Milkshake

Following the dissolution of Love Riot, Lisa Mathews and Mikel Gehl each entered parenthood. Mathews began composing material for her young daughter in tandem with her former bandmate, thereby reviving their songwriting collaboration. Free from the expectations of crafting material for a sophisticated adult listenership, the duo experienced the work as freeing and moved forward with recording sessions. Guided by a commitment to produce strong rock songs aimed at young listeners, they issued their debut album Happy Songs in 2002 and quickly followed it with Bottle of Sunshine in 2004. Building on the reception of those releases, the group received invitations to create music for children’s television programs—an arena already familiar from Love Riot’s earlier placement on Homicide: Life on the Streets. Milkshake’s tracks later appeared on Discovery Kids’ ToddWorld, Nick Jr.’s Jack’s Big Music Show, and PBS Kids’ Share the Earth Day series. In 2007 the band delivered its third album, Play!, and issued its first DVD, Screen Play, the following year. A Great Day, Milkshake’s fourth album, arrived in 2009 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Album for Children.