Milkshake’s Great Day at the Coronado June 13

From press release

The groundbreaking Baltimore rock band for kids, Milkshake, will make a rare Rockford appearance, celebrating the group’s recent Grammy nomination for its 2009 album, Great Day. Milkshake will rock out for families with a high-energy, surprise-filled performance at 2 p.m., Sunday, June 13, at The Coronado Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $12 for general admission seating and go on sale at 11 a.m., Wednesday, May 5. There is also a special offer—“Buy 3, Get 1 Free” available May 5-8, phone or box office sales only. Call (815) 968-0595 or visit www.coronadopac.org.

Milkshake is familiar to millions of American households through the band’s colorful, energetic music videos, seen on PBS KIDS, NICK Jr. and DISCOVERY KIDS. Milkshake’s live concerts, described by the Baltimore Sun as “a little like magic,” bring the same happy, rocking energy onstage to fans across the country.

Taking a cue from the Beatles, Pretenders and Weezer, among others, Milkshake is much more than just a band for kids. An energetic departure from traditional children’s music, the members of Milkshake have transitioned from an adult audience to a younger crowd with compromising stage presence, musical inegrity, or rock ‘n’ roll spirit. At this show, which represents Milkshake’s debut at the Coronado, the band is sure to have families air guitaring, air drumming, and singing at the top of their lungs.

Milkshake started in 2002 as a musical experiment. Founding members Lisa Mathews and Mikel Gehl, longtime bandmates from Baltimore’s indie rock group Love Riot, vowed to “grow” their music right along with their own young children. Since then, Milkshake and its legion of fans have been living an exciting, real-life, growing-up adventure, moving from early childhood through the early elementary years, as the group toured the country and produced four multi-award winning CDs, a DVD, and a multitude of music videos. Along the way, as the kids grew and the music grew with them, Milkshake grew from a duo to a six-piece band, all of whom are veterans of adult indie rock groups.

Notes Milkshake’s Lisa Mathews, “In the last year or so, we’ve noticed an amazing thing: the kids who started listening to us as babies are still right there with us today—in effect, growing with the band as the band has grown with them! The songs on our Grammy-nominated album, Great Day, touch on issues of friendship, inclusion, family, self-esteem, goals and material desires—issues that really matter to a 6-10-year-old. Like all Milkshake CDs, the music really transcends age, and we’ve found that both younger and older fans are really enjoying this new material, on disc and in our live performances. We’re thrilled to be able to share these songs at the Coronado—a historic venue that reflects our sensibilities!”

Baltimore Magazine declared, “Hip parents who like music will absolutely thrill to Milkshake.” Kenny Curtis, Sirius/XM Radio’s director of Specialty Programming, calls Milkshake “an amazing band whose songs are conceptual and fully thought-out pieces of music.” Known for their pop-rock style that fairly crackles with energy, Milkshake is perhaps the most interactive rock band for kids, playing baseball and sprinkling sunshine and fun throughout their performances. Kids come to Milkshake shows with toy and homemade instruments and get caught up in “Milkshake-mania,” going bonkers along with the band.

Wrote Paste Magazine, “Overflowing with energy and enough stylistic chops to move convincingly from rockabilly to jangle-pop, these tunes will make fans of the whole family.” Cookie Magazine affirmed, “To appeal to their audience, they don’t dumb down the music–they just play it straight. The results are entirely enjoyable.”

In addition to the Grammy-nominated album, Great Day, Milkshake has released three critically-acclaimed, multi-award-winning CDs—Happy Songs, Bottle of Sunshine and PLAY!—as well as a Parents’ Choice Silver Award-winning DVD, Screen Play!, a joyous mix of MTV-like videos, animation, in-concert videos and cool bonus features, including interviews with the band and a pair of videos featured on PBS KIDS. The band even found inspiration and time to create their own comic book, featuring Milkshake as superheroes.

For more information, check out Milkshake’s Web site at www.milkshakemusic.com.