Children like to rock, too
Thursday, September 15, 2005
It's not every day that you hear a rock band for children, but that's precisely what was created after Lisa Mathews had her first child.
For years, Mathews was in the touring band Love Riot.
Love Riot was an alternative rock band whose career highlights included the Lilith Fair and an appearance on the NBC show "Homicide."
"Then I got pregnant," Mathews said. "Suddenly, it was really hard for me to think about coming home every night at 4 a.m. then to wake up at 6 a.m. and be a good mom."
She quit the band, but band mate Michael Gehl kept coming over to play music. He also had a child.
"I found myself writing songs for my baby," Mathews said. Before long, parenthood and rock music found a way to co-exist. Gehl and Mathews started a band called Milkshake (an anagram of their names).
Their songs had the same structure as the music they played with Love Riot, but now, their lyrics spoke of counting toes and learning colors.
They recorded a CD named "Happy Songs" and started performing.
"Playing for kids is an education," Mathews said. "It's very different. With Love Riot, I could just strap on my guitar and lose myself. You can't do that with kids."
Milkshake's music is written for rock fans ages 10 to 12.
"The mistake people make with kids music is they dumb it down," Mathews said. "I'd like to think we play music that doesn't patronize our audience."
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