Local band, Squeezetoy, is calling it quits after an 11-year run that took them from playing at a coffee shop in Raleigh, to playing a national tour, to performing for troops in the Middle East.

The band, a five-man act, sports a unique sound consisting of rock, rap and reggae vibes and prides itself in its live shows.

Four of the five members are N.C. State alumni, including bassist Daniel Dickerson, guitarist Brian Dickerson, vocalist Jason Martin and vocalist Omotade Adeniyi. The drummer, Zack Johnson, is a UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus.

Jonnson said the band members have all known each other since they were 15; except for Adeniyi, who joined the band in 2000. The original four members went to Leesville High School while playing about once a month at a local coffee shop off of Six Forks Road.

After high school, the band took a year off to concentrate on college while playing shows during the holidays.

According to Johnson, he attended Furman University his freshman year, so it was hard for the band to play on a consistent basis. He said when he transferred to UNC-Chapel Hill, the band started playing at fraternity parties and bigger venues.

The ascent

“Our breaking point was when we won the Jam with Pam contest in 2001 — we were never really serious until then,” he said.

The prize for winning the contest was a trip to Latrobe, Pa., to play with Incubus, Deftones, Staind, Live and Stone Temple Pilots, Johnson said.

“We went from playing for 300 people to 20,000 — it was insane,” he said.

He also said another part of the prize was a chance to fly to L.A. and record in a studio.

“We hung out with Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson — she brought Cristal and Kid Rock brought Budweiser,” he said. “We were 21, in L.A. recording and getting drunk with Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock — it was a whirlwind, we were on cloud nine.”

The band released its first EP, When you’re here… you’re there, after their trip to California.

“When we got back to Raleigh we landed a management deal with a local manager and started playing for bigger numbers at Lincoln Theatre,” he said.

According to Johnson, the highest point for the band was in 2004 when they played on the USO tour in the Middle East for American troops, as well as their release of Contact, the band’s second EP.

“While we were in Iraq we had two Black Hawks to ourselves and had a C-130 plane to ourselves for two weeks,” he said.

The first morning the band was in Iraq their base was shelled while they were loading their Black Hawk.

“It went off a couple hundred yards from us — that was nuts,” he said. “It was loud — we ran into a bunker — it was freaky.”

Johnson said the band played on the base where Saddam Hussein’s palace is located and stayed in one of his guest houses.

He said that one show in particular stood out in his mind from the USO tour.

“It was the Fourth of July in Africa and we were playing for close to 1,000 troops,” he said.

He said that despite the weather was 139 degrees and Jubuti is one of the most humid places on earth, it was still “f***ing insane.”

Squeezetoy played with bands such as 3 Doors Down and The Red Hot Chili Peppers throughout its tenure and eventually did a full tour with rapper Afroman, according to Johnson.

“The first tour we were gone for a month was with Afroman,” he said.

Johnson ended up playing the drums for Afroman on some of the tour dates, which was a big highlight for him.

The road block

The band never signed a record deal although, according to Johnson, “[they] received offers from small stuff all the time — [they] just didn’t know what [they] wanted to do.”

“The labels would say ‘we are interested — keep us updated.’ It was bulls***,” he said.

Johnson attributes the lack of a major record deal to the band’s desire to tour and constantly play shows.

“I wanted to keep playing shows. I never wanted to go record,” he said. “Management always said ‘record, record, record,’ but it was so much fun to be on stage and see people jumping around.”

He also said that at the time, people were past rock/rap-style music and record labels considered the genre “old news.”

“We have always been known as the nice guys in the industry and have been burned on lots of stuff,” Johnson said. “It was never about the money though — we just wanted people to f***ing jump around.”

Squeezetoy made the decision to part ways in October following a meeting held a week after a show with Sevendust at Lincoln Theatre, Johnson said.

“All we did was hit the road à we worked Monday thru Thursday, left Friday and returned late Sunday night,” he said. “We are all getting older, and it just wore us out.”

Johnson said the band was fighting on the road, but emphasized that every band fights.

“Some of the guys were very upset about the breakup,” he said.

The family

Squeezetoy is a family and every member plays a different role, according to Johnson.

“Jason is the pimp for sure — he loves to not be in the hotel in the morning so we have to find him at another girl’s house,” Johnson said. “He is the kid that is always grounded for coming home late because he was making out behind the dumpster.”

Johnson said that Brian Dickerson is quite the opposite. “Brian is the introspective artistic one. After the show Jason is trying to get digits while Brian is trying to philosophize about Mozart and Socrates.”

Brian’s twin, Daniel Dickerson, is the most responsible and paranoid member of the group, Johnson said laughing.

“Daniel is paranoid about a weird sound coming from the trailer… but he is overly paranoid in a good way,” he said. “He is the kind of guy you want to bring home for the holidays.”

Adeniyi, or “O,” is the grandpa of the group as he is the oldest.

“O is the grandpa and he is always late, but he is extremely talented and is an amazing rapper,” Johnson said. “He is the only one of us that has had a real job.”

Johnson said he is a mixture of everyone in the band. “I can be really responsible or I can be not so responsible,” he said. “I am also known as the business guy — a straight shooter — and the mean guy. We always meet at the same gas station before we hit the road and 10 minutes later when someone says they have to go to the bathroom, I am the one who says ‘You just left your house, f*** you, no.'”

The future

As far as post-Squeezetoy plans for the band members, Johnson said he and Adeniyi will always be in music.

Johnson is currently working as a booking agent and is moving to California next week for some opportunities to drum with some “big names.” Meanwhile, Adeniyi is doing hip-hop and has a new group called Lower Thirds that “has a big buzz right now.”

Daniel Dickerson is getting married and he and his brother “collaborate with a lot of people.”

“The twins are big in poker,” Johnson said. “Brian says he is number two in the country, but I don’t know what that means.”

Martin is working in insurance and has a serious girlfriend.

Squeezetoy’s final show is this Saturday at Lincoln Theatre. Johnson offered that the show is “more so an event than a concert,” and there will “be tons of surprises — it won’t be a normal run thru a set.”

Tickets are $8 both online at wwww.LincolnTheatre.com and at the door.

According to Johnson, the band will be playing a new song and that attendees should expect a high energy show requiring lots of crowd participation.

Some students are eager to see the show due to Squeezetoy’s high-energy reputation and because it is their very last.

“Squeezetoy always puts on a really exciting concert — especially because this is their last show together,” Katie Bishop, a junior in communication, said. “I’m looking forward to it; I can’t wait to see them Saturday.”

Johnson wants Squeezetoy to leave behind a specific legacy.

“We would like to be known as a band that are the nice guys looking to play music,” he said. “We were never on top. People were always looking to knock us all the time. A lot of people dismiss us based on the fact that we are rap/rock, but all we wanted to do was meet fans and drink beers.”

Johnson didn’t dismiss the possibility that the band could play some shows during holidays when he returns from California; their breakup is far from harsh. Adeniyi added his thoughts on the dissolution of Squeezetoy: “We are arguably the best live performance in the region, and it is sad to see this chapter close,” he said. “Somebody will fill that void… eventually.”