Although reel-to-reel tape recorders were nothing special in 1982, the unit my family owned had the ability to record each track individually, so overdubbing was possible. Granted, it was only 2 tracks, but we could get most of the instruments on the first track and put the vocals and some incidental parts on the second track-not something easily available to most bands at the time.

I believe the session took place over Thanksgiving weekend, 1982, starting on Friday afternoon and continuing through Sunday. Peter, Paul, Danny and Matt were all involved-I don’t know why Lisa was not there as well.

Since the mono mixdown is all we currently have for reference, I’m not sure what exactly was recorded on each track for each song. However, I do know that track one (basic track, no vocal), for “Don’t Let the Beat Pass You By” and “Telegraph” were recorded with Peter, Danny and Matt on their respective instruments, but Paul was unavailable. I think that the basic track for “Doomsday Prophets” and “Wanna Do You” were recorded with all players. All the basic tracks were played all the way through; there may have been some restarts. The overdub track was recorded the same way-I don’t recall any punch-ins.

The overdub track was primarily to add the vocals, Paul’s guitar parts (where needed) and any incidental extras the band wanted. On “Don’t Let the Beat…”, in addition to Peter’s vocal and Paul’s guitar, Matt added some Roto-toms and cowbell; the incidentals were kept to a minimum. On “Telegraph”, however, things got a more indulgent-the necessary vocal and guitar were there, along with additional percussion, doubled bass and Casio organ. All these parts made the “Telegraph” demo quite dense, for better or worse, than the other tracks.

“Doomsday Prophets” got back to a more restrained overdub track, with Paul’s vocal, some extra Peter guitar bits and some synthesized wind sound. There may have been additional percussion too. “Wanna Do You” also kept things simpler, with Peter’s vocal and synth solo the primary parts recorded. Danny may have doubled the bass part, but it’s not obvious.

Some notable items about the demo recording: “Telegraph” was my first performance with the Squirrels. Peter taught me the song just before we recorded the overdub, which may account for some of the sloppy playing (my keyboard technique accounting for the rest). The Casio was slightly out-of-tune as well. I think the Hut was hopping with people about the time “Telegraph” was recorded. I also played the “wind” on “Doomsday Prophets”. During the “lalala” part near the end of “Wanna Do You”, Peter tried to get everyone in the studio at the time to sing along, but if anyone did, it’s not clear on the recording.

The mixdown of this demo is one of the few definitive documents of the Squirrels’ music at this time. Hopefully, as the SQ2 project continues, other recordings, in the studio or live performances, will be found.

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