Lisa Mathews – vocals, electric guitar
Mikel Gehl – acoustic guitar
Michael Sheppard – electric guitar
Cord Neal – bass
Tom Moon – drums
Brian Simms – keyboards
“We’ll have fun rockin’ up the place and pretend we’re superstars.” – From Milkshake's We Got a Band
A real rock band for kids? Why?
“Kids, no less than grownups, deserve great rock music they can call their own,” says Lisa Mathews, who co-founded Milkshake with Mikel Gehl in 2002. The pair played together for a decade in the Baltimore-based indie rock band LOVE RiOT, whose critically-acclaimed music was featured in movies and prime-time television. They remain critics’ darlings, but not as indie rockers. Now you’re more likely to hear Milkshake on PBS KIDS, Discovery Kids or Noggin, ‘cause they’ve abandoned the vintage T-shirt crowd for the mini-rocker set. Are you ready to Osh Kosh, B’mosh??
With the 2002 release of Happy Songs (inspired by the birth of Lisa’s daughter and Mikel’s son), Milkshake won over preschoolers with unaffected, genuine songs that are relevant to kids’ lives without being lyrically or musically patronizing. They may dress colorfully, Lisa in her trademark tutu, but Milkshake gives kids’ music the same respect they gave their adult rock. Kids—no dummies—pick up on this and find the band endearing and fun. “Kids can smell a silly, empty song a mile away,” says Lisa. “We treat them as people and appeal to what is important to them, while retaining our rock stance.”
Milkshake’s songs were instant hits, and landed on kids’ radio playlists across the country. Their second CD, 2004’s Bottle of Sunshine, garnered more raves from kids, parents, critics and even burgeoning kids’ networks. Nickelodeon’s preschool sister channel Noggin enlisted Lisa and Mikel to film two videos for the premiere season of Jack’s Big Music Show and Milkshake brought their high-energy show to the opening leg of the network’s Jamarama Live! tour. In 2006, Milkshake created three original songs and videos for PBS KIDS’ “Share the Earth Day” programming, new songs and videos for Discovery Kids’ preschool hit ToddWorld, and again joined the west coast leg of Jamarama Live! As well, they completed a 10-song-and-video project for PBS KIDS’ preschool programming block. In October, Milkshake will unveil the Screen Play! DVD compiled of live-action and computer-animated videos, candid backstage clips and performance footage that showcase their animated, good-humored nature.
Screen Play! also shows how Milkshake has grown from a duo to a full band. Prior to recording their third album, 2007’s PLAY!, Lisa and Mikel expanded the Milkshake family with lead guitarist Michael “Shepp” Sheppard, drummer Tom Moon, bass player Cord Neal and keyboardist Brian Simms. The new members enhance Milkshake’s rock band identity with their musicianship and individuality: Shepp, also an actor, is expressive and playful onstage. Tom, with his fuzzy, blue horn-hat, cracks everyone up by performing Milkshake songs in a dead-on Neil Diamond impression. Cord is the tattooed indie rocker with a Rickenbacker, and Brian is a blackbelt multi-instrumentalist, providing versatility. Nowadays Milkshake is a full-fledged rock band.
It’s a long way from rock n’ roll dive bars, but everyone agrees that Milkshake is a special and serendipitous “evolution of our music,” as Mikel says. “As we settled into parenthood, it seemed ridiculous to write about something that we weren’t experiencing. We’re not dating, we’re not in the clubs. We’re in the park playing, or home tripping over toys.”
True inspiration, like their little ones, runs rampant. “Even before we had children,” Lisa says, “we always talked about that period of time from 2 to 12 as being just this time filled with adventure and wonder and abandon, and that was inspiring to us as adult rockers. So of course, when we had kids, it was emphasized even more.”
Now Milkshake shows are a top draw nationwide. Kids come to shows with toy and homemade instruments and get caught up in Milkshake-mania, going bonkers along with the band. It’s even fun for parents, who enjoy the band’s tuneful, memorable songs that evoke influences from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Lennon-McCartney to The White Stripes—which, let’s face it parents, makes it easier to listen to the same CD five times in a row.
Lisa, Mikel and the Milkshake band are having the time of their lives, living the rock n’ roll dream when most rockers-turned-parents have hung up their guitars. Their music brings them closer to their own children and helps them rekindle the magic of their own childhoods. “We’ve embraced this great thing that happened in our lives,” says Mikel. “This wasn’t a career consolation prize at all.”
“We had no idea this was gonna happen,” says Lisa. “For years we traveled in a van, saved money by staying five people to one motel room, and made fifty bucks and beer per night. Now we fly all over the place, everybody makes decent money. We’re living this rock star lifestyle [laughs]. It’s really fun, you know?”
But the best part is…
“We can sing about anything kids think about,” says Lisa, “and they think about a lot. Monsters, counting, the wonders of breakfast… Eating boogerberry muffins and peanut butter-and-jellyfish sandwiches. Kids’ music is kaleidoscopic and the power is so endless. I love it. It’s the greatest thing, and we experience it every day.”
© Baby Bidou 2012
