All Time Low performs in 2012.
Boys Like Girls. Cute is What We Aim For. All Time Low. Panic! At the Disco. Call them scene, call them pop, call them emo, call them whatever you want — but chances are these bands defined your early adolescence.
These were the rock groups that dominated the alt rock scene in the mid-aughts. Thousands of young teens and tweens across the country would line up, clad in Hot Topic gear, just to get a glimpse of their moody heartthrobs. Chances are you might have been among these throngs.
One thing you might not know is that this campus is just mere miles away from where these bands once convened to make music history. All these groups recorded albums in College Park at SOMD! Studios, a mysterious but influential location in modern rock.
SOMD! Studios was the brainchild of producer Matt Squire. Squire is now known for being a darling producer/engineer/writer for Top-40 darlings like Ke$ha, One Direction, Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez. He has more than 400 credits to his name on various albums across different musical genres. Before these hits started rolling in for Squire, however, the D.C. native dipped his musical toes into producing with smaller rock, post-rock and punk groups up and down the East Coast. His breakout success was 10 years ago with Panic! At the Disco’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out.
Though Squire is a big name in music, his first studio seems quite hard to pin down. It is well documented that he moved back to the Washington metropolitan area and established a studio at some point in late 2004. But the exact location of the studio is hard to determine. It appears to have changed locations in 2007 and moved to Squire’s home, which was in either College Park or Beltsville, depending on which source you consult and what year. The studio is also listed as being in D.C. proper; more is the sorrow for poor, neglected College Park.
Either way — even though Squire and his studio were instrumental in producing some of the genre-altering sounds of the last decade — SOMD! Studios’ history is shrouded in mystery. It is alluded to only in interviews with Squire or his now-famous clients from around that time. One The Boston Phoenix article discusses Squire in his studio in this state — that’s it, just “Maryland” — gathering around a boom box listening to a demo with the members of the band of his then-current project before beginning to work on the album.
His website lists the numerous tracks and albums he’s changed with his golden touch, but there is little about the studio itself on his website. An attempt to contact Squire takes you to Advanced Alternative Media Inc., which lists him as a songwriter and producer. While some sources claim Squire still operates SOMD! in this state from his new home in Los Angeles, there is even less information about the studio from the past several years than there is from its pop-rock heyday from 2004 to 2007.
While it might take more digging to uncover the truth about SOMD!, it’s exciting to know that any house you walk past off the campus might have an awesome hidden past. Whether you’re relaxing on the mall or just chilling at a campus dining hall, you are within walking distance of rock history.
