Rattail Grenadier was founded in 1984 by Mass (bassist) and Flav Giorgini (guitarist). They began as a three-piece, with drummer Steve Best filling out the line-up, and Flav and Mass sharing lead vocal duties. They soon added second guitarist Kevin Galbraith, and by the end of their first month of active existence had added drummer Dan Lumley, with Steve Best moving to the role of lead vocalist.
By 1986, the band had returned to being a trio, with Flav and Mass sharing lead vocals, and Dan Lumley retaining the drumming position. In May of 1996, Rattail Grenadier released a self-produced full-length album entitled Three Blind, featuring cover art by Kevin Neireiter (interestingly, Squirtgun's Fade to Bright album of 2003 featured Mass, Flav, and Dan as band members, with cover art by Kevin Neireiter).
Coinciding with this release, Rattail Grenadier began performing more shows outside of their home region, performing with internationally recognized punk acts such as Toxic Reasons, Rollins Band, Dag Nasty, the Zero Boys, Naked Raygun, Material Issue, and many more. In late 1988, Roadkill Records released the self-titled Rattail Grenadier (Produced by Paul Mahern, best known for his work with John Mellencamp and Iggy Pop), and exposed the band -- again a quartet with Steve Best on lead vocals -- to an international punk audience.
Simultaneous label releases of albums by the Bhopal Stiffs and Screeching Weasel turned the label into an immediate phenomenon in the punk scene, and were followed by several more by bands such as No Empathy, Sludgeworth, the Effigies, and Sloppy Seconds. Several tours followed, including one that included a headlining spot at seminal punk venue CBGB's in 1989.
In 1990, Steve Best was replaced by singer Rick Harris and the melodic hardcore sound of the band began to lean a bit closer to its hardcore element, leading many critics to consider it a "crossover" band -- a name applied frequently during that period to bands combining the frantic pace of hardcore punk with the heavier breakdowns and drum beats typical of the recently developed speed metal genre.
!n 1991, now signed to Assault Force/Helter Skelter, the band released Too Much of a Good Thing. More touring followed, but the band primarily played in the Midwest, due to the academic obligations of its members. In 1992, singer Rick Harris left the band in order to pursue a PhD in Biology at UC Berkeley. He was replaced by Quentin Flory, formerly of PED, a reknowned New Jersey hardcore band of the period.
The sound of the band developed dramatically during this period, with heavy influence from several simultaneous and divergent sources. The strongest of these influences was that of the melodic punk rock typical of punk's (and Rattail Grenadier's) earlier years.
The band released two songs with Quentin Flory, the first a contribution to a regional compilation, and also featured a guest appearance on lead guitar by John Strohm of the Lemonheads, was titled "Highest Tree." The second, "Come on Back," was included on, PUNK USA, a Lookout Records compilation organized by Screeching Weasel frontman Ben Weasel.
The band was in the process of recording a new album, with fifth member Matt Hart sharing second guitar and co-lead vocal duties, when Mass and Flav's father, Aldo, was diagnosed with brain cancer, putting a halt to the plans of the band. When the album was eventually completed, Quentin had left the band, and the remaining members decided to rename the group, especially in light of their marked sonic shift, a decided return to their earliest roots, reflecting the influence of bands such as the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, the Zero Boys, and the Clash. This album eventually became Squirtgun's debut self-titled album, issued by Lookout Records, and including the song "Social," which was featured as the opening track to 1995's Kevin Smith film Mallrats, now a cult-classic.
POST-RATTAIL GRENADIER:
Mass Giorgini, in addition to playing bass for the band Squirtgun, also joined Screeching Weasel for a seven-year stint, and later formed Common Rider with former Operation Ivy frontman Jesse Michaels. He is probably best-known for his work as a punk rock producer, having worked with acts such as Anti-Flag, Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, the Queers, the Groovie Ghoulies, and also co-producing albums with Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, John Strohm of the Lemonheads, and Kris Roe of the Ataris.
Dan Lumley, in addition to drumming in Squirtgun, accompanied Mass in the bands Screeching Weasel and Common Rider. He also joined the band the Riverdales for their third album, Phase Three. Additionally, he pulled guest stints either recording or live with bands such as the Queers, the Smears, and the Lillingtons. Dan also worked for a period at Mass' Sonic Iguana Studios, engineering on several notable punk albums.
Flav Giorgini, also a member of Squirtgun, completed his own PhD in Molecular Genetics at Washington University in Seattle. He formed an additional band, the Simians, with legendary guitar amplifier designer Mike Soldano, and released an album with that band as guitarist and lead singer. Flav also released a full-length album as a solo artist. Furthermore, Flav founded the company Guitarpunk, which designed and manufactured original guitar designs that became instant classics in the punk scene. Special limited-edition signature models for artists such as Alkaline Trio, Jesse Michaels (formerly of Operation Ivy), Ben Weasel (of Screeching Weasel), Joe King (of the Queers), and his own brother, Mass, became immediate collectors' items among the younger generation of punk musicians.
