Underground with The Main Squeeze

When you have something called the Squeeze House as your business hub, it can’t help but be a good thing.

The Main Squeeze’s big break actually occurred during pandemic shutdowns, when the five-member band, which had played more than a thousand shows on the road in nine years, finally got around to one of their goals: to produce quality livestreams. The band had already been recording in the Squeeze House, which has two studios, including a room to make YouTube videos. Unlike many other bands during the pandemic, the musicians lived in the same city (Los Angeles), so they could get together to record.

“The pandemic gave us a much-needed break after touring, to hone in on making quality livestreams,” said vocalist and keyboardist Corey Frye. “About three or four weeks into the pandemic, we produced our first show, and it was just what people needed. We had an engineer mixing the second one, and it felt like a real show.”

The band started producing more and more content in the Squeeze House and posting it on TikTok, just as the platform was growing. They returned to touring last spring and discovered they had a bunch of new fans, as well as press from the likes of “Rolling Stone,” “NPR” and “Relix.”

“This spring has been super refreshing and humbling to meet people who met us on TikTok and to hear them say ‘it got me through the pandemic,’” Frye said.

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The bandmates met in college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. They credit the root of their sound, which revolves around rock, funk and soul but incorporates jazz and other influences, to the different backgrounds, tastes, religions and opinions each musician has.

“We started playing to the college crowd and learned each other’s music until we could start writing our own,” he said. “It opened our world up to an endless possibility of sounds we could play because of everyone’s different background. We took the mindset into it: If we like it; it’s fine.”

They’ve also toured with George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelic, String Cheese Incident, Umphrey’s McGee and more.

“We learned how the biggest acts do it — George Clinton at his age (still) rocks a show, and, with String Cheese Incident, how an independent band can build community, grow and transcend with time and also remain true to themselves,” Frye said.

Throughout the years, The Main Squeeze’s songwriting has become more focused, moving from their origins jamming to collaborative and honest lyrics incorporating lessons they’ve learned along the way.

“I think that’s going to be our focus — just building these worlds and riding around in them,” he said.

The Main Squeeze’s most recent, and sixth, album, “To Be Determined,” portrays the unique chemistry the band has developed. Written and recorded during the pandemic, the musicians wanted to “shed a little optimism in the time of craziness.”

And now, during their live shows, they just want to give people a good time.

“Overall, it’s just feel-good music,” Frye said. “It takes you on a ride — it’s fun.”