Shake It Up: Milkshake Band Review and Giveaway

This post originally appeared on my music column ‘The Crossroads’ over at Dad-Blogs.com on August 20, 2009.

I am still on a quest to find acceptable music to listen to while with my son, so when I was invited to check out the newest release from the children’s rock band Milkshake I couldn’t pass it up. Their fourth album entitled ‘Great Day’ is set for release on August 25th and I was fortunate to receive an advance copy to listen to last week.

Baltimore, Maryland based Milkshake is the work of lead singer Lisa Matthews and guitarist Mikel Gehl who wanted an outlet to create awesome children’s music. Experienced musicians that spent ten years in the indie rock group Love Riot, they formed in 2002 wanting to bring the same rock spirit and song writing prowess they felt was missing in music geared towards kids. To date they have released three award winning albums, a full length DVD and have had their videos appear on PBS Kids, Noggin and Discovery Kids.

At first listen ‘Great Day’ felt very familiar to me, as Matthews’ vocal stylings are very reminiscent of Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo who I used to hear all the time on WFNX back during my college days. The disc starts out strong with the track ‘Shake It Up’ and continues to be a rocking fun time throughout the album’s twelve songs.

Overall it is filled with smart lyrics that teach important lessons and send great messages to kids. The fact that the tunes are lively, fun and resemble music that I actually enjoy listening to are all a huge bonus. In the week since I received the disc it has gone from the house to the minivan and back with each trip out of the house. Little man seems to enjoy it and has even been caught stomping his feet to the music. All of the tracks are surprisingly good, but a few of my favorites include: ‘Happy Place’, ‘Statue of Me’ and ‘Dance in the Sun’..

If you want to learn more about Milkshake, you can do so on their website, become a fan on Facebook or preview tracks over on iTunes. The CD will also be available for purchase at their website, CDbaby.com and Amazon.

Great Day Giveaway

Would you like to be saved from the madness of kid’s music? How would you like to win your own copy of Milkshake’s new album ‘Great Day’? The band is offering one Dad Blogs reader an opportunity to do just that.

Ways to Enter:

Visit and comment: Check out the band’s website or become a fan on Facebook, then leave a comment over at Dad Blogs letting us know. (1 entry)

Additional Entries:

Twitter: Tweet about this contest and leave a comment at Dad Blogs that you did with your twitter status link for that tweet. You can tweet this by using the tweetmeme button at the top of this post and can tweet up to five times, but each tweet must be posted on different days. (1 entry)

Subscribe: If you haven’t already (and, really, why haven’t you?), subscribe to either the Dad Blogs RSS feed or the Real Men Drive Minivans RSS feed. Leave a comment at Dad Blogs saying which feeds you subscribed to so we can add them to your total. (1 entry each, max of 2)

That makes a total of 8 possible entries into the Great Day Giveway drawing, so get cracking!

Contest Rules:

• All entries/comments must be received/posted by Thursday, August 27th at 11:59pm
• The winner will receive a copy of Milkshake’s ‘Great Day’ album on CD (sorry, 8 track is not available).
• There will be a live drawing at Dad Blogs on Friday, August 28th at 2:00PM EST to determine the winner.

If you have any questions about the contest or how to enter, just drop me an email at pj [at] realmendriveminivans [dot] com or hit me up on Twitter @pjmullen.

A friendly word about this review. I did receive this CD free of charge, however this review was written without being promised anything, offered anything or guaranteed anything. I was not offered anything promised or guaranteed, promised anything offered or guaranteed and was most certainly not guaranteed anything promised or offered. If you didn’t understand this, watch the movie ‘Say Anything’.