course of their career they moved from a very small indie Christian label to the major label Capitol Records and released five albums in the process.

Squad Five-O was founded by the Fortson brothers, Jeff and John, who initially formed a high-school band called Gypsy Rose with a drummer named Juan. Gypsy had a thrash metal sound; the band evolved through several names, members, and sounds before finally signing to a local record label, BulletProof Music. The band's following grew quickly, spurred on by the growing popularity of artists such as Five Iron Frenzy, the Insyderz, Supertones and third-wave ska in general. In 1997 they took HM Magazine's reader's choice award for "Favorite New Artist of 1997".

During the band's initial period, their sound was basic punk music with heavy ska influences. One Christian music magazine described their sound as a collision between Ninety Pound Wuss and The OC Supertones. From the outset the group ran into controversy. Their initial release, What I Believe, contained a song entitled "Our State Flag Sucks". The lyrical content of the song, which called the Georgia state flag (The 1956-2001 version was flying at the time) a banner of hate for its likeness to flags of the Confederate States of America, ironically caused the album to be banned from many Christian bookstores. (Flags shown at right.)

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