The Split Squad

The Split Squad
The Split Squad at the Brighton Bar, Long Branch, NJ, April 28, 2014.
Background information
Origin	New York City, United States
Genres	Rock and roll, Garage Rock, Blues rock, underground music, Power pop, pop music,
Years active	2012–present
Labels	Red Chuck Records
Associated acts	Blondie, The Baseball Project, The Fleshtones, Parallax Project, The Plimsouls, Chequered Past
Website	www.thesplitsquad.com
Members	Clem Burke, Michael Giblin, Josh Kantor, Eddie Munoz, Keith Streng

The Split Squad is a Rock and Roll band composed of Clem Burke (drums), Michael Giblin (bass/vocals), Josh Kantor (keyboards), Eddie Munoz (guitar/backing vocals), and Keith Streng (guitar/vocals). Each member came to the public's attention as a member of another band, e.g., Burke is in Blondie, Giblin founded the Parallax Project, Kantor is in The Baseball Project, Munoz is in The Plimsouls, and Streng is in The Fleshtones. Since many of the members of the band follow baseball, this led Annie Laurent Streng, Keith Streng's former wife, to propose the band's name. The term refers to the practice, during Major League Baseball's Spring training, of teams often playing "split-squad games". This occurs when a team splits into two sub-teams, or squads, and each squad plays a game against another team on the same day. In addition to touring on both coasts, Canada, and Europe, the band's debut album, Now Hear This... was available for sale at shows in late 2013, and officially released through the usual online vendors in CD format on January 21, 2014. The album was released on vinyl in time for Record Store Day - April 19, 2014.

The formation of The Split Squad can be attributed to the friendship Parallax Project bandleader Giblin had with Munoz of The Plimsouls, and Giblin's inclination to work collaboratively with other musicians. Giblin and Munoz had worked together off and on through the 1990s, and rekindled their friendship in the mid-2000s during a SXSW Festival. This led to Giblin organizing an East Coast tour for The Plimsouls in 2006. A few years later, Giblin organized several shows where Parallax Project shared the bill with Magic Christian and The Fleshtones. This brought Giblin into close contact with Burke and Streng. Over the course of that tour, Streng and Giblin started talking about forming a new band. Munoz enthusiastically endorsed the formation, and joined as the second guitarist. Burke liked everyone involved and agreed to join. Around the same time, Giblin had become friends with Josh Kantor, keyboardist in Jim's Big Ego, a band he'd arranged to have perform in Harrisburg, PA. Later, Parallax Project shared the bill with The Baseball Project, which Kantor also was in, so when the band was recording the album in David Minehan's Woolly Mammoth studio in Boston, they contacted Kantor, who added keyboards to some of the tracks. Kantor tours with the rest of the band when show dates don't interfere with his job as the Fenway Park organist for the Boston Red Sox. The Split Squad made their live debut on March 16 at the 2013 SXSW Festival.