Squad Five-O was founded by the Fortson brothers, Jeff and John, who initially formed a high-school band called Gypsy Rose with a drummer named Juan. During the band's initial period, their sound was basic punk music with heavy ska influences. One Christian music magazine described their sound as a collision between
Ninety Pound Wuss and
The OC Supertones. From the outset the group ran into controversy. Their initial release,
What I Believe, contained a song entitled "Our State Flag Sucks". The lyrical content of the song, which called the
Georgia state flag (the 1956-2001 version was flying at the time) a banner of hate for its likeness to flags of the
Confederate States of America, caused the album to be banned from many Christian bookstores. (Flags shown at right.)
What I Believe and the band's second release,
Fight the System, were released by Bulletproof Music.
Fight the System was unique in that, although it had 18 listed tracks plus a hidden bonus track, it had 31 tracks of silence before the bonus track, "Rock and Roll Anthem". This gave the album 50 tracks overall, a nod to the "Five-O" in the band's name. Drummer Jason Anderson left after
Fight the System and was replaced by Justin Garbinski of Speedy Delivery; Justin's brother, Adam, who also played in
The Huntingtons as A.J. Huntington, joined on guitar. The band got into a dispute over publishing rights with their label and were helped by Brandon Ebel, president of the major Christian label
Tooth & Nail Records, with whom they later signed. The sound on their first two releases was characterized as
ska punk, but that changed with their label. Their 2000 album
Bombs Over Broadway was produced by Duane Baron. The band credits Baron with helping them to refine their rock sound. As Jeff Fortson reported to
HM "he helped us slow things down and find the right groove... he really helped us realize what we were trying to do."
CCM magazine characterized the move as completing their transformation into glam rockers. Their 2002 eponymous release was produced by Barry Pointer, and featured a sound which the band characterized as more in tune with their live shows. After their contract was sold to the general market label
Capitol Records their lyrics appeared to leave their Christian roots, but the band still professed to be Christians. Their final album,
Late News Breaking, was released in 2004. Their web site went dead in early 2006 and have had small amounts of activity from their Myspace page including posting a B-side track titled "Easy to Shoot" but it has been assumed the band has broken up to move on to other projects. Bassist John Fortson & guitarist Adam Garbinski formed the rock band Gasoline Heart with Louis DeFabrizio, formerly of the Kick. Squad Five-O reunited for Cornerstone 2012 and in 2018 and performs occasionally. In March 2018,
Eleventyseven interviewed lead singer Jeff Fortson on the Eleventylife podcast. ==Members==